Dem's in MA!!! House votes to restrict unions

[sasha031]

House lawmakers voted overwhelmingly last night to strip police officers, teachers, and other municipal employees of most of their rights to bargain over health care, saying the change would save millions of dollars for financially strapped cities and towns.The 111-to-42 vote followed tougher measures to broadly eliminate collective bargaining rights for public employees in Ohio, Wisconsin, and other states. But unlike those efforts, the push in Massachusetts was led by Democrats who have traditionally stood with labor to oppose any reduction in workers’ rights.

Unions fought hard to stop the bill, launching a radio ad that assailed the plan and warning legislators that if they voted for the measure, they could lose their union backing in the next election. After the vote, labor leaders accused House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo and other Democrats of turning their backs on public employees.

“It’s pretty stunning,’’ said Robert J. Haynes, president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO. “These are the same Democrats that all these labor unions elected. The same Democrats who we contributed to in their campaigns. The same Democrats who tell us over and over again that they’re with us, that they believe in collective bargaining, that they believe in unions. . . . It’s a done deal for our relationship with the people inside that chamber.’’

“We are going to fight this thing to the bitter end,’’ he added. “Massachusetts is not the place that takes collective bargaining away from public employees.’’
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/articles/2011/04/27/house_votes_to_limit_bargaining_on_health_care/?sudsredirect=true

[Poboy]

1. Afuckingmazing.

"But unlike those efforts, the push in Massachusetts was led by Democrats who have traditionally stood with labor to oppose any reduction in workers’ rights."

[bbgrunt]

2. Ryan's budget showed reps true colors. Now dems turn to show their true colors.

[Deep13]

17. yellow nt

[Thunderstruck]

3. This is typical of the shitty country we now live in. "financially strapped cities and towns"

...and the culprits who caused these "financially strapped cities and towns" go around scot-free and the workers pay for their crimes.

Outrageous!

[Marrah_G]

4. I am fucking pissed

[FLAprogressive]

5. Holy fuck. Betrayal x1,000,000. Watch the usual crowd spin this one!

[marsis]

6. Illinois

Here in Illinois no one hates labor like Chicago Democrats. They use labor and give nothing back except the occasional bone.

[sasha031]

9. this is why unions are pulling funds away from Dem's

[tritsofme]

7. "municipal workers would still have more bargaining power over health care plans than state workers"

To pass by such a huge margin in the Democratic dominated MA House, it sounds like a policy worth examining for their state.

[Brickbat]

8. Cut off the endorsements, donations and volunteers, then. I hope the Democrats pay for this.

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Brickbat]

11. Not only that, but PRESIDENT PALIN!!1!!11!!!

I'm sick of this shit, I really am.

[upi402]

24. DLC disenfranchised us. There's no opposition to corporatism

in effect. Many Dems are heroically old school Dem. But the number of Blue Dogs have removed any possible push-back to retake the party.

We listened to the media and allowed this junta. Well... not "us" but too many - even here you see it.

[Flubadubya]

13. Yeah, can't wait for the "sense and sensibility" bunch to come...

charging in with their lame excuses and rationale for ANYTHING the right of center, so-called Dems do. I'm so sick of blue-dog bullshit I could just scream! :mad::cry::grr:

K&R

[FLAprogressive]

15. and that we're all paid right-wing trolls....and that the article is all wrong.

[Oak2004]

26. Sadly, I think this is it for me

The only answer for American workers in many, perhaps most parts of the country is to break with the Dems. There simply isn't enough time left to redeem most state parties, let alone the national, from within, and in the absence of a credible third party no pressure can be brought from without (Vermont is one of our few counterexamples because VT Democrats have a healthy fear of the VT Progressive Party-- the party Bernie founded and really belongs to, though in order to join a congressional caucus he must, officially, be an independent).

