NHLabor
NHLabor's JournalRepublicans In The NH Executive Council Put Politics Over People By Defunding Planned Parenthood
Today the Republican led Executive Council in New Hampshire upped their attacks on women and working families. In a 3-2 vote the Executive Council voted to defund Planned Parenthood in the NH.
Jenifer Horn, the NH GOP Chair cited the false and misleading video as justification for defunding an organization that provides many low-income families with much needed healthcare services. Horn wants the Governor to investigate the potential illegal activities by Planned Parenthood.
“This isn’t a matter of being pro-choice or pro-life. It’s about ensuring that public dollars are not being given to a company that may be engaged in criminal activity”
What a bunch of hogwash! This is just another example of the evangelical right pushing their anti-abortion agenda on the rest of us!
First, Planned Parenthood does not use tax money for any abortions services, it is already against the law. Second, fetal tissue is donated, not sold, for life saving research that could lead to the end of Diabetes, Muscular Dystrophy, Parkinson’s, Polio, and countless other chronic diseases. Third, and most importantly, fetal tissue donation does not occur in New Hampshire at all!
These baseless attacks on women’s reproductive rights are just another attempt by the GOP to roll back women’s right to choose.
Read More....http://nhlabornews.com/2015/08/republicans-in-the-nh-executive-council-put-politics-over-people-by-defunding-planned-parenthood/
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker Says Taking On Unions Prepared Him For ISIS (VIDEO)
In “I cannot believe he just said that” news, Governor Scott Walker just told the crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) that attacking labor unions has prepared him to be a leader in the fight against ISIS.
I am not joking this is what he said, as reported by Politico and in the YouTube video (above).
“I want a commander in chief who will do everything in their power to ensure that the threat from radical Islamic terrorists do not wash up in American soil,” Walker told an audience at the 2015 Conservative Political Action Conference today, after he was asked how he would handle threats from ISIS as president.
“We will have someone who leads and ultimately will send a message, not only that we will protect American soil. But do, not, do not take this upon freedom-loving people anywhere else in the world. We need a leader with that kind of confidence. If I can take on 100,000 protesters, I could do the same across the world.”
The 100,000 protesters he is referring to are the 100,000 people who showed up in 2011 when Governor Walker attacked the state’s labor unions and passed ACT 10 which stripped away the collective bargaining rights of hundreds of thousands of hard working Wisconsin families.
Jim Tucciarelli, District Council 37, Local 1320, Senior Sewage Treatment Worker and AFSCME member from New York had this to say about Scott Walker’s comparison of labor protesters to ISIS:
“Put simply, it’s disgusting to hear Scott Walker compare the 100,000 hard-working men, women, senior citizens and children who came out to protest in Wisconsin to the terrorists of ISIS. In Wisconsin, my sisters and brothers from across the country stood up peacefully for freedom. The protesters were members of the military, police officers, firefighters, and first responders. They were librarians, teachers and nurses. How desperate do you have to be as a politician to compare those folks to murderous terrorists?
“Our union’s building was a block away when the Twin Towers fell on 9/11. I have friends who died on that terrible day. In the weeks that followed, union members worked tirelessly to bring the city back, and I am proud to have been one of them.
“Governor Walker, I know terrorism. I know that your own state’s citizens speaking up for what’s right isn’t terrorism. Today, after hearing your words, I also know the sound of cowardice.”
Read more and see the video at http://nhlabornews.com/2015/02/wisconsin-governor-scott-walker-says-taking-on-unions-prepared-him-for-isis-video/
Through Rain, Sleet, and Snow The Mail Must Go Through, So Why Is Congress Trying To Destroy The USP
NH NALC Member Bill Brickley talks about the harsh NH winter and the problems facing the USPS.
