A governor who will ‘go all Scott Walker’ on Minnesota? No thanks, unions say

October 31, 2014 by

UA layout_UA layoutJeff Johnson, the Republican nominee for governor, doesn’t have much executive experience, but the former state legislator provided a glimpse of his leadership style May 15, telling a Tea Party group he would “go all Scott Walker on Minnesota” if elected.

“I don’t know exactly what that means,” Minnesota AFL-CIO President Shar Knutson responded, “but I know it isn’t good.”

Since being sworn into office in January 2011, Walker and Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton have taken their states in wholly different directions.

Dayton, a DFLer whose re-election campaign has broad union support, never wavered from his vision for a better Minnesota. He pledged to reverse a trend of dwindling support for public education, balance the state’s budget responsibly by raising taxes on the rich and grow the economy from the middle class out.

Dayton delivered on those promises, with help from pro-worker majorities elected to the Legislature two years ago.

“Gov. Dayton and the DFL majority have created an economy that works better for everyone,” said Eliot Seide, director of the state’s largest union of public employees, AFSCME Council 5. “More Minnesotans are working than ever before. We are the third-best state to make a living. Our economy is the fifth fastest-growing in the nation.”

So what does Johnson see in Walker’s Wisconsin worth replicating here?

To get a sense of what a Johnson administration might mean for union families, we’ll analyze the different approaches taken by Minnesota and Wisconsin on four key issues over the last four years:

• Collective Bargaining. One of Walker’s first moves as governor was to strip most public employees of their bargaining rights. Walker’s so-called “Budget Repair Bill” passed a Republican Legislature despite a series of pro-union protests that drew more than 100,000 to the Capitol in Madison.

“Imagine waking up one day without a contract, without collective bargaining rights, without a voice on the job,” said Eliot Seide, director of the state’s largest union of public employees, AFSCME Council 5. “That’s what happened to AFSCME members in Walker’s Wisconsin, and it could happen here if union members don’t vote.”

Dayton and DFL legislators, by contrast, expanded collective bargaining rights to more Minnesota workers, passing legislation last year that removed barriers to organizing for child-care providers and home-health workers who are paid with public funds.

Already, the new law has extended the benefit of a union to more than 20,000 home-care workers. After voting to join SEIU Healthcare Minnesota in August, they currently are negotiating their first union contract with state regulators, marking the first time workers in the low-wage, female-dominated field have had a real voice in the terms of their employment.

“We can’t let Jeff Johnson and his Tea Party extremists take us down Walker’s road to ruin,” Seide warned.

• Education. In addition to slashing teachers’ benefits and bargaining rights, Walker cut state funding for public school districts in Wisconsin by $834 million in his first year in office. That’s roughly the amount of new funding the state has funneled into public schools during Dayton’s four years in office.

Stephanie Bloomingdale, secretary-treasurer of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, called Walker’s first education budget “the largest cut to schools in state history.” With 73 percent school districts in Wisconsin cutting staff or programming as a result of the budget cuts, she added, “our children are paying the price.”

Education Minnesota President Denise Specht, who leads the state’s largest union of school employees, warned that Johnson would lead Minnesota down a similar path.

“Walker has been a disaster for Wisconsin students, so it’s baffling why someone running for office in Minnesota would choose him as a role model,” she said. “Wisconsin is now investing $1,000 less per student than in 2008, which means the Wisconsin workforce will be at a competitive disadvantage for decades.”

Walker also has expanded Wisconsin’s private-school voucher program, which Specht called “out of control.” According to published reports, the voucher program has funneled $139 million from state coffers into failing private schools over the last 10 years – funds that could otherwise have supported public school districts.

Minnesota, meanwhile, is on the opposite track.

As a candidate, Dayton pledged to reverse a decade-long trend of dwindling support for Minnesota’s public schools. With help from pro-worker majorities elected to the Legislature two years ago, he signed bills to repay more than $2 billion borrowed from school districts, reduce class sizes and guarantee statewide access to all-day kindergarten.

