Alaska Union Bill Would Restrict Collective Bargaining

AP:

Collective bargaining rights would be restricted for many Alaska public employees under a bill introduced Monday by a state lawmaker.

Read the whole story: AP

Comments

[whirlybird]

03:17 PM on 03/24/2011

The smell of pork fat is overwhelming on this board.

[arlandbaee]

05:56 PM on 03/23/2011

Eight states had union membership rates below 5.0 percent in 2010, with North Carolina
having the lowest rate (3.2 percent). The next lowest rates were recorded in Arkansas
and Georgia (4.0 percent each), Louisiana (4.3 percent), Mississippi (4.5 percent),
South Carolina and Virginia (4.6 percent each), and Tennessee (4.7 percent).
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm

Lets compare that to the poorest states in the US.

9 Poorest States
42) Montana - $40,627
43) Tennessee - $40,315
44) Kentucky - $39,372
45) Louisiana - $39,337
46) Alabama - $38,783
47) Oklahoma - $38,770
48) Arkansas - $36,599
49) West Virginia - $35,059
50) Mississippi - $34,473

http://www.city-data.com/forum/general-u-s/146020-cnn-money-richest-poorest-us-states.html#ixzz1HSiObBdB

Now try telling me again that unions are bad for the state. I can't think of words bad enough to explain Republicans and their lies.

[christiand]

10:05 PM on 03/24/2011

Correlation does not necessarily imply causation....

[arlandbaee]

10:28 PM on 03/24/2011

If these correlations were negative towards the Democratic party, the GOP would be screaming causation from the roof tops of FOX.

[FatFeline]

04:51 PM on 03/23/2011

Good ideas grow and expand.

[gerald4]

03:35 PM on 03/23/2011

Governor Parnell,

WHERE ARE THE JOBS?

GATT, NAFTA, WTO and other "Free Trade" laws ECONOMICALLY REQUIRE that US businesses relocate their US jobs to foreign countries where labor costs are only 4% to 25% of the US labor costs in the USA (not Europe), where electrical energy costs for manufacturing are less than 10% of the USA electrical costs, and where environmental compliance costs for manufacturing products that are a small fraction of the expense as they are in the USA, where business taxes that are less than in the USA, where the workforce is more technically and scientifically oriented than US educated US citizens, where US union labor contracts do not exist, and where work rules allow more flexibility in order to be competitive economically.

Will President Obama's proposed new South Korea Free Trade Agreement (SKFTA) treaty further cause the relocation of millions more of the few remaining US jobs to South Korea?

I guess another few more million unemployed US citizens will not matter to President Obama!

[llyd wlsh]

05:08 PM on 03/23/2011

it certainly doesn't matter to those who merely let the bottom line form their actions and who worship at mammon's altar

[gerald4]

07:01 PM on 03/23/2011

Those businesses that do not "let the bottom line form their actions and who worship at mammon's altar" go into bankruptsy.

How can any US businesses ever economically compete for business and acquire the associated jobs for US citizens with the disadvantages of US labor costs that are four to twenty five times the labor costs in Asia, US electrical energy created in compliance with EPA regulations for manufacturing with costs that are at least 10 times the costs available in Asia, US environmental EPA compliance costs for manufacturing products that are many more times as expensive as they are in Asia, business taxes that are less in Asia than in the USA, US payroll taxes (FICA) that generally do not exist in Asia, the Asian workforce that is more technically and scientifically oriented than US citizens, US union feathrer bed contract requirement costs, and Asian work rules that allow more flexibility?

[Henri101]

01:47 PM on 03/23/2011

It seems that every person can put on makeup and do or say something silly and would be projected on the national stage by the ever so accommondating national media. I rather see pigs with lipsticks squealing, they seem to have a better reason for being seen and hear.

[1southernbelle]

12:28 PM on 03/23/2011

And no I am not a member of any religion--I just know the Bible.

[1southernbelle]

12:26 PM on 03/23/2011

The Republican agenda is clear.
From the U.S. Congress to every state across our nation the Republicans wish to put a choke hold on we the people.
They wish to empower themselves, the banks, multinational businesses, huge agribusiness, powerful utilities, war industries and find ways to control the rest of us.

1. We must follow their religious preferences.
2. We must pay more so they can pay less taxes.
3. We must not have any collective bargaining because they don't want to share any power.
4. We must not have access to factual information [Fox will undoubtedly become more powerful] because we must believe every lie they tell.
5. Women in particular must toe the line and be obedient to their dictates.
6. War is good and there will be lots of Americans forced to join the military just to feed and educate themselves.

