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To help you keep track of where both sides stand in the BART contract negotiations, here are our best estimates of current average salaries by bargaining unit based on the 2012 Public Employee Salary Database. This page will be updated as new contracts are proposed. Last updated 5:26 pm Oct. 14 to reflect the latest contract proposal by BART management.

In a move that portends a labor firestorm, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed and four other city leaders filed papers on Tuesday aiming to put a public pension measure on the November 2014 statewide ballot. If approved, the measure would change the California Constitution to give state and local government authority to lower current employees’ pension and retiree health benefits prospectively.

OKLAHOMA CITY – Jennifer Parrish has a hard time believing she is still fighting efforts that would force her to become part of a union simply because she operates a home-based child care center. It's been seven years since a man knocked on her door, barged in and harassed her to sign a petition that ultimately would unionize people taking care of kids. He argued with her — in her own home — and wouldn't leave until she promised to take a look at the petition and sign it for him to pick up later. Annette Meeks, CEO of the...

The federal government shutdown is here, and that means some places around town are offering freebies. Most of these deals are reserved for government workers only, but some are open to everyone. Furloughed workers receive 50% off weekday bookings to @GoApeUSA until 10/18 with Federal ID! Use code "FEDS50" to book at www.goape.com. by GoApeUSA 7:54 PM Reply Permalink ALL performances of Marry Me a Little FREE this weekend for govt employees with promo code GOVT at bpt.me (govt ID required) by cauldronevents 7:54 PM 2:40 PM TwitterOldDominionBrewhouse @OldDominionBrew Week 3 of the Government Shutdown! Happy Hour ALL DAY at...

A federal workers union is demanding that President Barack Obama declare the shutdown a national emergency and force businesses, hospitals, and schools to forgive workers’ bill payments until a deal is reached. American Federation of Government Employees President J. David Cox sent a letter to Obama on Friday lamenting that the lengthy shutdown would hurt government workers. He proposed that the White House intervene to declare the shutdown a federal emergency, which would allow workers to collect zero-interest loans from FEMA and force businesses to extend lines of credit to employees.

Tens of thousands of federal workers in New York City continue to feel the impact as the partial government shutdown continues. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) joined furloughed federal employees, union leaders and others affected by the shutdown to call on Congress to reach a compromise. Maloney said the crisis in entirely manufactured and is only being made worse with the nation getting closer to reaching its debt limit. “We need to end it I hope tonight or tomorrow morning. The idea of violating our debt ceiling is so disturbing,” she said. “A small group of conservatives are holding up the...

Labor unions are poised to score the delay of an ObamaCare tax in the bipartisan budget deal emerging in the Senate. The bargain under negotiation would make small adjustments to the healthcare law, including delaying the law's reinsurance fee for one year. The three-year tax is meant to generate revenue that will stabilize premiums on the individual market as sick patients enter the risk pool. The tax applies to all group health plans, but unions argue it will raise their healthcare costs while providing them no benefit.  The reinsurance tax figured prominently in discussions at a recent AFL-CIO convention, where...

The United States Supreme Court will hear a case involving the forced unionization of "personal care providers" in Illinois that the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation and two other groups asked the Court to hear. If the high court rules against the Illinois forced unionization, the decision could outlaw such schemes nationwide. In Michigan, the Service Employees International Union took more than $34 million from tens of thousands of home-based caregivers who were forced into the union. That scheme officially ended this year. In the class action lawsuit headed to the Supreme Court, Pamela Harris and seven other Illinois personal care...

Los Angeles public schools are encouraging teachers and staff to wear badges that identify them as “LGBT allies” and supporters of the pro-gay movement. Superintendent John Deasy kicked off the effort Thursday, which he said was necessary to prevent gay kids from being bullied. “We want all our youth and staff to know that it is safe to be you in LAUSD,” said Deasy in a statement to the Los Angeles Times. The move is part of the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center’s “Out for Safe Schools” initiative. The front sides of the badges have the word “ally” written on...

It’s highway robbery! City hacks now have to shell out 6 cents per fare so they can pay for tutorials on ObamaCare, The Post has learned. “Nobody’s happy about it,” said Charbel Sfeir, a yellow-cab driver since 1984. “It’s not fair. The money’s going to go to paperwork for ObamaCare. I don’t need to pay them do to paperwork.” The hack tax, mandated by the city Taxi and Limousine Commission, went into effect Oct. 1 and requires that drivers pay for “disability insurance and health-care navigation services.” The TLC has placed the Taxi Workers Alliance, a drivers union, in charge of...

