While Unions in TN decline, SEIU Grows
This Sunday's cover story in
The Tennessean examines how labor unions are faring in a down economy in a right-to-work (for less) state. Local 205 president
Doug Collier is interviewed in the article and reveals that while the rest of the labor movement is in decline, SEIU in Tennessee has grown by 40% over the last three years.
Give it a read!
Posted By: Mark Naccarato on 8/22/2010 10:01:00 AM
Local 205
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union rights
McWherter's Plan Supports Job Creation and Organized Labor
Mike McWherter, Tennessee’s Democratic candidate for governor, talked about his plan to help Tennessee’s working families before a group of about three dozen labor leaders at the Chattanooga Building & Construction Trades Council meeting on Thursday.
The crowd was made up of police, firefighters, electricians, construction workers, and a host of other skilled trade workers and public employees – all of whom wanted to know about McWherter’s plan for job creation, better paying jobs, and his commitment to organized labor and collective bargaining.
Read More
Posted By: Mark Naccarato on 8/20/2010 12:57:00 AM
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Bill Haslam
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collective bargaining
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elections
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Mike McWherter
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union rights
Maynard Is on the Right Track
Metro Councilman
Jerry Maynard proposed a possible solution to stopping Dr. Register's plan to outsource custodians and groundskeepers in the school system by scrapping the controversial school rezoning plan that was passed by the School Board.
Maynard says that a new student rezoning plan, implemented this school year, requires $5.5 million in annual funds, money he contends could have been used to protect janitorial jobs and preserve the hours of bus drivers.“If we did not have that rezoning plan, which now segregates poor students and puts high concentrations of poor students into schools, then you now have additional resources,” Maynard, who opposed the plan from the outset, told
The City Paper. “That money could have been used so that we would not have to lay off custodians, so we would not have to cut hours for bus drivers,” he said.
For those of you keeping track, Maynard's proposal puts us at over a dozen viable alternatives to find a way to keep these working families from losing their jobs, pay, and benefits. SEIU had put forth
a comprehensive proposal to Dr. Register and the School Board back in mid-March. Councilman
Walter Hunt has proposed an idea, as has Council Lady
Erica Gilmore. School Board member
Mark North spent a couple of sleepless nights crunching numbers and presented 7 different proposals (all of which were rejected by the Board), and now Maynard weighs in.
No matter what happens in this fight, the one thing the Mayor will not be able to say is "we had no other choice". They have had a dozen choices presented so far. And SEIU will be presenting a sweeping proposal next week that the city would be foolish to ignore. Stay tuned...
In the meantime, you know what to do - pick up the phone and tell Mayor Dean what you think: 862-6000.
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Posted By: Mark Naccarato on 4/16/2010 4:29:00 PM
Jerry Maynard
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Karl Dean
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Metro Budget
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Metro Schools
Your Tax Dollars @ Work: Nashville Wingnut Edition
And The Crazy comes to the Metro Council as three right-wing Metro Council members want to pass a nonbinding resolution that would opt Tennessee out of the national healthcare reform bill that the President recently signed.
Read the story from
The City Paper.
Never mind that the bill that these council members support, the so-called "Health Freedom Act", was basically ruled unconstitutional by the state Attorney General last week. Never mind that these folks' whole reason for being against "ObamaCare" is based on lies pushed by right-wing TV and radio hosts who are just trying to get ratings. And never mind that health insurance costs are causing many of the budget problems Metro is having that these same Council members complain about.
Never mind all that. Pay no attention to the facts. Ignore the truth about who has caused this mess (conservative politicians and their corporate donors), who are suffering because of it (working families), who is trying to fix the problem (organized labor and the President), and who isn't (the Republican Party). Forget all that. It's all about "freedom". "Freedom" to pay more and more out of your pocket every year for insurance you may not even use. "Freedom" to line corporations' pockets at the expense of working people, small businesses, and taxpayers. "Freedom" to lie about what is in the bill and what isn't.
