Plain Talk: Not a good time to hike DOT consultants’ pay

SEPAC Note: AFSCME Local 758 President and Wisconsin DOT employee Ken Weaver is furious about his finding of a 2% raise, in recent DOT contracts with private consultants who perform the same work that state employees use to perform at a cheaper cost. Ken Weaver also chairs the AFSCME Council 24 Contracting Out Committee and he has spent hundred's of hours reviewing State DOT contracts over many years identifying hundred's of thousands of waste of taxpayer's money.

Plain Talk: Not a good time to hike DOT consultants’ pay

Unintended consequence: Collective bargaining law may increase state pension costs by $87.5M

SEPAC Thought; Was this an unintended consequence from the Walker Administration or was it intentional to create even more of a hue and cry from non-participants of the Wisconsin Retirement System in order that the opponents could boost their false and misleading argument for privatization of the system?

Unintended consequence: Collective bargaining law may increase state pension costs by $87.5M

Weekend of secrecy for big GOP donors - Political Hotsheet - CBS News

So the demands of the wealthy will be communicated to the GOP front-runner in the Presidential race.

Why do you think this is a meeting in "secrecy"? It is secret because the wealthy want to tell and remind Mitt Romney what he will have to do for them if he wants more of their money.

Weekend of secrecy for big GOP donors - Political Hotsheet - CBS News

AFSCME Elects Saunders, Reyes as New Leadership Team

Blog posting from the AFL-CIO:

AFSCME Elects Saunders, Reyes as New Leadership Team

AFSCME | AFSCME Elects Lee Saunders President, Laura Reyes Secretary-Treasurer

AFSCME | AFSCME Elects Lee Saunders President, Laura Reyes Secretary-Treasurer

AFSCME Has a New President & Secretary Treasurer

AFSCME election results are in:

President
Lee Saunders: 683,628
Danny Donahue: 582,358

Secretary-Treasurer
Laura Reyes: 661,413
Alice Goff: 603,624

Gary Mitchell, President of AFSCME Council 24, Local 2412 was re-elected as the Wisconsin AFSCME International VP representative on the AFSCME International Executive Board.

AFSCME Council 24 extends its congratulations and best wishes to Lee Saunders, Laura Reyes and Gary Mitchell.

Sent from Steven Williams BlackBerry smartphone

Biden: Romney is attacking public workers | KETK

Vice President Joe Biden took a sledgehammer to Mitt Romney's position on government spending on Tuesday, accusing the GOP of launching an all-out front against public sector employees. "You guys are under full blown assault. This is the greatest assault on the working class people and their unions that I've seen in my lifetime," Biden said at the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) convention in Los Angeles

Biden: Romney is attacking public workers | KETK

WI Retirement System - Myths and Facts

This is a great piece of information. Follow the below link for the FACTS about the Wisconsin Retirement System. Educate yourself about YOUR retirement system and then educate others. Opponents of the WRS have been and will continue to paint a picture of public employees being the "Have's" and everyone else the have not's. Divide and Conquer, surely you have heard that phrase being used, aginst YOU!

WI Retirement System - Myths and Facts

Pension tension: Retired state workers fear future payments will be squeezed

Despite ordering the report, Walker has said he has no plans to alter the system. Yet that hasn't eased retirees' concerns.
"My biggest worry is they are going to try to fix something that isn't broken," says Biendseil, 67, who retired in 2006 and lives in Middleton.
The stakes are high. With assets of some $77 billion, the WRS is the second-largest pot of money in the state, surpassed only by Milwaukee-based life insurance giant Northwestern Mutual and its $190 billion.

Pension tension: Retired state workers fear future payments will be squeezed

AFSCME | President McEntee Urges Delegates to Fight On

Gerald W. McEntee, outgoing president of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, June 18 used his last speech to the union he has led for three decades to exhort union members to combat “the anti-government agenda of the Koch brothers,” and their political allies who seek to curtail public sector bargaining rights. In a speech prepared for McEntee's keynote address to AFSCME's national convention, where members will elect a new president, the longtime leader underscored the threat facing public employees around the country, and urged members to fight politicians who seek “to destroy us and to drive a stake through the heart of the American Dream.”

AFSCME | President McEntee Urges Delegates to Fight On

Retirees fear more changes to public pension system

Without a strong rebound in the investment market, Wisconsin's public pension system may need a larger infusion of taxpayer money, further reductions in benefits for retirees — or both — to maintain the long-range stability of a fund considered one of the nation's strongest. Meanwhile, some retirees are nervous about a special report due June 30 on possible changes that could shrink the pension pool by allowing employees to opt out or choose alternative plans.

Retirees fear more changes to public pension system

Workers and public lose when workers silenced - JSOnline

Marty Beil, executive director of Wisconsin State Employees Union, AFSCME Council 24.
Journal Sentinel, June 16, 2012

There's a reason one of Gov. Scott Walker's first acts in office was to "drop the bomb" on public-employee unions. It wasn't about money. It was about power. If money had been his concern, he might have at least tried sitting down with union representatives to seek concessions.

Workers and public lose when workers silenced - JSOnline

OpinionNation: Labor's Bad Recall? | The Nation

….Here’s the hard truth. We’re living in a dark time, and it’s gotten very hard for normal working Americans to win either at the workplace or in politics. We are massively outspent, and people are so scared of losing their jobs that it’s hard to fight back on a large scale. We have not figured out a reliable way to win. But the fundamental dynamics of power are the same as they ever were. We need to fight as smartly and as powerfully as we can, understanding that the game has not changed but simply gotten a lot harder.

OpinionNation: Labor's Bad Recall? | The Nation

In many statehouses, GOP confronts dissention - Businessweek

Republicans set out a bold conservative agenda after taking control of state capitols across the Midwest and South in the last general election. They wanted to cut taxes and spending, put new limits on labor unions, crack down on illegal immigrants and give parents more alternatives to traditional public schools. But after a series of notable achievements last year, the largest Republican wave in statehouses since the Great Depression is now splintering and action on key issues is stalled despite little meaningful opposition from outnumbered Democrats.

In many statehouses, GOP confronts dissention - Businessweek

AFSCME | AFSCME’s 40th International Convention Gets Under Way in Los Angeles

More than 5,000 delegates, alternates and guests will gather in Los Angeles this week to elect a new president and secretary-treasurer, celebrate AFSCME’s 75-year history while charting a course for its next two years, and gear up the Green Machine for the re-election of Pres. Barack Obama. Pres. Gerald W. McEntee, who is retiring after holding that position for 31 years, will set the stage for the week on Monday with his keynote address. His final speech as AFSCME’s president will be followed by a special tribute recognizing his tireless work in service to the labor movement for the past 56 years.

AFSCME | AFSCME’s 40th International Convention Gets Under Way in Los Angeles