In the States Roundup for May 8
Here's a look at some of the key battles in the states over the past week.
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Here's a look at some of the key battles in the states over the past week.
The North Dakota AFL-CIO is calling out the hypocrisy of legislative Republicans and asking the state's residents to demand that Gov. Jack Dalrymple (R) veto a bill that would deny locked-out workers unemployment benefits. According to an action alert sent out by the state federation, extreme right-wing Republicans in the legislature have voted to both deny locked-out workers unemployment benefits and to give themselves pay raises and more benefits.
It’s been a long winter for locked-out American Crystal Sugar workers. Workers have been locked out for nearly 19 months from their jobs because of the greed of CEO David Berg and company board members.
Luckily, the North Dakota Supreme Court ruled recently that workers were entitled to receive unemployment benefits under state law. This has been a lifeline for American Crystal Sugar workers.
More than 400 locked-out North Dakota American Crystal Sugar workers got some good news this week when the North Dakota Supreme Court ruled they were eligible to collect unemployment benefits. When the lockout began in August 2011, North Dakota Job Service ruled the workers were ineligible for the benefits.
While government in Washington, D.C., remains divided and marked by long-term gridlock, governments in the states are much less divided. Of the 50 states, 37 now feature state governments where the governor and majorities in both legislative houses are controlled by one party— 24 of those are controlled by Republicans . Extreme, anti-working family Republicans have repeatedly assaulted the rights of people in recent years and, by all accounts, the trend looks to expand in 2013. Working families are mobilized and fought back in 2012 and will continue to fight in 2013. The response to the "right to work" for less push in Michigan was so strong, that governors in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin have since declared that they won't push for right to work in their states.
When a company locks out skilled employees and replaces its entire workforce with inexperienced new hires, here’s what happens: productivity plunges and profits tank.
Losing money is not a wise corporate strategy. Yet, unless American Crystal Sugar Co. agrees to return to contract negotiations with the 1,300 workers the company locked out a year ago , the company is on course to repeat its sorry fiscal 2012 performance. After the company replaced all its seasoned employees, production costs increased by 23 percent and payments to its shareholders lagged behind the rest of the industry, which saw their shareholder payments increase. That followed a year in which Crystal Sugar was hugely profitable, with $1.5 billion in net earnings.
( Sign a petition calling on American Crystal Sugar CEO Dave Berg to treat workers fairly and return to the bargaining table.)
It’s been four years since low-wage workers got a raise. Sign the petition to tell Congress it’s time to raise the minimum wage.
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