Some 30,000 grocery store workers in the state of Washington could be walking picket lines as soon as next week, in what some say is a direct result of ObamaCare. Big supermarket chains including Safeway, QFC, Albertsons and Fred Meyer are represented by Allied Employers in contract negotiations with the United Food and Commercial Workers and Teamsters. One of the employers' new proposals is to provide healthcare only to employees who work 30 or more hours per week, a minimum requirement under ObamaCare. “As with all employers, the Affordable Care Act will impact how we deliver health benefits to our...

The director of technology for the Steubenville, Ohio, schools pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges that he obstructed an investigation into the rape last year of a teenage girl by two high school football players who were later convicted. William Rhinaman, 53, was indicted on obstruction of justice, evidence tampering and perjury charges, all felonies, and obstructing official business, a misdemeanor - the first charges brought by a special grand jury that was launched after the rape trial. The case drew national attention to Steubenville, which is about 40 miles west of Pittsburgh, after online postings of a photo and...

And, like too many other arbitrators, Edelman makes it a priority to find ways to keep teachers in classrooms, with little apparent consideration of the impact on schools or students. This is most evident, and troubling, in sexual misconduct cases. In a breakthrough 2005 agreement, the union and DOE inserted language into the teachers contract stipulating “a mandatory penalty of discharge” to any union member “found by a hearing officer to have engaged in sexual misconduct.”

The Minnesota Department of Public Safety confirms it is investigating a potentially threatening call made to a Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) employee. The call came Wednesday night shortly after a 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS story about questionable spending of taxpayers' money by a top DHS official. The whistleblower told investigators Assistant DHS Commissioner Scott Leitz approved a deal that gave Fairview's Amplatz Children's Hospital extra Medicaid money it might not be entitled to receive. After we aired a follow up story Wednesday night, the whistleblower told investigators he received a threatening phone call at home. The call, he says,...

WASHINGTON - Despite a steady rain, about 250 laid-off federal workers rallied on Capitol Hill Thursday to protest the ongoing shutdown of much of the federal government. Organized by at least two unions, the speakers and attendees blamed Tea Party Republicans for the legislative gridlock that has failed to produce spending authority. Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson likened the conservative hard-liners to Civil War insurrectionists. "They lost the battle on the field in 1863," Jackson told the crowd. "They lost the battle at the polls in 2012. They must not take our government." Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi (D-- Calif.)...

Speaking at a rally to demand Congress ends the government shutdown on Friday, Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) said he is “committed to the Affordable Care Act,” and he “will come back in the afterlife” to fight for it. In his closing remarks he said: “My followers, listen friends. I am committed to the Affordable Care Act, and I just want you to know this: if for some reason I should have an untimely demise, I want you to know that not only am I going to fight for the Affordable Care Act in this life, I will come back in...

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi cheerfully led Spanish-language chants of “Si se puede” — or “Yes we can” — at a rally Tuesday for amnesty and immigration, but turnout for the event at the National Mall was far below the organizers’ predictions of 100,000 attendees. The barriers at the event were set to accommodate 35,000 people, but less than half the area was occupied. Loudspeakers and a large display screen at the rear of the area were almost devoid of listeners or viewers. The rally was held on public land during a widely hyped government shutdown that has seen the...

Government by extortion: Give us what we want, or we'll make your life VERY difficult. Or, we might even think about taking your life to make an example for other uncooperative citizens.

Tens of thousands of Boston schoolchildren were left stranded this morning by what the school district called an “illegal work action” by hundreds of bus drivers who refused to drive their routes today, forcing T bus drivers and even Boston police to jump in and ferry kids to school.“I hope this is all worth it,” Roxbury mom Corvette Rankins — who ferried her 8-year-old to the Blackstone Elementary School — said in response to the drivers. “Were your children stranded or did you take them on strike with you?”Only 30 of 650 buses are on the road today, the district...

Minnesota taxpayers no longer have direct control over more than $200 million worth of school levies they approved because of a shift in tax authority designed to give school districts more-reliable revenue sources. Changes in the latest education funding bill approved by the 2013 Legislature gave school districts the power to convert up to $724 per pupil of existing tax levies from voters' approval to school board members' control. In districts with no voter-approved property tax, school board members can levy up to $300 per pupil without a vote by residents. That means more than a quarter of the $831...

Binghamton, NY (WBNG Binghamton) The standstill in Washington is making Americans restless. As the government shutdown entered day four, tensions spilled onto the streets of downtown Binghamton. The Norwich Tea Party Patriots and Citizen Action of New York crowded the Metro Center causing tensions to flare. While members from both of the organizations are against the shutdown, the paths they want Congress to take toward a solution run in opposite directions. "We are tired of being blamed for the shutdown of the federal government," Gilda Ward, Coordinator of Norwich Tea Party Patriots, said. "Every time the House Republicans have presented...