SNIPPIT--
As Letter Carriers put their health and safety at risk each day in this especially brutal winter we can take solace in the fact we have enabled the Postal Service to continue its financial turnaround. 2015 Fiscal Year Quarter 1 reports released Friday confirmed what all Letter Carriers know our business is booming . All types of letter mail continue to grow and parcel delivery is skyrocketing allowing the USPS to make a $1.1 Billion operating profit just this quarter. This will be the third consecutive year with a sizeable operational profit.
As Letter Carriers walk house to house in blustery winds on treacherous snow and ice to deliver America its mail many in Congress sit in their warm offices saying they have to reform or dismantle the worlds best Postal Service. They don’t consider Clerks and Mail Handlers driving in snowstorms through the middle of the night to move the mail. Their anti government ideology blinds them as they ignore the facts. Those people could not do a Letter Carriers job for a day especially in this hell of a winter. As a news commentator stated this week ” the only vehicles on the road were Plows, Police and Postal Trucks”
They want to sell off the USPS as there is profit to be made by the wealthy in their climate controlled boardrooms. Anti government zealots use Fed Ex and UPS as examples of what the USPS should become. They fail to mention both Fed Ex and UPS have increased prices 5-10% this year and still charge fuel surcharges even though gasoline prices have plummeted.
While politicians are cashing their campaign contributions from Fed Ex and UPS they also seem to disregard the fact that the Postal Service delivers to every address in America every day. Those private companies often drop off their unprofitable and difficult deliveries at the nearby post office to have a USPS Letter Carrier deliver the last mile.
Read the full article here:
Through Rain, Sleet, and Snow The Mail Must Go Through, So Why Is Congress Trying To Destroy The USPS?
http://nhlabornews.com/2015/02/through-rain-sleet-and-snow-the-mail-must-go-through-so-why-is-congress-trying-to-destroy-the-usps/
BREAKING NEWS: AFT NH Joins Growing Movement Of Teachers Boycotting Staples Over USPS Privatization
BREAKING NEWS: AFT New Hampshire Joins Growing Movement Of Teachers Boycotting Staples Over USPS Privatization Scheme
AFT-New Hampshire Calls for Boycott on Staples over Deal with U.S. Post Office Privatizing Work of Local Post Offices
Teachers union urges educators and school staff not to purchase school supplies from Staples
Concord, New Hampshire – The Board of Directors of AFT-New Hampshire, representing 4000 teachers, school staff, and public employees, announced today to boycott office supply and bulk goods retailer Staples. AFT-New Hampshire leaders said the union has taken this action to support the American Postal Workers Union’s battle against a deal struck between the United States Postal Service and the giant office supply chain for an 82-store pilot program in which postal counters providing most of the same services as local post offices would operate in Staples stores. In recent weeks, the USPS/Staples partnership has drawn outrage across the country, and a May 21 Boston Globe story indicated that Staples may want to consider backing out of the arrangement if public and labor opposition persist.[1]........
READ MORE http://wp.me/p2yHP6-3VD
Scott Brown Dances Around Granite Stater’s Questions About Minimum Wage (VIDEO)
There are very few political issues that are truly bi-partisan, however raising the minimum wage is by far the one issue that Republicans and Democrats can agree on. In a February poll from UNH, they found that 76% of Granite Staters support raising the minimum wage. In the same survey 63% of Republicans and 78% of Democrats supported the NH minimum wage increase. Even 50% of those people who “support the TEA Party” supported raising the NH minimum wage.
I cannot think of any other issue that has such high support by the people, except background checks on guns sales (91% support), that some politicians continue to reject.
In spite of strong bi-partisan support, Senator Scott Brown will not say whether he supports raising the minimum wage. Twice in the last week Brown was confronted by real Granite Staters who asked him straight out if he supported raising the minimum wage. This is a key issue because the Senate held their first (of many) votes to overcome the GOP filibuster on raising the federal minimum wage.
Brown’s answer ……..ummm……. You can see his official response in these videos......