I'd like to have hope otherwise. I really would. That's why I'm here-- change from the inside is always preferable to change from the outside. Please, feel free to argue with me otherwise, as I would like to be persuaded otherwise. Perhaps there's life left in the party in corners of the country I'm not aware of. But right now all I see is Republicans proposing sociopathic insanity, and Democrats saying "me too", but not before first getting elected by turning to the rest of us and saying "see, vote for me, cause the scary guy over there will do that bad thing to you one election cycle sooner than I will". The plutocrats pulling the strings must be laughing at our futility. And all the while, the clock for our economy, our society, our civilization, and our environment is at a minute to midnight, five minutes tops. How does one both reform the Democratic Party and start to rescue our nation in (a metaphorical) thirty seconds flat?

Since I have no more hope for the Democratic Party, and since, as someone who has herself operated and set policies for a major website, I respect the policies of this site, this is it for my web home of ~6 years. More time for my business, I suppose. And there's always FDL if I can't break my netroots addiction so easily.

[upi402]

29. I'm still trying but I'm sooo with ya

I still fight though I agree it's futile. I've fought my own brothers & sisters in this party to save it. But there is no opposition to corporatism.

I still work to save it but will write-in a non-corporatist and refuse to vote for one who is merely 1 notch less crazy.

I wont be disenfranchised.

:fistbump:

Maybe I'll look at FDL. Do they have a forum?

[Poboy]

30. I will only 'argue' for you to stay and continue to make you grievance heard.

If you choose to leave, let me just say I am with you in the struggle and happy fortunes to you.

[DeSwiss]

45. I agree with you 100%

I've been teetering back and forth myself. Good luck Oak2004 -- whatever you decide.

[Deep13]

12. Attention Democratic traitors:

You will pay.

And I know why they did it. After Citizens United, D. polititians think they can't rely on union money to fund their election efforts. So they need to kiss corporate ass. Well throwing their hats in with the enemy makes them the enemy.

[spanone]

14. we have to purge the dinos....otherwise there is no party difference

[TheKentuckian]

16. This party is suicidal or content with being yesterday's Republicans

How long before Bush is to the left of the middle of the road DINOcraps?

[fishwax]

18. wtf?

:wtf::grr:

[ThomCat]

19. I am not surprised.

It is unfortunate, but our own party has historically been willing to screw poor people repeatedly.

Our own party has repeatedly been willing to take any Republican issue that was gaining momentum, adopt it, and push it through in ways that the Republicans couldn't have done themselves.

The Democratic Party did it with "Welfare Reform" and massively increased the permanent structural poverty in this country. Reduced the options that poor people have for getting out of poverty. Decimated the social safety net, and made it effectively impossible for people on public assistance to go stay in school and get degrees while they are on public assistance so that they can become qualified for better jobs and climb out of poverty.

The mandatory work requirements mean you are doing minimum wage drudge work instead of going to school to improve your chances for your future. The two year lifetime cap on getting assistance means that after two years of drudge jobs and meager assistance, your chances of getting help are over, and you still won't have that degree, or any chance of supporting yourself while you struggle to get one. So higher education, real credentials for real jobs are now permanently out of reach for millions of people.

Democrats did this.

NAFTA and the explosive growth of Free Trade deals is another mess that came from the Democratic Party. The Republicans wanted Free Trade deals for decades but couldn't get them pushed through because labor and environmentalist fought back, but Democrats adopted the Free Trade banner and convinced people in labor and the environmental groups that there would be protections. Their voices would be heard. NAFTA went through despite concerns, and the worst fears of everyone on the left become true.

Provisions in these agreements allow for labor and environmental laws in individual countries to be stripped away if they interfere with profits. Corporations can demand that countries comply with the least restrictive provisions of the least restrictive country in the agreement. It became a race to the bottom as jobs disappeared, and living standards plummeted. But corporate profits soared!

Democrats did this.

The vast majority of this nation has been demanding access to health care for everyone. Universal Health care! What we got instead was a mandate to buy insurance policies. Expensive insurance policies. But no guarantee that anyone would be able to afford that insurance. No guarantee that the insurance would cover the care people need. No guarantee that insurance would be available. Insurance companies aren't mandated to sell policies, and the talk about the quality of those policies, and policing those policies has been vague, mostly talking about leaving that to states, where the insurance companies control state regulators.