It’s no secret that most state pension plans across the country are deep in the red. However, a study by the nonpartisan group State Budget Solutions, Promises Made, Promises Broken: The Betrayal of Pensioners and Taxpayers, reveals that defined-benefit public government pension plans face a cumulative $4.1 trillion funding gap. Moreover, the study shows that combined, state pension plans are only 39 percent funded. In order for states to keep their pension promises to retirees and taxpayers, reform is crucial. State Budget Solutions uses fair market valuation to fully examine state pension unfunded liabilities. Currently, there are two main approaches...

SAN ANTONIO — Idled Defense Department workers delivered a symbolic furlough notice Thursday to the local office of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, where about two dozen people gathered. The union-led protest, which drew Democratic activists, accused Cruz of fomenting the congressional discord that produced the federal government's partial shutdown Tuesday, affecting thousands of workers in Bexar County. American Federation of Government Employees Local 1367 President Eloise Stripling said the shutdown harms workers as well as those they serve. She's an English instructor at the Defense Language Institute at Lackland AFB, with students from around the globe. Most of the...

NORTH BRUNSWICK – Held on the off day of Oct. 16th, the Senate election is a base election, argue the forces of Republican challenger Steve Lonegan, who this week trotted out the endorsement of former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who gave establishment Republicans the jitters in the 2008 election. Democratic nominee for Senate Cory Booker is counting on that same panic attack revisiting Garden State voters. “That’s a spark for us,” said the Newark mayor, referring to the Palin shout-out for Lonegan as he exited an IBEW union hall where he spoke in support of increasing the minimum wage. “Sarah...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Maryland's Democratic senators urged their Republican colleagues to reopen the federal government during a news conference with with federal employee unions Wednesday. Some Republicans have tried to pass legislation that would reopen some agencies, but Democrats voted against it Tuesday. U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md. said that a "piecemeal" approach that opens some agencies or operates some with limited services does not deal with the budget issue. She called it an "illusion." "You have to open the entire government," Mikulski said repeatedly. "Our first objective is to get you back to work," U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md....

OGDEN, Utah (ABC 4 Utah) – A passionate protest was held in front of the James V. Hansen Federal Building was held Thursday by federal employees wanting to return to their jobs. “We want to work!” the group chanted. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers are living in limbo during the government shutdown. Roughly 10,000 of those people are employed in Utah, but are being furloughed. Jenny Brown is a furloughed IRS worker in Ogden. Brown said she and about 90 percent of IRS workers in Ogden are staying at home without pay. They were protesting on behalf of the...

About 33,000 non-military federal workers in San Diego had their third day of no work and no pay Thursday because of the government shutdown. The number of furloughed federal employees in San Diego was estimated by Marney Cox, the chief economist for the San Diego Association of Governments. One group from the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents more than 25 different federal government agencies, spoke out about the shutdown at a press conference outside the Federal Building in downtown San Diego. Nine NTEU members, who all work for the IRS, said they're struggling without their paychecks and want to...

Smartest. President. EVAR! NBCWashington ✔ @nbcwashington Obama: If a worker shut down a manufacturing plant until they got what they wanted, they'd be fired. Watch live: http://bit.ly/15NUP73 10:06 AM - 3 Oct 2013 Obama to Visit Rockville Company, Talk Shutdown President Obama plans to visit a Maryland construction company to talk about the government shutdown's effect on business. NBCWashington @nbcwashington 133 Retweets 25 favorites The video evidence:(VIDEO-AT-LINK)The SEIU disagrees: Q: Can I be fired for being on strike? A: It is illegal for the employer to fire anyone for participating in a concerted action like a strike. This means that...

Via Charles Cooke. Imagine it. Imagine a movement so selfish that it would sabotage the operations of a venture on which vast numbers of people depend simply to gain leverage for its own agenda. Then imagine that that movement grew in numbers to the point where it could elect its own bought-and-paid-for politicians to do its bidding. Who knows how much havoc it could wreak? When you think about it, Democrats are right: It really is a sort of terrorism. Am I awake? Youtube

When Vallejo entered bankruptcy, it had a golden opportunity to shed pension obligations. When the city failed to do so, I made an easy prediction: Within years, Vallejo would be back in bankruptcy court. And here we go again: Two years after bankruptcy, California city again mired in pension debt. Less than two years after exiting bankruptcy, the city of Vallejo, California, is again facing a budget crisis as soaring pension costs, which were left untouched in the bankruptcy reorganization, eat up an ever-growing share of tax revenues. Vallejo's plight, so soon after bankruptcy, is an object lesson for three...