View videos and the rest of the post on at link http://nhlabornews.com/2014/05/scott-brown-dances-around-granite-staters-questions-about-minimum-wage-video/
Politicians Thank Veterans For Their Service, Then Cut Programs To Feed Them (With Sharable IMAGE)
Happy Veterans Day.Here is an excerpt from my latest post calling on politicians to stop telling us how much they love our veterans and do something to help them.
Last year Speaker John Boehner released a video message that said:
“Saying ‘thank you’ is important, but there’s always more that we the people can do for those whose sacrifices preserved the heritage of freedom.”
While he is saying ‘thank you’ to veterans, he is slapping them across the face at the same time. Speaker Boehner is leading the House of Representatives to starve nearly a million veterans. The Republicans in the House pushed for billions of dollars in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) more commonly known as food stamps.
There is a well-known myth that people on food stamps are gaming the system. Congressman Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) believes that the entire food stamp program is overrun with “fraud,”. “Absolute 100 percent, all of it is fraud. There’s fraud all through that,” Mullin said.
I wonder if Congressman Mullin’s opinion would change when he finds out that over 2,000 veterans in his state alone rely on food stamps to feed their families?
“Accordingly to a report out this week from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, approximately 900,000 veterans are currently dependent, in whole or part, on food stamp benefits to care for their themselves and their families.” (Forbes 10/30/13)
The Huffington post also compiled the number of veterans who rely on food stamps and they came up with a different number.
“According to data compiled by the Huffington Post, 1.5 million veteran households are using SNAP. The sharp increase of veterans or other military families relying on food stamps is right in line with what is happening across the board: more families are struggling to make ends meet because of the recovering economy and families who may have never needed assistance before are looking for help.” (Veterans Today)
Read the full story by clicking here
Here is the Meme I created to go with the post.
"A thankful nation should not let this happen to our #Veterans http://wp.me/p2yHP6-3jr #VeteransDay #1u #p2 @UniteBlue pic.twitter.com/V5PXL0lBHW" Click Here to Retweet
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The Working Poor Are Becoming Homeless and Congress’ Response: Defund The ACA
Today the New York Times posted an article “In New York, Having a Job, or 2, Doesn’t Mean Having a Home” and if you have not already read it, you should. It tells the stories of people who work in NYC and are forced to live in a homeless shelter.
“On many days, Alpha Manzueta gets off from one job at 7 a.m., only to start her second at noon. In between she goes to a place she’s called home for the last three years — a homeless shelter.”
This truly depressing story is about the working poor. The working poor are those who have a job (or as the article highlights two jobs) and still are below the poverty level. This is a huge problem. In NYC over 50,000 people call a homeless shelter their home.
“More than one out of four families in shelters, 28 percent, include at least one employed adult, city figures show, and 16 percent of single adults in shelters hold jobs.”
This is just another example of how low wage jobs do not provide enough for people to actually live.
“A one-bedroom in East New York or the South Bronx is still $1,000 a month,” said Patrick Markee, senior policy analyst with the Coalition for the Homeless, an advocacy and housing services group. “The jobs aren’t enough to get people out of homelessness.”
New York City is not alone when it comes to working poor. There is not one state in the entire country where a low-wage worker can afford a two bedroom apartment working 40 hours a week. In many states a low-wage worker needs to work over 100 hours a week to afford an apartment.
READ THE FULL POST AT NH LABOR NEWS
I Call Them Heroes Every Day Not Just On Sept 11th
On September 11 2001 our country was attacked. Some people ran away from the crumbling towers, others ran straight into the burning buildings. These people are true heroes.
Some people want you to remember how much they love our public workers on September 11th, and call them Union Thugs the rest of the year. "I CALL THEM HEROES EVERYDAY, NOT JUST SEPTEMBER 11th!"
Read the entire story:http://nhlabornews.com/2012/09/i-call-them-heroes-everyday-not-just-on-9-11/
Give us a like The New Hampshire Labor News
READ MY POST It begins....