That progress is at risk if Johnson is elected governor, Specht said

“If you’re in a working family that cares about the education of your children, there’s something you should know when you hear someone say he wants ‘go all Scott Walker’ on your state,” Specht said. “You should know that is a threat you can’t ignore.”

RLF-GE_Layout 1• Wages and Economic Security. Dayton and DFL legislators earlier this year raised Minnesota’s minimum wage for the first time in a decade, and they passed the Women’s Economic Security Act, a nation-leading initiative to eliminate the gap between what women and men earn for doing comparable work.

Johnson has sent mixed messages about whether, if elected, he would move to block scheduled increases in Minnesota’s minimum wage in 2015 and 2016. But he has pledged to roll back a provision of the law that would trigger automatic increases, tied to the rate of inflation, beginning in 2018.

That stance puts Johnson in line with Walker’s Wisconsin, where median household income has fallen in each of the last four years – and by 5.1 percent since 2009, according to the American Community Survey. Data released last month by the Census Bureau shows Wisconsin’s median household income fell by 0.4 percent between 2012 and 2013, to $51,467.

Minnesota, meanwhile, saw a 1.6 percent increase in household income between 2012 and 2013, to $60,702. It marked the state’s second consecutive year of significant income growth.

Given the growing disparities between the two states, it’s no surprise workers in Wisconsin are looking west with envy.

“Wisconsin is dead last in the Midwest in job growth,” Wisconsin AFL-CIO President Phil Neuenfeldt said. “Wisconsin is missing out on economic opportunities and growth because Gov. Walker refuses to raise the minimum wage for workers or accept federal funds to expand health care access. Wisconsin workers make $5,000 less a year than Minnesota workers. Wisconsin workers can’t afford four more years of Gov. Walker.”

• Taxes and Economic Growth. Walker’s approach to economic growth is narrow: lure businesses to Wisconsin with tax cuts, incentives and “Open for Business” signs along the border. But as Bloomingdale notes, “tax cuts for the rich and rewarding out-of-state donors has gotten Wisconsin nowhere.”

Indeed, Wisconsin has been slower to recover from the Great Recession than Minnesota. Wisconsin’s per-capita Gross Domestic Product has increased just 3.4 percent since 2010, compared to 5.1 percent growth in Minnesota.

Why? Dayton and DFL legislators have taken a broad, long-range approach to job creation, investing in education, job training and infrastructure, and backing public-private ventures like the Mall of America expansion, the Vikings stadium and Rochester’s Destination Medical Center.

Walker declined federal funding to build a high-speed rail line through his state. And Wisconsin continues to fall behind in infrastructure investments, with 71 percent of the state’s roads in poor or mediocre condition, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers, compared to 52 percent of Minnesota roads.

“Gov. Dayton and House DFLers have Minnesota on the right path,” St. Paul Regional Labor Federation President Bobby Kasper said. “We can’t afford to let Jeff Johnson turn us around.”

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Richard Trumka: The choice we face Nov. 4

October 23, 2014 by
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka (right) will speak in Minneapolis Feb. 20.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka (right).

Almost no one in America is satisfied with the imbalance of our economy. We’re working harder and harder for less and less.

This isn’t a partisan opinion. All across this country, in poll after poll after poll, we hear self-described Democrats, independents and Republicans say, “We want an economy that works for everyone, not just the wealthy few.” Three out of every four voters think we should raise the minimum wage. Nearly 70 percent of working-class Republicans say, “It shouldn’t be this hard to support a family.”

It doesn’t have to be this way. The economy is not the weather. It doesn’t simply happen to us, nor does it change in two days – or two hours, depending on where you live.

Here’s the good news. A growing number of people have begun to realize that our economy is shaped by rules created in Washington by elected officials, rules that pick winners and losers, rules that have picked working people to lose again and again and again for a long time.