Supreme Court justices could deliver three harsh blows during the current term to Big Labor. One could undermine much of what President Obama has done for unions, and another could prohibit one of labor's main organizing tactics. A third endangers a different organizing tactic.

It appears that the Obama administration is violating the First Rule of Holes. Yesterday the administration looked awful when it “closed” and barricaded the World War II memorial on the Mall. The memorial is, by its nature, open. There is nothing to close. --SNIP-- ...these protesters were marching towards the press gaggle and I was asking them to show their federal IDs to prove they were in fact federal workers. No one wore their federal ID and none would provide it to prove their claim. Then, remarkably, a guy carrying a sign passed by wearing a McDonald’s employee shirt, which...

After about an hour, about 20 SEIU protesters arrived on the scene chanting “Boehner, get us back to work” and claiming they were federal employees furloughed because of the shutdown. In the video below these protesters were marching towards the press gaggle and I was asking them to show their federal IDs to prove they were in fact federal workers. No one wore their federal ID and none would provide it to prove their claim. Then, remarkably, a guy carrying a sign passed by wearing a McDonald’s employee shirt, which I noted. I then began asking them how much they...

Nearly a half million federal furloughed employees will turn to their unions to help claw back money they lost as part of the federal government’s scale back of services that went into effect Tuesday. Leading up to the suspension, union leaders said they would lean on lawmakers to ensure that their employees get paid for their forced time off. Congress could vote to retroactively pay workers, and did so for employees affected by the last shutdown in late 1995 and 1996. "The National Treasury Employees Union will be leading the fight to make that happen," president Colleen Kelley told Reuters,...

WASHINGTON — Federal employee unions and members of Congress from Maryland, D.C. and Virginia – all Democrats – denounced House Republicans and lamented the financial pain of federal employees caused by the government shutdown during a press conference outside the Capitol Tuesday afternoon. In a political game of chicken, congressional Republicans sought this week to pass a spending bill that also defunded the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare. Because Democrats refused to budge and Republicans held fast on the legislation to defund Obamacare — parts of which went into effect Tuesday — nearly 800,000 federal employees were furloughed from...

The International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers (IFPTE) “urges all Federal workers to join with our Sisters and Brothers throughout the labor community in fighting back. Since the House of Representatives is kicking you out the door, you should take to the streets, let your voices be heard, and remind them that ultimately it is you who will decide their fate, not the other way around,” said Gregory Junemann, the union president. .... “IFPTE is horrified by the House Leadership’s decision to jeopardize American prosperity in favor of making an empty partisan political point. This House, led by Speaker...

A looming federal government shutdown is slated to take effect at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka released the following statement on the House Republicans' hostage taking: As of today, it is clear that the Republican Party and the Tea Party have become one and the same when it comes to federal fiscal policy. House Republicans have decided that they will shut down critical public services, stiff public servants, hold America’s credit rating hostage and kill off jobs because they are upset that President Obama decisively defeated Mitt Romney last November. That some Republicans are participating in this fiasco...

MADISON – A controversial art lesson in the Madison Metropolitan School District draws similarities from a 2012 incident in which a Louisiana middle school teacher was fired after displaying his student’s anti-President Obama drawings.Kati Walsh, an elementary art teacher in Madison, published anti-Gov. Scott Walker political cartoons drawn by her kindergarten, first- and second-grade students. One drawing depicts Walker in jail, and another in which he appears to be in jail and engulfed in flames. Walsh said the orange in that drawing actually represented a prison jumpsuit.Robert Duncan, a former Slidell, La., middle school social studies teacher at St. Tammany...

You'd be hard-pressed to find a bigger cheerleader in media for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, than Ed Schultz. Hardly a day has passed in three years since the law was enacted that Schultz has not touted its magnificence on his radio show and cable program on MSNBC. Those familiar with Schultz's huff-and-puff shtick know that he's got another soft spot -- for labor unions. (Audio after the jump) So it didn't come as a total shock to hear Schultz on his radio show yesterday make a jaw-dropper of a suggestion -- that unions are exempted...

If the federal government partially shuts down on Tuesday, federal worker unions are set to protest and demand back pay for government workers. Government unions may even consider lawsuits to get back pay for furloughed federal employees. If Congress cannot agree to a short-term resolution to fund the government by Monday, parts of the federal government will shut down on Tuesday. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) said he believes government employees should get back pay and, since many may be living "paycheck to paycheck," he asserted, “We as a Congress need to be more sensitive to their needs.” Union officials estimate...

