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Thank you to everyone who joined us at the 2012 State Summit this week -- we hope you found the panels helpful. We look forward to an exciting 2012 and welcome any suggestions you might have to make the next State Summit even better!
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UPDATED: Right-to-work fight in Indiana hits a roadblock
The fight over right-to-work legislation in Indiana has become increasingly complicated for unions and other supporters of labor as their attempts to protest the passing of this legislation is now more difficult in light of new capacity restrictions in the Statehouse. “The fire marshal determined the Statehouse could safely hold 3,000 people at one time. With about 1,700 state employees and lawmakers in the building every day, that leaves room for up to 1,300 more people,” according to the Indiana Economic Digest.
On top of those limitations, special groups are being allowed access to the Statehouse through e-mailed waivers, further limiting the amount of people allowed to have their voices heard while speaking up against the right-to-work legislation. A prayer group was granted special access to the Statehouse through an e-mail that instructs members of the group to avoid the crowds of protesters by coming in through a side entrance and showing security guards a print-out of the email. By actions such as this, the state now can pick and choose who to allow into a building that is supposed to be for the citizens of Indiana.
**UPDATE** On Wednesday, Governor Mitch Daniels rescinded the crowd limit for the Statehouse that critics say was aimed at protesters. Daniels said "Democrats and media coverage of the change influenced the decision to change the policy back." The Governor also said he is dedicated to keeping the crowd at safe levels, but is not looking to limit public access.
A Great Day in New Hampshire
Labor and progressive partners scored a huge victory in New Hampshire today, as the state House voted to uphold Governor Lynch's veto of the Right to Work bill. America Votes congratulates Labor, who worked so hard for months on this bill - and we thank the hundreds of volunteers who helped in this important effort.
The AV office in Concord became an impromptu campaign headquarters this morning, as volunteers streamed in once they got word that today might be the day the Speaker would call for a vote. More than 200 volunteers arrived at 7:00 am from labor unions and community allies. Volunteers created a strong, positive presence for legislators that are standing with us - lining the hallways, packing the gallery, greeting and thanking the Reps.
There was a whip team assigned to and track legislators to make sure they were there and in their seats. There was a boiler room used to run data for the whip team so we know where all of our legislators were and that the full whip team had all the info they needed. And there was a lobby team which was a group of lobbyist that have been working with the Reps since the beginning who were there for support if they are approached by the speaker and to answer questions.
Obviously, the fight continues, as Republicans in New Hampshire have vowed to bring the issue up again next year. But, for today at least, we congratulate you all and the folks in New Hampshire for a big win.
New Hampshire State Director Josiette White manning the First Aid station during today's day of action.
Digging a little deeper into Labor Day
With the summer starting to wind down, that final weekend of parades and picnics celebrating Labor Day is around the corner. NPR posted an interesting interview with Jeff Cowie, an Associate Professor of Labor History at Cornell University, in which he discusses the history of the labor movement and what changes it has seen since the first time Labor Day was celebrated in 1882. Listen to the interview and view the transcript here.
Over one million signatures turned in for Ohio SB 5 referendum
Today, one day from the deadline to file the paperwork necessary for a referendum of Ohio SB 5, which eliminates collective bargaining rights for public employees, the "We Are Ohio" campaign paraded up to the Secretary of State's Office with 1,298,301 signatures to overturn the bill. "We Are Ohio" only needed to collect 231,000 signatures to reverse the bill, but collected over a million over the requirement and celebrated today with the "Million Signature March." The people of Ohio were extremely energized by this attack on labor in a very similar manner to Wisconsin's effort to recall their legislatures who passed a similar law. John Nichols covers the referendum of SB 5 for The Nation, read more here.
Stand Up For Workers; Union Plus Will Donate On Your Behalf!
Union Plus has issued a challenge to the supporters of labor. They will give $25 for every new Facebook fan and $25 for every Tweet using the #UnionPlus hashtag up to $100,000 to help America Votes fight back against the recent attacks on the labor movement.
