Desert Rat Democrat

A Worthy Cause

The following is from an email from the Arizona Democratic Party:

December 11, 1006

Dear Fellow Democrats,

As we head into this holiday season we have much to be thankful for and a great two years ahead of us, filled with the potential to make an even bigger difference for our state and nation in the elections to come. However, even as we celebrate our victories there are others who continue to fight for basic individual rights and who will enter the New Year in a more precarious place.

The 1,600 workers of Raytheon in Tucson are on strike against the company over its failure to properly address employee medical costs. They are also fighting the company's insistence that all future workers be excluded from the current pension plan, despite the fact that the pension plan is heavily over-funded. Even as the company reported a 41% increase in earnings per share, the workers upon whose labor that success was built will be entering the holiday season living on food stamps and the small stipend which the strike fund can afford.

As Democrats, we have fought hard for healthcare and to protect people's ability to retire with a measure of security and dignity. That was at the heart of the dispute when we supported the miners that were affected by the ASARCO strike in Hayden and Winkelman last year. Now we have an opportunity and a calling to support this community of workers in Tucson and to help to make this a joyous holiday season for them and their families.

For that reason, the Democratic Party and the Young Democrats of Arizona are organizing a food and toy drive to show our support. We will be collecting nonperishable foods, filled holiday baskets, unwrapped gifts for children, teenagers and adults, plus school supplies and toiletries.

Please drop off your items between Dec. 12-19 to:

Arizona Democratic Headquarters @ 2910 N. Central Ave. Phoenix (M-F between 9:00am and 5:00pm)

Pima County Democratic Headquarters @ 4639 E. 1st Street, Tucson (M-F between 9:00am and 5:00pm)

Cochise County Democratic Headquarters @ 1010 E. Fry Blvd. Sierra Vista (drop off on Thursday Dec. 14 from 3pm-5pm, and Friday Dec. 15 9:00am-12n)

Coconino County Democratic Headquarters @ 5840 E. Waki Road, Flagstaff (M-F between 10:00am and 2:00pm)

Yavapai Democratic Headquarters @ 508 S. Montezuma St. Prescott, AZ
(M-F between 11:00am and 3:00pm)

I wish you all the best for the holidays and the New Year and look forward to working with you to bring some happiness and support to the workers and families of the International Association of Machinists, Local 933.

Sincerely,

Waid Sig

David Waid
Chairman
Arizona Democratic Party

As a pro-union, pro-labor guy, I've long believed that it is impossible to have a healthy progressive movement without having a healthy labor movement. Working people have always been the heart of the Democratic Party, and its no coincidence that the New Deal era saw reciprocal support between Democrats and Labor. It's also no coincidence that the Democratic Party began to flounder through much of the last three decades with the decline of labor unions in this country, and with elected Democrats reticence to support the labor movement. I'm heartened by the fact that this natural alliance is beginning to find its way back together, and I'm heartened by signs of growth.

Let's support these folks down in Tucson as best we can.

Ever Get The Feeling You've Been Cheated

From Bonddad on a number of blogs, but it was front-paged at MyDD:

Compensated only by stock options since 1997, Fairbank claimed one of the biggest windfalls among CEOs, exercising 3.6 million options for gains of nearly $250 million. His personal haul exceeded the annual profits of more than 550 Fortune 1000 companies, including Goodyear Tire & Rubber, Reebok and Pier 1

Fairbank, 55, pulled in $56 million from options in 2004. Capital One says Fairbank had to exercise options last year because they were set to expire. The company also noted its 24.6% annual shareholder returns the past decade.

Median 2005 pay among chief executives running most of the nation's 100 largest companies soared 25% to $17.9 million, dwarfing the 3.1% average gain by typical American workers, USA TODAY found in its annual analysis of CEO pay.

Now...onto the show. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, non-supervisory wages (which represent about 80% of the population) increased from $15.88 in January 2005 to $16.35 in December of 2005 for an increase of 2.95%. Over the same period, the inflation figure increase from 190.7 to 196.8 for an increase of 3.1%. So using the BLS numbers gives non-supervisory employees a net decrease of .15 in wages and using the UA Today figure gives the average American an increase o 0. Wow, that's really impressive.

So in other words, executives saw pay increases over 20% last year, the rest of us got the finger.

The truth is, what economic growth has been enjoyed during the Bush Administration has been on the backs of working and middle class people. The results are predictable. Soaring debt, rising personal bankruptcies, and a variety of economic ills for the working class while the rich coast.