Dan from Squirrel Hill's Blog Here are 68 reasons why hypocrite politicians and unions that support Obamacare want exemptions for themselves By Dan from Squirrel HillPosted on September 24, 2013. Updated on September 28, 2013.As the author of this blog post, I place it into the public domain. Anyone may freely copy it in any part or in its entirely, without asking my permission, and without paying any money. I do ask you please cite a link to http://danfromsquirrelhill.wordpress.com/2013/09/24/obamacare-59/I ask you to please show this list to as many people as possible. Sunshine really is the best disinfectant. I can’t stop...

It may be sunny in Los Angeles, but dark clouds hang over union members at the final day of the AFL-CIO convention. Union leaders are so unhappy with Obamacare, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) that the convention is expected to vote on a resolution calling for changes to the law. According to Bloomberg, the unions are worried that the health care law will endanger member health care benefits and argue that the “multi-employer plans should be eligible for tax subsidies.” The law currently only allows for low-income individuals who do not have employer-sponsored health care coverage, or...

The Detroit News reported that the State Bureau of Elections began a formal investigation of the Service Employees International Union regarding its financing of a ballot proposal last year. Proposal 4, which would have locked into the state constitution the skimming of millions of dollars each year from the caretakers of disabled people, was defeated by 14 percentage points. Chad Livengood in The News reported: The complaint focuses on a group called Citizens for Affordable Quality Home Care and an East Lansing company called Home Care First Inc. Citizens for Affordable Quality Home Care sponsored the ballot proposal. In campaign...

Members of the Chicago-based Service Employees International Union Local 1 have gone on strike over recent job cuts by a janitorial company called Professional Maintenance. The reason for the cuts? The employer says it is because of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. This is ironic since SEIU is a major supporter of the law.

WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) released the twenty-fifth in a series of facts about Obamacare: The union representing IRS workers — tasked with enforcing Obamacare — vocally opposes participation in the law’s exchanges. IRS union leaders provided their members with a form letter expressing concern with legislation to “push federal employees out of the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program and into the insurance exchanges established under the Affordable Care Act.”

Terry O’Sullivan, president of the 600,000-plus-member Laborers’ International Union of North America (LiUNA), often referred to as the Laborers’ Union, said that if Obamacare is not fixed, then “it needs to be repealed.” At a convention in Las Vegas of the AFL-CIO, with which the Laborers’ Union is affiliated, O’Sullivan took to the podium to endorse a proposition and then launched into a criticism of Obamacare, how it is hurting union members’ health coverage, and demanded it be fixed, adding that if it is not fixed, labor will make the issue a “big fricking deal.” … He continued, “We can’t...

Dan from Squirrel Hill's Blog Here are 59 reasons why hypocrite politicians and unions that support Obamacare want exemptions for themselves By Dan from Squirrel HillSeptember 24, 2013As the author of this blog post, I place it into the public domain. Anyone may freely copy it in any part or in its entirely, without asking my permission, and without paying any money. I do ask you please cite a link to http://danfromsquirrelhill.wordpress.com/2013/09/24/obamacare-59/I ask you to please show this list to as many people as possible. Sunshine really is the best disinfectant. I can’t stop Obama from doing any of these horrible...

Since April North Carolina has made national and international news with a remarkable social movement that has gathered thousands to protest, with nearly 1,000 arrests for civil disobedience. The Forward Together Movement, led by the North Carolina NAACP, showed up at the General Assembly in Raleigh for 13 consecutive Mondays while the Republican/Tea Party-controlled legislature was in session. Although 17 clergy members made up the first wave of arrestees, the activists who formed the backbone of the actions were part of the six-year-old, NAACP-led HKonJ Coalition (Historic Thousands on Jones St.—site of the legislature), which had mobilized thousands to the...

Washington (CNN) – House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi acknowledged deep concerns by major unions about Obamacare in an interview that aired Sunday, but vowed to work on a plan to quell those worries. "We're working on the issue," she said on CNN's "State of the Union." Three major labor unions, including the Teamsters, sent a letter to Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid this summer, disparaging Obamacare as a plan that will "destroy the foundation of the 40 hour work week." At issue is the Affordable Care Act's designation of a full-time employee as someone who works 30 hours...

Scranton's police and fire unions have received a judgment against the city for the overdue $21 million that the city owes the unions from a landmark arbitration ruling. The money was due July 2, but the city has not yet paid and is still seeking borrowing or selling an asset to honor the bill, Mayor Chris Doherty said. But the judgment means the unions now can seize city assets and sell them to collect what is owed, said city solicitor Paul Kelly and the unions' attorney, Thomas Jennings. "Whenever a judgment is granted, you can go to the sheriff and...