The effect so far has been an drastic increase in the cost of insurance premiums. Over 25% in many areas in the past 2 years, and still increasing, while insurance policies are Reducing what services and types of care they cover, and how often, or for how long each year. We all pay far more and get far less. Insurance companies are also making much greater use of Co-insurance fees in addition to co-pays, so that even if you have insurance people have to pay a standard percentage of the cost of every service and every fee. Anywhere from 50% on a typical insurance policy down to 10% on "Cadillac" policies.

This means that anyone who needs a treatment, or a surgery that costs thousands of dollars will get stuck with a very large bill even though they have insurance. As health care costs are still increasing at double digit rates, the amount you could get stuck paying increases. Even if you have insurance, you don't dare get sick. You face bankruptcy the first time you use your insurance.

Health Care "Reform" never had as one of its goals the reduction of costs. The stated goal was to "reduce the rate at which costs increased." Please read that again. "Reduce the rate at which costs increase." This means that the goal was simply to have costs remain high, but get higher a bit more slowly than before. So insurance companies have every possible incentive to massively jack up their costs and rates as high as possible, into the stratosphere, before any of the legislative limits begin to take effect that merely slow down how quickly they can increase costs in the future. They will be able to keep all these cost increases, and keep increasing costs more, but a bit more slowly in the future.

Nothing is intended to save you or me any money. As long as you have insurance, that is supposed to be good enough. It apparently doesn't matter if you won't ever be able to afford to use it without becoming bankrupt and losing everything immediately afterward.

Democrats did this.

Though, on this one issue there is now talk about re-addressing this issue and hopefully improving things.

It's election time again, after all. It is time for politicians to make promises.

Given the history we have seen of poor negotiating skills, caving in to lobbyists from the beginning, letting the right frame every issue so that they get what they want by default, and then blaming the left simply for wanting anything, will you believe the promises this time?

[Chris_Texas]

37. + >9000!!!!!

[Ramulux]

44. You shoud make a thead out of this post

A lot of great undeniable information that everyone should be aware of.

[ThomCat]

46. I have, several times.

This is all stuff I make a point of posting pretty regularly so that people don't forget.

Too many people believe that anyone with a "D" after their name is automatically one of the good guys that deserves unconditional support.

Too many people believe that the party is unconditionally good, and only capable of doing good simply because it is the "D" party.

Yay Team! Go Team! That's all you have to know. That's all you have to do.

But it's not that simple, and never has been. Our own party is often just as bad as the Republicans, because our own party often IS THE REPUBLICANS. Many of the people in our party takes the same money from the same sources and therefore gets paid to push the same agendas for their gain, not ours.

We have a moral and ethical requirement to find out who the few good ones are who haven't sold out, and support those few as much as we can.

We need to fight to reclaim the party, and support issues and goals instead of just the party's brand name.

We need to support all the people of the United States, us, and every issue that helps us instead of corporations. Every goal that benefits us instead of wall street, the free market, privatization, corporations as persons, money as speech, or paranoid security requirements.

[seaglass]

20. And Deval Patrick is the leader of this. I will be checking how my rep voted

and she will NOT be getting another vote from me or my husband if she voted for this.

I am so angry about this. Deval Patrick would NOT have received my vote last November if he even intimated he would go after the public employee unions on this. I hope he does not plan to run for any other public office in this state.

[Mass]

28. No, he is not. DeLeo is the leader. Compared to his position, Patrick's is moderate.

You also realize it is about healthcare plans, not salaries and working conditions.

[seaglass]

34. It's Deval Patrick's plan. My husband is a firefighter, I know exactly what this is about. n/t

[bluestate10]

47. Patrick and the leader of the State Senate are opposed to the legislation.

Doubt that it will survive. The Senate will likely kill it, if not, Patrick will veto it. I hope that Patrick use a branding iron veto, like Schweitzer (sp?).

