[Educationforall] spam con huevos labor news, views and concerns, 3.30.12‏‏‏‏‏-I‏‏‏‏

[Carlos Pelayo]

In Spain, millions join strike to protest labor reforms‏ CWA Union Teams Up With Free Press, Consumer Groups to Oppose Telecom Deregulation  3 Ways Women Workers are Fighting Discrimination, Wage Theft, and Abuse on the Job  CEO Pay Rises, Worker Pay Falls‏ Romney's NLRB Mole   
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In Spain, millions join strike to protest labor reforms

By Lauren Frayer, Los Angeles Times

5:20 PM PDT, March 29, 2012 

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-spain-austerity-strike-20120330,0,2796257.story

Confrontations erupt during the general strike, which
disrupted transportation and shuttered factories. The
new labor laws are part of Spain's austerity measures.


MADRID -- Millions of Spaniards stayed off the job
Thursday to protest new labor laws that allow companies
to opt out of collective bargaining pacts, reduce wages
and fire workers more easily.

The general strike stalled public transportation and
shut factories and schools across the country. Angry
confrontations erupted between hordes of protesters and
riot police officers, but no major violence was
reported.

It was the first such large-scale labor action against
the policies of conservative Prime Minister Mariano
Rajoy and the strongest public rebuke yet of his
austerity measures. In office for just three months,
Rajoy has focused on cutting spending to shrink the
country's yawning budget deficit and to meet European
Union rules on fiscal discipline, which previous
governments routinely flouted.

Rajoy is to unveil his 2012 budget Friday, including up
to $50 billion in cuts,Spain'sharshest yet. EU
officials and financial markets are eager for a
commitment to frugality by Madrid, afraid that the
long-running euro debt crisis might otherwise flare up
badly again and engulf the Eurozone's fourth-largest
economy.

But Spaniards are holding their breath for possibly
punishing cuts in welfare, education and healthcare,
hallmarks of the European welfare state that are now in
danger across the continent.

"Food, fuel -- all the prices are going up," said Carlos
Rodriguez, 50, an elevator mechanic on strike. "Now
with this labor reform, they can reduce our pay and
increase our hours. We don't agree with that."

Spain has already enacted rounds of budget cuts to tame
its deficit, but overspending by regional governments
forced Rajoy to announce recently that Madrid would
miss the deficit target it agreed to with the EU. Since
then, Spain's borrowing costs have flirted with modest
but worrisome increases, reinvigorating fear that the
country might have to seek a costly international
bailout, after similar rescues of Greece, Ireland and
Portugal.

Finance ministers of the Eurozone's 17 countries, which
use the euro currency, are scheduled to meet in the
coming days to discuss beefing up the region's bailout
resources. But many analysts say that the slightly less
than $1-trillion total being proposed is insufficient
to reassure investors that the big economies of Spain
and Italy can be saved from a default if borrowing on
the open market becomes too expensive.

Even the Netherlands, which has loudly preached the
virtues of fiscal restraint to its southern European
neighbors, is now struggling with the need for major
austerity measures. The Dutch coalition government has
been locked in negotiations for days over proposed
budget cuts and is teetering dangerously close to
collapse.

Hundreds of thousands of protesters packed town squares
across Spain on Thursday. In Madrid's central Puerta
del Sol plaza, hundreds staged a sit-in outside a
department store and cried "Shame!" at police manning
barricades that allowed store employees to cross picket
lines. "Without the uniform, you are one of us!" they
yelled.

Red union banners waved above the crowded square, along
with homemade posters depicting scissors with a red
line through them, to protest the budget cuts.

Spain's two largest unions organized the strike in
response to labor reforms approved by lawmakers this
month. Backers say the sweeping changes are needed to
modernize an antiquated labor system in which older,
tenured workers have jobs for life and younger people
are left struggling to get a foot on the employment
ladder.

But critics say the reforms unfairly favor employers
and will lead to a rise in the unemployment rate.
Nearly one in four members of the Spanish workforce is
jobless, and the rate is nearly 50% for people younger
than 25.

"If you lose your job, especially if you're over 40 or
45, it's very hard to find another one," said David Le
More, a spokesman for UGT, one of the organizing
unions. "So people fear a lot that with these new
conditions, they'll get fired, and new people with
lower-earning contracts will get their jobs."

Union leaders have set a deadline of May 1 for the
government to amend its labor reforms or face further
unrest.

Before the strike, polls showed that 30% of Spanish
workers planned to take part, but authorities did not
issue crowd estimates. Late Thursday, unions claimed
participation of 77% of all workers.

Most public transportation systems were running on
reduced schedules. Garbage collection was suspended,
and trash piled up on many city streets.

Frayer is a special correspondent. Times staff writer
Henry Chu in London contributed to this report.