A pox on them all! Have they read their King James Bible?

"For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up."
Hosea 8:7

[Henri101]

01:50 PM on 03/23/2011

We pray for God's heavenly and timely intervention however wrathful it might be against these miscreants.

[Dis Gust]

11:02 AM on 03/23/2011

Governor Parnell,

WHERE ARE THE JOBS? How far down on your priority list is creating jobs. To date, all of your efforts are on things other than creating jobs--some might even kill jobs.

WHERE ARE THE JOBS?

[wdw808]

11:11 AM on 03/23/2011

cutting spending is first

[Dis Gust]

11:22 AM on 03/23/2011

Do you mean that the socialist State of Alaska is going to cut back on the amount of money it collects from the oil companies every year? Okay, put some more workers out of work. They pay the increased unemployment taxes.

It's the economy, stupid, and you can't just cut expenses. Government functions need to operate more efficiently, but I don't see governors cutting fat, I see governors pursuing a strategy to wipe out unions and make the middle class into the lower class.

To avoid this calamity--WHERE ARE THE JOBS? Oh, I get it. As public service employees lose their benefits, realize that they are no longer working to secure their future, they will all leave Alaska and then let's see how much public employees are needed. Hope you don't need an EMT soon? Or your trash collected?

[Dis Gust]

12:22 PM on 03/23/2011

Most economists think that it is too early to cut spending until 2012. Reasons for this include a recovery that is still too weak, a very fragile labor market, a weak residential real estate market and perhaps a weaker commercial real estate market.

Republicans ran in the midterms on a platform of creating jobs and reducing the deficit, as well as their usual bevy of wedge issues. Republican leaders promised $100 billion in spending cuts for 2012.

But then the Tea Party members ascended to Congress and demanded that $100 billion be cut from the 2011 budget. Economic forecasters who had predicted that 2011 would be a year of getting back on our collective feat and prepare for big spending cuts in 2012. Now they have changed their tune. To cut $100 billion this year will require employment cuts estimated to range from 200,000 (Ben Bernanke) to 700,000 (Mark Zandi) people.

To find money they can cut in this years budget, republicans are looking at the non-defense discretionary spending. This does not include big entitlements or the defense budget, just a mere 12% of the total budget. This is the part of the budget that pays for retraining workers, education, housing the homeless, infrastructure, etc., parts of the budget that have already been chopped.

So what happens in 2012? John Boehner keeps walking around asking "WHERE ARE THE JOBS?". Democrats counter with the number of additional joblessness created by the republicans in just two years.

[den1953]

10:50 AM on 03/23/2011

Could Alaska get any worse after all this dude is Palin's pick for Governor after she bailed on the people of Alaska?

[FunkSands]

10:46 AM on 03/23/2011

I'm confused.  Why is the socialist paradise of Alaska doing this now? 

[Old Ed inVN]

10:40 AM on 03/23/2011

Collective bargaining rights are against the constitution.
The constitution cleary states that the rich shall rule.
Well, I aint not reeded it but I no what I am told.
fire more teechurs bekuase we dont need them.

[whatdoyouwantandwhy]

06:14 PM on 03/23/2011

Best post I read all week!

[democrats for life]

10:32 AM on 03/23/2011

Sara is probably viewing Russia out of her front window as we speak

[jokinjoe]

10:32 AM on 03/23/2011

GOOD!!!! It will spread to all states.

[chucknchar]

10:38 AM on 03/23/2011

Jokinjoe? It should be bendover joe.

[TurgidCaterwauling]

10:46 AM on 03/23/2011

Joe thinks that by busting the unions, a lot of extra money will show up in his paycheck and the corporations will be creating lots of new jobs.

[Erdgeist]

10:25 AM on 03/23/2011

Anti-unionism is little more than a call for a return to wage slavery which is just one step above serfdom. Alaska, like most red-neck states, is showing its true colors.

[VegasPhil]

11:07 AM on 03/23/2011

Are you sure it is a step above?

[kwhitney333]

11:34 AM on 03/23/2011

Too late we are already in wage slavery, and serfdom. Soon you will be able to go to the museum and view the extinct middle class exhibit.

[whatdoyouwantandwhy]

06:18 PM on 03/23/2011

Naw, by then the mesuem would be closed down... Who would pay to go a place where you learn something?

[dennis1943]

10:14 AM on 03/23/2011

What part of "orchestration" do Americans not understand...............?

[whatdoyouwantandwhy]

06:20 PM on 03/23/2011

Orch-e-wha? I don't even think the Americans you are referring to can spell the word, let alone comprehend it...