[Click here to join other East Metro union members who are helping get out the vote for labor-endorsed candidates.]

Yet those who keep rigging the American economy for the rich and powerful have noticed the changing American electorate, too, and they have turned up the pressure to divide working people and to go after the things we hold most dear.

Working families face politicians backed by right-wing billionaires who want in the name of “free markets” to gut Social Security, prevailing wages, Medicare and Medicaid, job safety, gender equity, decent public education funding, public lands and practically everything else working families rely on.

These politicians think nothing should blunt the cold, hard edge of the marketplace. If you’re too young, too old, too poor, too sick, too anything, it’s just tough luck.

Here’s the really bad news. These far-right politicians know their values are not majority values, and that’s why they scheme to shrink our democracy, to cut back our ability to exercise our rights as Americans. That’s what voter ID laws do. That’s what restrictions on absentee ballots and early voting do. That’s what gerrymandering does.

These politicians use division to win elections. Sometimes they say public workers are the problem. Or they claim immigrants are the problem. Or skilled construction workers. Or welfare recipients. Or retirees. Or union workers. Everyone except the millionaires and billionaires, whose compensation has tripled over the past 30 years, while the rest of us are lucky if we’ve broken even.

Here’s the choice we face. We can decide not to be pushed to the bottom. We can choose to elect leaders who will restore fairness to our economy and invest in the things that matter to us, things like education, jobs, infrastructure and our future. Better yet, those investments can be made by doing away with tax cuts for people who don’t need our generosity, like the billionaires and CEOs who routinely avoid contributing to our country’s bottom line.

Don’t misunderstand me. This is not about political parties. Not every Democratic politician is a champion of working families. Nor is every Republican an enemy. But these days, too many Republicans are right-wing extremists.

All across Minnesota, and as we’ve seen from fast food workers and Walmart workers and even some self-described Tea Partiers, a new kind of populism is on the rise. It’s not an easy thing to define, but it is very real, and it is reshaping and will reshape America. As working people, the election this fall is an excellent opportunity for us to shape this change.

Working people want raising wages. It’s a popular idea. Imagine a world where the gap between the rich and the rest of us starts to shrink. Imagine the boost to manufacturing when millions of working people have the money – not the credit but the money – to purchase the things we want and need.

Imagine it, but don’t dream it’ll pick up like a fresh breeze. We’ve got to make it happen.

So what will you do? It is up to each of us to help bridge the gap for those who share our values but who don’t yet see how our interests coincide, who don’t yet see that jobs and rainfall are fundamentally different. We can create jobs, and, together, we can register and educate more working-class voters. We can turn frustration into stubborn action.

We’ve already started. Let’s keep doing it. All of us together.

– Richard Trumka, who comes from a small town in Southwest Pennsylvania, is the president of the nation’s largest federation of labor unions, the AFL-CIO.

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Retirees, federal workers to Paulsen: ‘Shutdown has to stop’

October 16, 2013 by
AFGE members Vicky Sirovy, Gary Schabert (middle) and Jared Thyen ask U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen to end the federal government shutdown.

AFGE members Vicky Sirovy, Gary Schabert (middle) and Jared Thyen ask U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen to end the federal government shutdown.

Leaders in the U.S. Senate today unveiled a bipartisan agreement to end the partial government shutdown and extend the nation’s borrowing authority, but doubts remain as to whether the compromise will pass the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

As the spotlight shifted to the House, federal employees, union leaders and retirees paid a visit to Minnesota Rep. Erik Paulsen’s Eden Prairie offices this morning, urging the 3rd District Republican to stand behind public statements that he would vote for a “clean” bill to fully fund the government were it to reach the House floor.

Paulsen took heat for that very statement earlier this month, when Tea Party activists demanded he get on board with House Republicans’ plot to use the shutdown as leverage in an ill-fated attempt to defund the Affordable Care Act.