Please help us spread the word! There are a few different ways to help:
1. Promote this challenge on your Facebook page! Ask fans to join the Union Plus Facebook page at www.Facebook.com/UnionPlus: For every new Facebook fan, Union Plus will donate $25 to the fund.
2. Tweet using the hashtag: #UnionPlus and include @UnionPlus - Union Plus will donate $25 for every new tweet with this hashtag.eg. "Stand UP for Workers: @UnionPlus just donated $25 to the State Battles Fund on my behalf just by tweeting this hashtag: #UnionPlus |#1u"
Union Plus supports the rights of workers to organize and collectively bargain for fair wages, a safe work environment, and to have a strong voice in the workplace - and we're proud to back up our stance with a $100,000 donation to the America Votes State Battles Fund. The money will go toward opposing state legislation, ballot measures, and executive orders that attack the labor movement.
Please help us make this a success by kindly spreading this message to your supporters, family and friends on Facebook and Twitter!
ALERT: NH "Right to Work For Less" Up for Full State Senate Vote on April 20th
As expected, NH HB 474 - Right to Work for Less - passed the Senate committee on a party line vote (4 to 1). We expect the full senate will vote on Wed April 20th. We need your help to continue to oppose this extreme anti-worker agenda.
Continue reading to see how you can help in New Hampshire!
Here's how you can help:
CONTACT YOUR SENATOR: The senators are telling us that they need to hear from us! Take a minute between now and Tuesday to call and email your senator. You can find your senator's contact information here: http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/senate/senatemembers.asp.
Key Message points:
• Include your name and address
• Ask the senator to vote NO on HB 474
• Tell them what type of work you do
• Include any of the following:
- Right to Work for Less is opposed by employers across the state. This isn't something employers are asking for and it isn't something employers want.
- Right to Work for Less doesn't create jobs - it isn't about rights and it's not about work.
- States with similar Right to Work for Less laws have higher rates of poverty, higher rates of unemployment and lower wages.
- Right to Work for Less is being pushed by out-of-state special interests. Right to Work for Less isn't right for New Hampshire
If you need help with your message, please contact us at protectnhfamilies@gmail.com.
JOIN A CANVASS: We are canvassing this weekend! We'll be out talking to voters about what is happening at the state house and asking them to contact their senator. These canvasses have been going great so far with a positive response from voters. Help us keep the momentum going!
Weekend Details
NASHUA: Join us on Saturday April 16th from 10 to 2pm or Sunday April 17th from 12:00 to 4:00 pm. We'll meet at the AFT hall at 7c Taggart Drive in Nashua. RSVP to john@nhforhealthcare.com.
CLAREMONT: Join us on Saturday April 16th from 10 to 2 pm. We'll meet at the Trinity Episcopal Church at 120 Broad Street in Claremont. RSVP to john@nhforhealthcare.com.
JOIN A PHONEBANK: Phone banks are up every day this week. RSVP to john@nhforhealthcare.com.
STATUS OF THE NH BILLS
HB 474 - Right to Work for Less legislation - passed out of the senate committee on a party line vote 4 to 1. The Senate committee stripped the damaging amendment added in the house. The full senate is expected to vote on a traditional Right to Work for Less bill on Wed. View the bill status report here.
HB 2 - part 2 of the state budget bill - was amended in committee to eliminate the right to collective bargaining. This budget bill as currently written is devastating for New Hampshire families, communities and tax payers and includes an underhanded assault on New Hampshire workers. The full house passed the budget (HB 1 and HB 2) Follow HB 1 here and HB 2 here. You can view a comparison of the Governor's budget and the house budget here.
