Cincinnati voters will decide this fall on a ballot measure to eliminate pensions for city workers that was written by an extremist right-wing think tank , funded by unnamed out-of-state interests and promoted by tea party activists.
![In Ga.: 'We [Union Workers, Tea Party, Etc.] Own the Dome!'](/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/aflcio/blog/in-the-states/in-ga.-we-union-workers-tea-party-etc.-own-the-dome!/209161-1-eng-US/In-Ga.-We-Union-Workers-Tea-Party-Etc.-Own-the-Dome!_blogpostimage.jpg "In Ga.: 'We [Union Workers, Tea Party, Etc.] Own the Dome!'")
The rally today at the Georgia state Capitol protesting extreme bills proposed by extremist state legislators went waaaay beyond bipartisanship.
The hundreds of ralliers, shouting, "We Own the Dome," represented a strange-bedfellows coming together of union activists, tea party members, faith activists and others, united against S.B. 469—the anti-free speech bill that would impose serious penalties for picketing a business or a CEO's home if it interferes with his or her "right of quiet enjoyment."
Here’s something we don't see every day. The tea party and unions and other progressive groups have come together in Georgia to fight a proposed Draconian law that would make union and other picketing a serious crime.
Proving once again that the Republican leadership’s “jobs agenda” is just talk and no action, the New Hampshire House is set to vote on dozens of bills this week that are all about tea party-fueled attacks on New Hampshire families.
Donna Gratehouse, who blogs at Democratic Diva and elsewhere on all things Arizona, sends us this.
Imagine a plant in your state announcing it was closing and taking 5,000 jobs with it. That is the shock to the economy that Arizona can expect with budget bills introduced yesterday by the Republican tea party majority legislature. The bills were rushed through committee hearings with less than 24 hours notice to the public. The 5,000 state jobs cut or lost through attrition is just the start of it. Here are some other lowlights of the GOP proposed budget:
Donna Gratehouse, who blogs at Democratic Diva and elsewhere on all things Arizona, sends us this.
Raise your hand if you were supporting yourself and maybe helping to support your family when you were 18. I know I was, so I can’t fathom what the Arizona Legislature is thinking by putting forth a ballot referendum that would allow employers to pay workers under 20 years of age substantially less than the state’s minimum wage. Currently it is at $7.65 an hour but this recent measure, if approved by voters, would allow businesses to pay teens and young adults as little as $4.65 an hour.
Unemployment insurance as we know it is on the chopping block.
Donna Gratehouse, who blogs at DemocraticDiva and elsewhere on all things Arizona, sends us this.
Hundreds of high school students walked out of their Tucson, Ariz., schools Monday in a coordinated protest against the banishment of the district’s acclaimed Mexican American Studies program. This from Common Dreams :
Congress this morning extended for two months unemployment insurance (UI) for America’s jobless workers. Republicans in the House earlier this week had blocked the UI extenstion, but after suffering badly in opinion polling, they announced they’d join with 89 out of 100 senators from both political parties who’d already voted to renew unemployment aid for two months—with no cuts and no strings attached.
Fearing they didn’t have the votes to defeat a bipartisan Senate compromise that would extend unemployment insurance (UI) for long-term jobless workers and a payroll tax cut for workers, Republican House leaders scuttled a vote on the bill today. Then they left town for the holidays. Both the UI program and the tax cut expire Dec. 31.
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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