Now Tea Party Republicans are looking to exact steep cuts from Social Security and Medicare as ransom for extending the nation’s borrowing authority before tomorrow’s deadline. Retirees like Ilo Madden of St. Louis Park are hoping Paulsen won’t play along.

“Social Security and Medicare are my main sources of survival,” Madden said at a press availability following the meeting with Paulsen’s staff. “I wonder why the officials who we gave our faith and trust to in the form of a vote are doing this to us.”

[Click here to e-mail to Rep. Paulsen and ask him to support a clean bill to end the government shutdown.]

The delegation of about 15 people reflected the wide-ranging effects of the shutdown, now in its third week. Gary Schabert, a retired veteran from St. Paul, said he participated out of concern for his daughter, who is scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan in two weeks.

“This is for her, to make sure she has what she needs when she needs it,” Schabert said.

Other members of the delegation told Paulsen that the Tea Party’s political grandstanding in Washington was coming at the expense of federal employees and the citizens they serve, including veterans.

Jared Thyen, a Bloomington resident who works in the Minneapolis Veterans Hospital, said many of his colleagues at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System – the people who process claims and determine benefits – are working without pay.

“Morale at my office is extremely low,” said Thyen, 32, a chief steward of Local 1969 of the American Federation of Government Employees. “People are not able to pay their bills, like child (care). People my age and younger cannot pay their student loans. The bills keep coming.

“This shutdown has to stop.”

Federal employees are still reeling from three years of frozen pay and cuts to retirement benefits. Many workers have been furloughed up to six days per year as a result of sequestration cuts. According to AFGE, federal employees’ pay freezes and retirement cuts have contributed $105 billion in deficit reduction already.

“We have to put a stop to this,” Local 1969 President Vicky Sirovy said.

Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation Bill McCarthy urges Paulsen to support a "clean" bill to fund the federal government and end the 16-day shutdown.

Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation Bill McCarthy urges Paulsen to support a “clean” bill to fund the federal government and end the 16-day shutdown.

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Expenses, stress mount for essential employees during Tea Party shutdown

October 15, 2013 by
Federal workers and supporters demonstrate against the federal government shutdown outside the Social Security Administration offices in Minneapolis.

Federal workers and their supporters demonstrate against the federal government shutdown outside the Social Security Administration offices in Minneapolis.

Gloria Jones and May Sy Lawrence won’t get paid for doing their jobs until Tea Party Republicans in Congress get serious about doing theirs.

Jones and Lawrence are essential federal employees – officially classified as “accepted employees.” As they have throughout the 15-day shutdown, they showed up for work today at the Social Security Administration offices in Minneapolis, but they won’t see their wages until members of Congress – who are getting paid – pass a clean budget to fund the government.

On their lunch break, Jones and Lawrence joined a demonstration outside the Social Security Administration, calling on Tea Party Republicans to end the shutdown and stop holding the economy – and the federal government – hostage. [Click here to add your voice.]

Republicans in the House initially allowed the government to shut down in an attempt to defund the Affordable Care Act. When that failed, they tried using the shutdown – and a looming deadline to extend the nation’s borrowing authority – to gain leverage in budget negotiations.

Jones said Tea Party Republicans might not be so cavalier about shutting down the government if their paychecks, like hers, depended on it.

“If they were in our shoes what would they do?” she asked. “They need to get their act together and end this now.”

About 19,000 federal workers in Minnesota – and 800,000 nationwide – are either out of work or working without a paycheck.

The strain is, perhaps, greatest on essential workers, who, unlike furloughed workers, must continue to pay for child care while they are at work, transportation to and from work, and other expenses – without the benefit of a paycheck.

Lawrence said the shutdown already has taken a toll on her family’s ability to meet its financial obligations. She called her mortgage company to ask for some relief from monthly payments during the shutdown, she said, and was denied.