Today marks the anniversary one of the most horrific moments in our nations history. Many other blogs have been asking “Do you remember where you were on September 11th?”. I am sure we all remember what we were doing. Those images of the airplanes being flown into the World Trade Center are forever imprinted in our memory. My question to you is “What else do you remember about September 11th?”
I remember the look of fear in my wife’s eyes as we watched in horror at the events of September 11th. I remember faces of the people at ground zero running for their lives in a cloud of smoke and falling debris as the buildings began to collapse around them. I remember seeing the police and firefighters rushing into those same collapsing building to search for people lost in the smoke.
Latest GOP efforts to repeal Obamacare: Texas Senator proposes to shut down Government – and Bully O
Read full post with reference linksWritten by Matt Murray and Liz Iaocubbci
Is anyone keeping track anymore?
These days, it seems that House Republicans vote to delay or repeal the Affordable Care Act – more commonly known as “Obamacare” – on a weekly basis. I think it’s been 37 times, so far, but I may have missed one or two.
These votes aren’t just an exercise in political theater – they are a waste of taxpayer dollars. Estimates of exactly how much all these votes have cost taxpayers vary, from $1.45 million to $1.75 million per vote. But multiply either number by 37 or 38… and gosh, it starts adding up. (Can’t you think of a few other ways the federal government could spend $50+ million?)
Meanwhile, all around America, “Health Insurers Threaten To Increase Premiums, Even As Profits Soar.” Insurance companies’ overhead is estimated to account for 30 cents of every dollar spent on healthcare. (Obamacare, you may remember, includes provisions that limit insurance companies’ profits.)
And if Obamacare is repealed, everyone will expect workers to foot the cost of rising insurance premiums – and do you remember how fast those premiums were rising, before Obamacare was passed?
But as of today, it looks like the Crusade to Repeal Obamacare is moving into the Senate. Today, Texas Tea Party Senator Ted Cruz started making headlines.
Cruz is positioning himself for a possible run for President, and he wants to rally his base by taking an extreme stand on Obamacare. His plan is to either repeal Obamacare or shut down the government.
“The Texan’s strategy is simple enough. Congress needs to pass a so-called continuing resolution to keep the government running by Sept. 30. Republicans, Cruz argues, should refuse to vote for the measure unless it prohibits spending any federal money on the President’s signature legislative accomplishment. If the stance sparks a shutdown, so be it.”
READ the rest at NHLN
The Outrageous Truth About A $12 Minimum Wage And Your Grocery Bill
Every time I even mention the idea of raising the minimum wage, I am immediately attacked on social media.
Opponents imagine that inflation will skyrocket; some have even claimed that ‘milk will be $10.00 a gallon’ if we raise the minimum wage. Oh, the hysteria. Milk is currently around $3.50 a gallon and that is up 25% from just ten years ago. Is that 25% due to rising wages? Sadly, no – wages in America have declined during that time. Must be some other economic force at work. (Read “Even Dairy Farming has a 1%” here.)
So, what if we raised the floor to a living wage, and paid non-tipped employees a minimum wage of $12.00 per hour? Oh, more hysteria. Opponents claim that will drive our costs up so much we will be unable to eat!
Let’s look at a few facts about minimum wage.
Who gets paid minimum wage? People opposed to raising the wage claim that ‘minimum wage workers are kids in high school; adults do not make minimum wage’. The fact is 25% of minimum wage workers are below the age of 19 – which means that 75% of all minimum wage earners are above the age of 20. That means they’re adults – not high school kids. In fact, almost half of all minimum-wage earners are above the age of 25.
Another fact: under the current minimum wage, a full time worker makes only $15,500 per year – before taxes.
Another fact: 64% of all minimum wage earners are women. Of that a whopping 66% are women above the age of 20.
Another fact: More than a third of minimum wage workers (35.8 percent) are married, and over a quarter (28.0 percent) are parents. The Economic Policy Institute estimates that if Congress raised the minimum wage, it would raise the standard of living for more than 21 million children.
There is more to the story at NH LABOR NEWS
Fact references on NH Labor News post.
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