UPCOMING EVENTS
APRIL 16th Nashua Canvass: Help us stop the reckless legislative attacks on New Hampshire families! The canvass will run for 10:00 - 2:00 and we'll meet at the AFT Hall at 7 C Taggart Drive, Nashua. RSVP to john@nhforhealthcare.com
APRIL 16th Claremont Canvass: Help us stop the reckless legislative attacks on New Hampshire families! The canvass will run for 10:00 - 2:00 and we'll meet at the Trinity Episcopal Church 120 Broad St Claremont. RSVP to john@nhforhealthcare.com
APRIL 17th Nashua Canvass: Help us stop the reckless legislative attacks on New Hampshire families! The canvass will run for 12:00 - 4:00 and we'll meet at the AFT Hall at 7 C Taggart Drive, Nashua. RSVP to john@nhforhealthcare.com
ON GOING: You can join the interfaith voices for a humane budget at the state house. Regular vigils are taking place at the State House. Learn more here.
SAVE THE DATE: The full senate is expected to vote on HB 474 on Wednesday April 20th. More details coming soon.
SAVE THE DATE: The full senate is expected to hold a hearing on the budget on April 21st. More details coming soon.
MORE VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
Letters to the Editor: We are working to inform voters and influence legislators with letters to the editor. We need your help to get the word out! Contact kehrenberg@aflcio.org for more information, templates or to let us know you sent a letter.
Contact the Senate: We need your help letting the NH Senate know that HB 474 is bad policy and bad for New Hampshire. Please ask your members and supporters to contact their senators and ask them to stand up for the middle class and oppose HB 474. Then let us know how they respond! If you need an action alert template or more information, please contact us at protectnhfamilies@gmail.com
BUILDING THE CAMPAIGN
We need your help bringing more allies to the table! We are looking to engage small business and employers, community organizations, and religious organizations across the state. You can help by talking to the businesses and organizations in your area. Materials to help you get the conversation started are attached. Please contact Josiette with any questions or suggestions to help us build the campaign at 603-545-4772 or jwhite@americavotes.org.
We are also looking to take the message out to your organizations. Schedule a presentation or request presentation materials by contacting Josiette at jwhite@americavotes.org or call 603-545-4772.
SPOTLIGHT ON RECENT NEWS AND LETTERS
Over 11,000 people have joined the campaign to Protect New Hampshire Families! Sign-on today and invite your neighbors, families and friends! Sign-up today by joining our Protect New Hampshire Families facebook page!
As always, you can donate to the fight across all of the states here.
Joan Fitz-Gerald Speaks at State Battles Fund Event
Yesterday, working men and women across the country came together in solidarity with those fightings for their rights in places like Wisconsin, Ohio, New Hampshire and Indiana. Last night, progressives gathered for a State Battles event in Washington, D.C. to raise money to help fight the injustices taking place in these states and others. Below are some pictures of America Votes President Joan Fitz-Gerald speaking at the event. Thank you for all who helped make the event a success. For more information on the State Battles Fund, visit our State Battles 2011 page here.
"We Are One" Day of Solidarity
America Votes and its partners across the country will take part in a number of events today and continuing throughout the week to commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s trip to Memphis, Tennessee, where he had gone to stand with sanitation workers demanding their dream: The right to bargain collectively for a voice at work and a better life. The workers were trying to form a union with AFSCME. On that trip, Dr. King was assassinated. The pictures below are from today's rally in Washington, D.C.:
PA America Votes Partners in the News
The latest news clips mentioning PA America Votes partners:
Philadelphia rally seeks to boost spirits of unions under siege
Philadelphia Inquirer
The huge union rally in the Municipal Services Building plaza Thursday was organized ostensibly in support of Wisconsin public workers fighting to retain their collective bargaining rights. But every full-throated labor leader who stepped to the microphone framed the battle in Wisconsin as part of an existential threat that unions face everywhere ... "We built this country, and we're not going to let you take it away from us," said AFL-CIO Philadelphia Council president Patrick J. Eiding. "They're not trying to balance the budget; they're trying to decimate collective bargaining." The Philadelphia Council organized the lunchtime rally, which included about 20 area unions and about 1,000 sign-waving members, who periodically chanted: "We are one!" ... Cathy Scott, president of District Council 47 of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, which represents the city's professional, technical, and administrative employees, said the fight in Wisconsin was about "shifting power from working people and the poor to corporations" ... "The question isn't why do I have a pension and benefits and a good job? The question is, why don't you?" [UFCW 1776's John] Meyerson said. "If you want a pension, get a union. If you want benefits, get a union. If you want a good job, get a union" ...