____________________________________________

PortsideLabor aims to provide material of interest to
people on the left that will help them to interpret the
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http://truth-out.org/news/item/8207-cwa-union-teams-up-with-free-press-consumer-groups-to-oppose-telecom-deregulation

CWA Union Teams Up With Free Press, Consumer Groups to Oppose Telecom DeregulationMike Elk, In These Times: "The Communications Workers of America union has been criticized by progressive consumers groups like Free Press for its positions on net neutrality and the proposed AT&T-T-Mobile merger. Now, though, CWA is teaming up with groups like Free Press to fight two big bills that they say would deregulate the telecommunications industry, help build telecom monopolies and lead to telecom job losses." Read the Article 

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http://www.alternet.org/story/154691/3_ways_women_workers_are_fighting_discrimination%2C_wage_theft%2C_and_abuse_on_the_job?akid=8502.16102.M02Heq&rd=1&t=3

3 Ways Women Workers are Fighting Discrimination, Wage Theft, and Abuse on the JobWomen workers are attacking low pay and bias from many angles, assailing wage laws that exclude them, suing over outright discrimination, and trying to organize unions. READ MOREJenny Brown / Labor Notes
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http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/874476/new_report%3A_%22serious_and_pressing%22_working_conditions_in_china%27s_foxconn_factories/

New Report: "Serious and Pressing" Working Conditions in China's Foxconn FactoriesBy Angela Lee | AlterNet
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March 30, 2012
The Georgia anti-free speech bill that brought union, faith and tea party activists together died as the legislative session ended, but bills attacking jobless workers and welfare applicants passed.On top of their 2010 average pay hike of 27 percent, CEOs of the nation’s largest companies got another boost in 2011. While the 2 percent boost may seem measly, it means an extra $192,000 for those making the median CEO pay of $9.6 million a year. Meanwhile, workers’ wages fell 1.2 percent. Watch for new information next month from the AFL-CIO’s Executive PayWatch.
Read more and comment.  Ga. Anti-Free Speech Bill Dies; Attacks on Jobless Workers and Welfare Applicants Pass Romney-Backed Ryan Budget for the 1% Passes House Harkin’s Rebuild America Act Builds Economy for 99% Labor Key to Revitalizing American Manufacturing Massey Official Pleads Guilty in Upper Big Branch Case House Leaders Duck Long-Term Solution, OK Temporary Transportation Funding Out of Touch, Maybe?Read more important news of the day on the issues working families care about.Follow the AFL-CIO:
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To find out more about the AFL-CIO, please visit our website at www.aflcio.org.Click here to unsubscribe.
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  OUTRAGE
The National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) inspector general reports Romney adviser Peter Schaumber was provided internal, confidential, attorney-client privileged information that he used to support his business practice and attack the NLRB.

Demand that Mitt Romney fire Peter Schaumber immediately.  

Mitt Romney’s labor adviser, Peter Schaumber, has gone too far. The inspector general of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) found that improper, unethical disclosures of privileged information to Schaumber were used to benefit his consulting practice and attack the NLRB—the federal agency tasked with protecting workers’ rights.1

Rep. Elijah Cummings, the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, says the concerns raised in the inspector general’s report are “very serious and involve potential criminal implications.”2 

How candidate Romney responds to these findings is a test of his character. Will Romney embrace Washington insiders who trade on confidential and even attorney-client privileged information? Or will he demand they abide by the same ethical standards the rest of us—the 99%—pride ourselves on and expect others to live up to? 

Please join the AFL-CIO in demanding that candidate Romney renounce Peter Schaumber’s involvement with these ethical breaches and fire him immediately. 

According to the report of the NLRB’s Office of the Inspector General and news reports, here’s what we know about Romney adviser Peter Schaumber:He was named to the NLRB by President George W. Bush and served until Aug. 27, 2010. After he left the agency, Schaumber marketed himself as a “consultant” with “[NLRB] agency connections.” During that time, he did press work to attack the NLRB and the modest workplace protections workers have.2
 Schaumber benefited from the improper and unethical receipt of confidential, inside information to support his anti-worker consulting business and his press work aimed at giving the NLRB a bad name. The inappropriate disclosures were made to Schaumber from his former staffer, Terence Flynn—who remained at the NLRB and became a board member.1

Flynn acted as Schaumber’s mole inside the agency, feeding him internal, confidential, attorney-client privileged information. According to the IG report, this broke government ethics rules. Flynn needs to resign immediately, and Romney needs to hold Schaumber accountable.1,3
Join the AFL-CIO in calling on candidate Romney to immediately dismiss Schaumber from his campaign.

This funneling of privileged information is an outrageous example of how the 1% gets things done at the 99%’s expense. If candidate Romney allows Peter Schaumber to remain as an adviser, it will speak volumes about the value he places on ethics in government officials. 

Merely firing Schaumber isn’t enough: Candidate Romney needs to make it clear his campaign will not tolerate those who benefit from unethical conduct.

Thank you for all the work you do.

In Solidarity,

Manny Herrmann
Online Mobilization Coordinator, AFL-CIO

1    http://democrats.edworkforce.house.gov/sites/democrats.edworkforce.house.gov/
files/documents/112/pdf/letters/DOCFlynnTransmittal.PDF
2    http://www.salon.com/2012/03/27/team_romneys_alleged_labor_mole/singleton/
3    http://www.aflcio.org/Press-Room/Press-Releases/Statement-by-AFL-CIO-President-
Richard-Trumka-On-Ethical-Violations-by-NLRB-Member-Terence-FlynnTo find out more about the AFL-CIO, please visit our website at www.aflcio.org.Click here to unsubscribe.
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