Republicans whine when we bring up numbers like this, accusing us of class warfare.

Well frankly, if they're going to accuse us of class warfare, I say it's high time we got down to it. A little class warfare is a good thing. And after 25 years of mostly ruinous policies by the right-wing against working people, I'd say its time for a fight.

For starters, I'd say bolstering unions ought to be a must.

The Wreck of the Straight Talk Express, Part II

We're looking overhead at the wreckage of John McCain's Straight Talk Express. As you can see, it all started when John McCain told hard-working men they were lazy. Then he mixed in a couple of bad jokes, some really clumsy soft shoe, and it all just kind of blew to pieces.

One gets the feeling that John McCain's chief political consultant is probably curled up in the fetal position in the corner of his office in the Hart Building in Washington, DC, muttering "guest worker, Falwell, immigration, Iraq" incoherently and repeatedly at this point.

It's a couple of days old by now, but his Tuesday speech to the construction wing of the AFL-CIO is highly illustrative of the tin ear of our Senior Senator John McKeating McCain, as welll as his fast-fading hopes of being President in 2008:

WASHINGTON -- Sen. John McCain threatened on Tuesday to cut short a speech to union leaders who booed his immigration views and later challenged his statements on organized labor and the Iraq war.

..

The first questioner seemed to challenge his commitment to organized labor. When McCain started to praise a particular labor group in Arizona, the crowd booed again.

"Stop!" he said with a smile, drawing laughter from the crowd. "I surrender."

But he took more questions, including a pointed one on his immigration plan.

McCain responded by saying immigrants were taking jobs nobody else wanted. He offered anybody in the crowd $50 an hour to pick lettuce in Arizona.

Shouts of protest rose from the crowd, with some accepting McCain's job offer.

"I'll take it!" one man shouted.

McCain insisted none of them would do such menial labor for a complete season. "You can't do it, my friends."

Some in the crowd said they didn't appreciate McCain questioning their work ethic.

"I was impressed with his comedy routine and ability to tap dance without music. But I was impressed with nothing else about him," said John Wasniewski of Milwaukee. "He's supposed to be Mr. Straight Talk?"

(Emphasis Added).

What an out of touch jackass.

These are construction workers. In other words, they do manual labor. Everyday. Sometimes six days a week of it, in freezing cold, and burning heat. And for a whole lot less than $50 an hour. And this asshole thinks they'd be unwilling to earn a living wage picking lettuce? Frankly, compared to repairing an air conditioning unit, tiling a roof, or framing a tract home in the July Arizona heat, picking lettuce for several times more money would be a piece of cake.

$50 an hour, for the mathematically challenged, works out to $104,000 a year. Most Americans will never make $50 an hour. Heck, most two earner families will never make that much combined. The median family income in Arizona, Mr. McCain's adopted state (we inherited him from California, I'm afraid, when he went shopping for a Senate seat in the early 1980's) is less than $45,000 just over $58,000.

I work in a white collar office, where most people will make less than half that in a year. I don't know of many who wouldn't take $50 an hour to pick lettuce, or do anything else. Truth is, the corporate wing of the Republican party likes illegal immigration, and its redheaded stepchild, guest worker programs, because they lower everybody's wages.

Knowing the GOPs six year war on workers (stripping overtime from 16,000,000 workers, stripping worker protections from governmental jobs, etc, and knowing what the wages are likely to look like for a guest worker program (hint, these guys wouldn't be making minimum wage), I'm highly suspicious of any GOP proposal to reform immigration at this point.

And McCain? He's out of touch. He's always had a political tin ear at times (see South Carolina, 2000, and the Confederate Flag incident for an example), and his maverick credentials are pretty much tattered after the last week's follies.

Stick a fork in him and turn him over. Too many more months like this one, and he'll be done.

UPDATE: Very old numbers, since updated. Source, US Census.

Protecting Worker's Rights, the Bush Way

Paul DeCamp is Bush's nominee to head up the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division. Who better to protect the rights of workers than a former Wal-Mart attorney who has a track record of defending big corporations against labor abuses?

* As a private practice lawyer, DeCamp represented Wal-Mart in trying to prevent a class of 1.5 million women—the largest employment class action ever certified—from suing the company for discrimination in pay and promotions.
* He has proposed taking overtime pay away from workers in ways that were even more extreme than what the administration actually has done—and suggested easy outs for bosses who misclassify workers as not eligible for overtime pay.
* He’s represented businesses opposing union organizing campaigns and fighting unfair labor practice charges.
* He’s represented an employer appealing a record $40 million dollar sexual harassment verdict.
* And he’s fought on the bosses’ sides on collective and individual actions involving the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act and state wage and hour laws..