“It’s pretty stressful,” Lawrence said, “especially when you have small children. We need to get it settled as soon as possible because it is affecting everyone.”

Lawrence, Jones and their co-workers at the rally today are members of the American Federation of Government Employees. Members of several other organizations joined them today, including the largest union of state government employees in Minnesota, AFSCME Council 5.

“At AFSCME, we’re familiar with shutdowns,” said Council 5 spokesperson Jennifer Munt, referencing a 20-day state shutdown in 2011. “We don’t like them because they hurt everyday people.

“We took Minnesota off the Tea Party choke chain. The Republican Party in Washington needs to do the same.”

Social Security Administration workers brave the rain to join a demonstration against the government shutdown outside their Minneapolis offices.

Social Security Administration workers brave the rain to join a demonstration against the government shutdown outside their Minneapolis offices.

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Letter to the Editor: In this election, union members must keep their eyes on the prize

September 24, 2012 by

Mike Mazurkiewicz

I’ve been retired for a few years now. Although I don’t always know (or care) what day of the week it is, I do try to stay informed, and I brush up on national, local and postal issues – especially those affecting seniors and retirees. That leads me to some thoughts on something I do care about – the important 2012 presidential election. We have one political party saying government is the problem. The other says it’s the solution. It’s that simple, right?

I’m not so sure.

I see it this way: While government will sometimes be a problem and other times a solution, it will always be the prize. Why else would candidates and political parties spend millions upon millions of dollars on a job that doesn’t pay much? Because with the prize comes enormous power and control. The party winning the prize will have a dramatic impact on your jobs, your family, your retirements – and the future of our country.

Will they be a solution or a problem? Who deserves the prize? Cynics will say this election is a question of the lesser of two evils. Others will say it’s the evil of two lessers.

Maybe, but maybe not. I have voted in every election since I was 21, and over the years cast my vote for different political parties based on what I felt was important. But during the last few decades or so I have become increasingly disgusted with and opposed to the party that calls itself “conservative.”

Their policies turned our country’s budget surplus into a multi-trillion dollar deficit. What’s conservative about that? They continue to say that tax cuts for the wealthy will have a positive, “trickle down” effect for the middle class. But have they? No, they haven’t.

Now these “conservatives” want to double down on trickle down. I cannot simply stand by and let them run our nation into the ground and turn us into a third-world country.

I watched with disgust as “conservatives” approved (but didn’t fund) an unnecessary war, voted for wealthy tax cuts and sent American jobs to foreign countries via the passage of NAFTA and CAFTA. They warn us about their opposition party’s “socialist” policies, but they willingly sold the debts their policies created to Communists in China, and actually made socialists out of us all by using taxpayers to bail out Wall Street and the Banks. (Apparently profits belong to capitalism, but socialism is OK for losses).

“Conservatives” really stuck it to postal workers with “Postal Reform,” which put the only government agency that regularly made money into bankruptcy.

Oh sure, they say they care about us middle class people – while we’re in the womb! But after that – well, you’re on your own. Forget about supporting education, good jobs, social services, health care and a clean environment; you have to use your own personal responsibility and care for your own needs, until you’re needed for the next war.

I won’t allow the same political party most responsible for the declining state of our union try to tell me that they are the solution. And I won’t let its “Tea Party” faction try to convince me that their outdated and failed ideologies are a “new direction.” I’m not even going to listen to them anymore.

Well, maybe just a little bit. I did watch some of the Republican National Convention. What a joke! They accuse the president of not doing his job when they have done nothing but obstruct every piece of progressive legislation he proposed. They condemn the president for proposing a plan that is identical to a plan their own candidate proposed while governor of Massachusetts. They’re not just clueless; they’re shameless.

The fact is that our Congress hasn’t been doing its job – unless you think supporting an oligarchy while dissolving a democracy is their job. I’m done putting up with them.

– Michael Mazurkiewicz, St. Paul Area American Postal Workers Union retiree

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