Local Rally Held In Support Of Wisconsin’s Workers
KDKA
Perhaps 500 workers and supporters from most of Pittsburgh’s labor movement turned out on short notice for this afternoon’s rally. ”We need to fight to make sure that they don’t rob any worker of their rights to collective bargaining, or their rights to be in a union,” said Leo Girard, of the United Steelworkers of America ...
Locals rally for solidarity
Wilkes Barre Times-Leader
Close to 200 representatives from the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, United Food and Commercial Workers, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, and others gathered for a noon rally Wednesday …
Pa. labor groups vow to fight `right-to-work' bill
Centre Daily Times
Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President Rick Bloomingdale said the bill would weaken unions and, in turn, drive down the wages that unions negotiate for workers. "We've got to kill it in the Legislature. We've got to drive a stake through its heart," Bloomingdale said. David R. Fillman, executive director of Council 13 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees - the largest state-employee union - shared Bloomingdale's dislike for the bill but was less worried about its prospects …
March protests looming Planned Parenthood funding end
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
If the amendment survives in the Senate, it would mean a nearly one-third budget cut for the seven Planned Parenthood centers in the region, said Kim Evert, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania …
Editorial: Ending Planned Parenthood funding will lead to more unwanted pregnancies
Philadelphia Inquirer
Last year, 49,000 people went to the South East Pennsylvania Planned Parenthood clinics for a total of 63,000 STD tests, more than 25,000 Pap tests, 13,000 screenings for cervical cancer, 14,000 breast exams, 17,000 doses of emergency contraception, and yes, 11,000 abortions …
Gas drilling in Pennsylvania state parks draws fire
Harrisburg Patriot-News
“The answer is not to turn our state parks and forests over to drillers and hope for the best,” said Jan Jarrett, president of PennFuture. “DEP should immediately open public comment on the previous administration’s policy, which was based on sound science.” Jeff Schmidt of the Pennsylvania chapter of the Sierra Club said, “This is where large numbers of people go for recreation and wild experiences” …
PA America Votes Partners in the News:
The latest news clips mentioning PA America Votes partners:
Report on environment critical of power plants
Johnstown Tribune-Democrat
"Our message is clear: Powering our homes should not poison Pennsylvania's families," said Matthew Ward, a western Pennsylvania field associate with Penn-Environment. "Mercury pollution from power plants puts our kids and our environment at risk, and we need the Environmental Protection Agency to force these facilities to clean up" ...
Battle Brewing Over Proposed School Vouchers For PA
Public News Service-PA
James Testerman, president of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, the state's largest public-school employees' union, says 82 percent of public schools in the state met the federal standard for adequate yearly progress in 2010, and the voucher proposal turns its back on those that didn't ...
Philly parents long anticipated date with Ackerman approaching
Philadelphia Public School Notebook
Arlene Ackerman has agreed to a February 4 date for a public forum/meeting with interested parents and community members sponsored by ACTION United. In November, ACTION United repeatedly called District headquarters to get Ackerman to come to their annual Back to School rally ...
Dayle Steinberg, Planned Parenthood Southeastern PA, Op-Ed: Women's right facing threats
Philadelphia Inquirer
Women can continue to count on Planned Parenthood's strong voice of reason, its medical expertise, and its legacy of trust to ensure that our rights won't be compromised. Planned Parenthood faces the future with enormous hope and with a commitment to stand for women's reproductive rights, despite all odds ...