This is no April Fool's joke. It's simply what we've come to expect from the Bush mis-Administration.

Talk about the fox guarding the henhouse! Hat tip to toc.

Protecting Worker's Rights, the Bush Way

Paul DeCamp is Bush's nominee to head up the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division. Who better to protect the rights of workers than a former Wal-Mart attorney who has a track record of defending big corporations against labor abuses?

* As a private practice lawyer, DeCamp represented Wal-Mart in trying to prevent a class of 1.5 million women—the largest employment class action ever certified—from suing the company for discrimination in pay and promotions.
* He has proposed taking overtime pay away from workers in ways that were even more extreme than what the administration actually has done—and suggested easy outs for bosses who misclassify workers as not eligible for overtime pay.
* He’s represented businesses opposing union organizing campaigns and fighting unfair labor practice charges.
* He’s represented an employer appealing a record $40 million dollar sexual harassment verdict.
* And he’s fought on the bosses’ sides on collective and individual actions involving the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act and state wage and hour laws..

This is no April Fool's joke. It's simply what we've come to expect from the Bush mis-Administration.

Talk about the fox guarding the henhouse! Hat tip to toc.

We won another one. Davis-Bacon

It's a couple of days old by now, but I can't resist commenting on probably the biggest victory by House Democrats this year.

From Congressman George Miller's (D-CA) Press Release:

Bowing to pressure from a united Democratic front, a small group of members of his own party, the religious community, and the labor movement, President Bush announced today he would reverse the decision he made in September to remove wage protections for construction workers in the areas affected by Hurricane Katrina.

After Katrina, the President suspended the 1931 Davis-Bacon Act, which requires federal contractors to pay at least the prevailing wage to construction workers in a local area. The president's action, which was widely denounced, followed requests from right-wing activists and Republican members of Congress who exploited Katrina to achieve a long-sought ideological agenda item.

Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the senior Democrat on the House Education and the Workforce Committee, led the effort in the House to force Bush to rescind his Gulf Coast wage cut.

"President Bush finally realized that his Gulf Coast wage cut was a bad idea that hurt the workers and their families affected by Katrina," said Miller. "But let me be clear - the President is backing down today only because he had no other choice.

Bush reversed course because he was destined to lose a vote in the House. Democrats united as one in defense of working people, and roughly 40 GOoPer Congresscriters, with one eye on reelection bids next year were prepared to cross party lines to reinstate it.

Of course, Halliburton's willingness to use a subcontractor who hired illegal aliens probably had something to do with this one as well. Mustn't do something that would negatively impact the value of President Cheney's Halliburton stock options, after all.

We won another one. Davis-Bacon

It's a couple of days old by now, but I can't resist commenting on probably the biggest victory by House Democrats this year.

From Congressman George Miller's (D-CA) Press Release:

Bowing to pressure from a united Democratic front, a small group of members of his own party, the religious community, and the labor movement, President Bush announced today he would reverse the decision he made in September to remove wage protections for construction workers in the areas affected by Hurricane Katrina.

After Katrina, the President suspended the 1931 Davis-Bacon Act, which requires federal contractors to pay at least the prevailing wage to construction workers in a local area. The president's action, which was widely denounced, followed requests from right-wing activists and Republican members of Congress who exploited Katrina to achieve a long-sought ideological agenda item.

Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the senior Democrat on the House Education and the Workforce Committee, led the effort in the House to force Bush to rescind his Gulf Coast wage cut.

"President Bush finally realized that his Gulf Coast wage cut was a bad idea that hurt the workers and their families affected by Katrina," said Miller. "But let me be clear - the President is backing down today only because he had no other choice.

Bush reversed course because he was destined to lose a vote in the House. Democrats united as one in defense of working people, and roughly 40 GOoPer Congresscriters, with one eye on reelection bids next year were prepared to cross party lines to reinstate it.

Of course, Halliburton's willingness to use a subcontractor who hired illegal aliens probably had something to do with this one as well. Mustn't do something that would negatively impact the value of President Cheney's Halliburton stock options, after all.

CAFTA: 15 Democrats in Need of a Primary Challenger

As you are probably aware, the Central American Free Trade Agreement was passed today by the narrowest of margins, 217-215. Several Republicans (mostly southerners, whose textile industry-heavy regions have been bloodied by job losses to NAFTA in the last 10 years) defected and voted against it, as expected.