That's right - these three Metro Council members want to exercise their "freedom" to use your tax dollars to argue about an issue that they have no say in to score political points. Freedom indeed.
Posted By: Mark Naccarato on 4/16/2010 11:02:00 AM
healthcare
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Metro Council
MNPS' Top-Heavy Drag on the Schools
As Councilman
Jamie Hollin points out on his
blog, "24 of the top 200 highest salaries in Metro Government... all belong to administrators in MNPS".
And as Councilman
Eric Crafton pointed out at the School Board meeting yesterday with pretty charts and graphs, MNPS has the highest rate of Administrators-per pupil in the state. Even higher than Shelby County, which is one of the largest school systems in the country.
Want to save money? How about starting where the waste is - at the top!
Posted By: Mark Naccarato on 3/24/2010 5:21:00 PM
Eric Crafton
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Jamie Hollin
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Metro Schools
Register's MNPS Posts RFP Before School Board Even Votes!
As you know, the Metro School Board is set to vote this coming Tuesday on a budget proposed by Jesse Register that, among other things, calls for a plan to outsource all the custodial and groundskeeping services in the school system to a private company. This proposal would result in the lay off of some 700 mostly minority, low-paid workers who are kept out of poverty by a living wage, health insurance, and a meager pension - all of which are set to go away if Register has his way.
But it looks like the Register administration has decided to get ahead of the curve.
MNPS has posted the RFP (request for procurement) online at Nashville.gov and they've posted slides on Metro 3. Register is
advertising for a contract that hasn't been voted on by its elected board yet! I've personally talked to three school board members so far about this. None of them have seen a copy of an RFP, they've barely talked about one in their meetings, and they sure haven't cast a vote on it.
If this was intentional, you have to wonder what Jesse Register thinks about the school board that hired (and can fire) him by doing this. He's practically thumbing his nose at them. I can talk about what's actually in this RFP another time. Suffice it to say, it confirms a lot of our worst fears about what employees will be offered if they stay on with the new company.
And I'll take this opportunity to remind you that this Monday, SEIU will be organizing a rally in support of the MNPS workers at a public hearing on the budget that the Metro Council has requested. The rally starts at 5 and the public hearing starts at 5:30. It will be held at Metro Southeast (also known as the old Genesco building), which is located at 1417 Murfreesboro Pike out near the airport. Here's a leaflet with a
map.
We encourage folks to speak at the public hearing on this issue and others. If you are going to speak, don't forget to take a look at the research and resources we have in our
Action Center.
Posted By: Mark Naccarato on 3/19/2010 9:43:00 AM
Jesse Register
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Metro Budget
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Metro Council
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Metro Schools
Council Members Demand That MNPS Hold New Public Hearing!
Thanks in part from pressure from SEIU members, three Metro Council members have filed a last-minute resolution to demand that the Metro School Board hold a new public hearing on the proposed budget.
Here's
the backstory on what happened at last Thursday's public hearing and why Local 205's
Doug Collier asked the School Board to hold another meeting.
The late-filed resolution (which still has no official bill number) was discussed at the Council's Education Committee meeting on Monday evening. Councilmen
Eric Crafton,
Michael Craddock, and
Jamie Hollin are the lead sponsors of the bill. Council members
Megan Barry,
Sandra Moore, and Education Committee chair
Kristine LaLonde weighed in as well with some helpful suggestions on how to proceed with taking action. In the end, all three of them voted for the resolution along with the rest of the Committee while
Ronnie Steine remained the sole vote against it.
While the timeframe is short, we are encouraging union members and concerned citizens to
contact their council member before this evening's vote and ask them to vote YES on the MNPS late-filed resolution tonight.
Posted By: Mark Naccarato on 3/16/2010 1:21:00 PM
Eric Crafton
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Jamie Hollin
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Megan Barry
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Metro Budget
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Metro Council
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Michael Craddock
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Ronnie Steine