Jackson sees reconstruction as path to jobs, renewal, justice
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
One of the awards given was to a union group credited with saving jobs. Service Employees International Union Healthcare PA received the Grassroots Award for its 2009 campaign that rescued 400 jobs when pharmacy company Express Scripts threatened to close both of its facilities in Bensalem, Pa. But in her acceptance speech, Executive Vice President Kati Sipp issued a word of warning ... "The real reason for putting this together was the 72 workshops," said Michael Morrill, executive director of Keystone Progress. "It's not enough to just be right. We have to be able to organize." Attendee Liz J. Hrenda, a UniServ representative of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, said that, despite having been involved in unions "forever," including while working at Bethlehem Steel's Steelton plant for 10 years, she learned something in the workshops ...
PMC service workers union approves possible one-day strike
Pocono Record
Officials for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Healthcare Pennsylvania said service and maintenance workers approved the strike after a meeting this week in which workers rejected hospital management's most recent contract proposal. Union officials said they've met with hospital management three times over the last two weeks. "We are totally, totally demoralized by what PMC is doing to us," said a tearful Madeline Vazquez, a secretary at the hospital and union negotiator. "We are people ..."
Unionized workers in Pennsylvania reject offer from Acme Markets
Philadelphia Inquirer
United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1776 sent Malvern-based Acme a letter Thursday informing the grocer that Philadelphia-area members had voted "no" to the cash-saving maneuver Wednesday night, president Wendell Young IV said ...
Lawsuit filed over truancy fines
Lebanon Daily News
Churchill was joined at the news conference by Leticia Fuentes Keith, president of the Lebanon chapter of the NAACP, and Jerome Mondesire, president of the Pennsylvania NAACP, who called the district's truancy fines an "outrageously, discriminatory truancy punishment machine" ...
OH: AV Partners Coordinating Progressive GOTV Efforts
America Votes Development Associate Courtney Ryan blogs from Columbus, Ohio.
Empty pizza boxes. Loose campaign literature. Pens, folders and scissors strewn about. Poster-sized signs of volunteer shifts up on the walls. That's a snapshot of the America Votes coalition headquarters in Columbus, Ohio this afternoon. But more importantly, there are also a slew of dedicated volunteers and staff who have spent the majority of their time in this office for the past few weeks. They have lived and breathed progressive voter mobilization. The aim is clear -- to get out the vote in support of Governor Strickland and other progressive candidates across the Buckeye State, with a particular focus on Ohio State House candidates.
Upon walking into the Columbus office, the diversity of the America Votes coalition is immediately evident. Ohio Education Association canvassers are bustling in the office between canvass shifts, urging voters to vote early. The Planned Parenthood Affiliates of Ohio have hosted a nightly phone bank here, and their volunteers are tireless in explaining why Ohioans should vote pro-choice. UFCW Local 1059 has had wonderful canvassers and volunteers here each day, organizing their members and helping out with anything that's needed. Dedicated staff and volunteers from Equality Ohio are preparing for weekend canvassing. The Rural Organizing Campaign, which is a coalition of 21 progressive state groups working to give rural Ohio a political voice, held a big rally in the northwestern part of the state yesterday to get rural voters enthused about voting. The energy of all these groups is contagious, and it's great to see them all working together as one. Ohio is truly fired up and ready to go.
There is a sense of urgency and an unspoken all-hands-on-deck policy that is also apparent. They all know how much different (read: worse) the state will be if conservative candidate John Kasich wins the race for Governor. Or if conservatives Jim Renacci and Steve Stivers win the U.S. House seats they're fighting for. Or if we don't win the Ohio State House.
I'm really looking forward to working with these groups for the next few days. Tomorrow is a day affectionately known as "Packet Land"; we will be assembling packets of lists for canvassers who will be knocking doors throughout the area this Saturday through Election Day.
Stay tuned for more reports from the Buckeye State.