In my mind, the most highly disturbing thing of this whole issue was that 15 Democrats defected and voted for the thing.

Voting against CAFTA would be easily defensible in even the reddest of states. Hell, almost 30 Republicans Republicans voted against it.

For the record, and for permanent entry on the left-hand sidebar of shame, here are the 15 people who treasure money from big corporate donors more than they do workers and middle class families in America:

The 15 Democratic sellouts were:

Melissa Bean (IL)
Jim Cooper (TN)
Henry Cuellar (TX)
Norm Dicks (WA)
Ruben Hinojosa (TX)
William Jefferson (LA)
Jim Matheson (UT)
Greg Meeks (NY)
Dennis Moore (KS)
Jim Moran (VA)
Solomon Ortiz (TX)
Ike Skelton (MO)
Vic Snyder (AR)
John Tanner (TN)
Ed Towns (NY)

I have $20 ready and willing to go for anybody who challenges this bunch of cretins who so willingly wish to sell their party, their constituents, and the vast majority of the people of this country for fifty pieces of silver.

David Sirota goes further, and narrows the list by indicating which of the 15 also voted for the hideous bankruptcy bill, as well as the hideously mislabeled tort reform bill. I've taken the liberty of highlighting the 9 in bold.

If this is your congressman/woman, consider pounding the hell out of their phones, email addresses, fax machines, and mailboxes. You can find that here.

These people need to know that they can no longer afford to sell out the people who elected them to the corporate fat cats.

CAFTA: 15 Democrats in Need of a Primary Challenger

As you are probably aware, the Central American Free Trade Agreement was passed today by the narrowest of margins, 217-215. Several Republicans (mostly southerners, whose textile industry-heavy regions have been bloodied by job losses to NAFTA in the last 10 years) defected and voted against it, as expected.

In my mind, the most highly disturbing thing of this whole issue was that 15 Democrats defected and voted for the thing.

Voting against CAFTA would be easily defensible in even the reddest of states. Hell, almost 30 Republicans Republicans voted against it.

For the record, and for permanent entry on the left-hand sidebar of shame, here are the 15 people who treasure money from big corporate donors more than they do workers and middle class families in America:

The 15 Democratic sellouts were:

Melissa Bean (IL)
Jim Cooper (TN)
Henry Cuellar (TX)
Norm Dicks (WA)
Ruben Hinojosa (TX)
William Jefferson (LA)
Jim Matheson (UT)
Greg Meeks (NY)
Dennis Moore (KS)
Jim Moran (VA)
Solomon Ortiz (TX)
Ike Skelton (MO)
Vic Snyder (AR)
John Tanner (TN)
Ed Towns (NY)

I have $20 ready and willing to go for anybody who challenges this bunch of cretins who so willingly wish to sell their party, their constituents, and the vast majority of the people of this country for fifty pieces of silver.

David Sirota goes further, and narrows the list by indicating which of the 15 also voted for the hideous bankruptcy bill, as well as the hideously mislabeled tort reform bill. I've taken the liberty of highlighting the 9 in bold.

If this is your congressman/woman, consider pounding the hell out of their phones, email addresses, fax machines, and mailboxes. You can find that here.

These people need to know that they can no longer afford to sell out the people who elected them to the corporate fat cats.

Numbers: Minimum Wage Edition

Christy over at Think Progress has a great post on the minimum wage. Here are a few of the highlights that jumped out at me:

4.3 million: Number of Americans who have fallen into poverty since President Bush took office

$5.15: Federal minimum wage

26%: How much the inflation-adjusted value of the minimum wage has eroded since 1979

0: Number of times minimum wage has increased since 1997

7: Number of times Congress has increased its own pay since 1997

$28,500: How much more a year members of Congress make today compared to 1997

$10,700: Amount a person making minimum wage will earn in a year

$5,000: Amount below the poverty level working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year at minimum wage will leave a family of three

7,300,000: Number of workers who would benefit from an increase in the minimum wage

72%: Percentage of adult workers who would benefit from an increase in the minimum wage

11 million: Number of jobs added to the economy in the four years after the last minimum wage hike

$8.70: Amount minimum wage would have to be today to have the same purchasing power it had in 1968

86%: Percentage of Americans who support raising the federal minimum wage

Strengthening labor laws, protecting and strengthening the right to organize, and raising the minimum wage ought to be core planks of the Dem platform in 2006. Now that we're beginning to wean the party off of corporate money should give us an excellent chance of doing just that.

Raise the minimum wage, Congress, now.