[Dappleganger]

21. Bumping this is it's a hella lot more more importan than the stupid birther shit.

[Poboy]

23. Yes it is.

[Squeech]

22. Anybody got

a link to the actual votes? I live in Massholia, and I'd really like to know how my representative voted on this.

[seaglass]

25. I couldn't find my reps vote on the MA House page - but found it in my local paper.

Last November she received the last vote she will get from me.

[upi402]

27. Check your Rep's vote here

http://www.votesmart.org/mystate_government_resources.php?state_id=MA

[KamaAina]

31. "they could lose their union backing in the next election"

Might we actually see a Labor Party (along the lines of NY state's Working Families Party) forming around this?

[mmonk]

32. Lesson? Don't elect those that will cut your throat.

[Broderick]

33. I have previously said Wisconsin is a mere distraction

It is going on everywhere behind the cloaks, yet Wisconsin seems to be the center of attention.

[Kermitt Gribble]

35. Wow!! Dems in Massachusetts??

This is concrete eveidence that our govts, state and federal, have been stolen from We the People. There is absolutely no denying it now.

[Poboy]

36. no denying it!

[Poboy]

38. .

[LynneSin]

39. Ted Kennedy is rolling in his grave right now

He was a big Union supporter and to see his home state do this.

Ugh!

[TK421]

48. I'm glad he's not around to see it n/t

[MrSlayer]

40. I'm going to vomit.

I've had it with this country, seriously. We will be a third world nation.

[jody]

41. MA has 2.8m workers, 414k union mbrs 58% of which are public employees. nt

[seaglass]

42. your point? n/t

[Ramulux]

43. Things are gonna be very interesting in Massachusetts

We will see what these dems do with no support of labor.

[progressoid]

49. Good Lord. Dems in MA?

What the hell is happening in this country?

[mntleo2]

50. Look, they thought Coakley was a good 'replacement' for Ted

...this is a woman who participated in one of the biggest, most expensive, stooopidest trials in her state's history with her sex ring witch hunt in the 1980s. Which turned out to be just that ...a witch hunt that imprisoned dozens of innocent people, scattered hundreds of kids to the wind, falsely accused people, withheld evidence, forced little kids to lie against their parents, decimated entire communities. This is how she made her bones.

This is how my democratic governor (WA) made her bones too ~ on false witnesses to a "sex ring" that turned out to be nothing but a bunch of lies. It should have been an embarrassment but these women just swept it under the rug and kept ruining more lives as they made their way up the ladder. When I learned that Coakley was involved in much the same thing and just another Gregoire, my heart sank. Did anyone in the Democratic party learn a damn thing or have a whit of conscience about the hundreds of innocent lives they ruined ~ or the generations of lives they impacted for future with this crap? No, they simply got promoted and still live lies.

I was forced to vote for Gregoire as the "lesser of two evils" but almost wretched as I did it. For good reason ... now she is making some Scott Walker moves but trying not to look like she IS a Scott Walker. But Dino Rossi a real estate millionaire who made HIS bones on cheating people out of their himes, well she was actually a better choice. Freaking hypocrites

If Dems thought someone like THAT was a "good replacement" for someone like Ted, well it is like being dumb enough to think a shiny rock is a diamond. I am sure there were far better candidates than Coakley, so ...what can one say about the Dems who do not seem to appreciate quality when they see it and take for granted good quality people like Teddy?

Since these idiots have strayed that far away from what a REAL Democrat is, maybe it is time for some pitchforks and torches, not just in MA but everywhere. That is what activists in MY state (along with a few brave elected Dems) are deciding right now. It is time to chain yourself to a fence, refuse to leave your Rotundas, pour your blood on a statue in front of the Governor's mansion, massive teach-ins. If that that does not work, perhaps read a little Eldridge Cleaver's Soul on Ice.

Cat in Seattle