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Report: Boehner’s ‘Territorial Tax’ Scheme Would Cost More Jobs |
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Even as millions of U.S. workers can’t find a job and corporate profits are through the roof, House Speaker John Boehner has proposed a change in the tax system that will shrink the job pool even more. Boehner’s suggestion to exempt U.S corporations from paying taxes on offshore profits would give companies even more incentive to move jobs overseas, according to a new report.
The “territorial tax system” would allow CEOs to shift profits and jobs out of the country and disguise U.S. profits as “foreign” profits,” according to Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ).
As CTJ explains, the best alternative would be for Congress to repeal the rule allowing U.S. corporations to “defer” their U.S. taxes on offshore profits. Corporations could continue to get a credit for any taxes paid to a foreign government just as they do now. Read the CTJ report here.
AFL-CIO Still Vigorously Opposes Colombia Trade Deal |
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The AFL-CIO will continue to vigorously oppose the proposed free trade agreement with Colombia so long as the “horrifying levels of labor and human rights violations in the country” continue.
Testifying today before the Senate Finance Committee, Jeff Vogt, deputy director of the AFL-CIO International Department, said Colombia’s workers lack decent work after an epidemic of violence against working people and unions.
Colombia’s labor laws also undermine the free exercise of fundamental labor rights and there are no policies aimed at job creation and social protection. As a result, fewer than 5 percent of Colombian workers today are in a union and fewer than 2 percent of workers are covered by a collective bargaining agreement.
Manufacturing Decline Puts Economic, National Security at Risk |
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The nation “must dig in and redouble our efforts to ‘Make It In America‘,” said Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) at Senate hearing this afternoon on reviving the nation’s manufacturing base.
Testifying on behalf of the AFL-CIO, United Steelworkers (USW) President Leo W. Gerard told the Commerce, Science and Transportation committee:
American manufacturing is in dire circumstances and its future is in jeopardy. Our economic and national security is at risk. Despite the small uptick in manufacturing employment and production, it occurs against a backdrop of long-term decline and devastation.
He outlined several steps that must be taken to rebuild manufacturing and create jobs including: Read the rest of this entry »
Trumka: Until DREAM Act Is Passed, Stop Deporting Our Future |
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Our elected leaders should act quickly to protect the interests of our nation’s youth and working people by enacting the DREAM Act and by bringing relief to these young people who continue to be jailed and deported, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said.
Trumka commended President Obama for pushing for the DREAM Act and called on the White House to grant deferred action and other measures to DREAM Act-eligible youth—”so we can stop deporting our nation’s future doctors, engineers and teachers.”
N.H. Gov. Lynch Vetoes Right to Work |
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New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch (D) vetoed a so-called right to work bill today, saying that “There is no evidence that this legislation will offer any benefits to New Hampshire’s economy or workers.”
Earlier this month, the bill passed the state Senate by a veto-proof majority but fell short of a super majority in the House, where a close override fight is expected.
In his veto message, Lynch says New Hampshire has a lower unemployment rate and a stronger economy than most states with so-called right to work laws. He also points out that in states with “right to work” for less laws, workers on average have a lower standard of living, bring home less in their paychecks and go without health insurance more frequently.
In my time as a CEO, in my years spent in the private sector turning around companies, and in my seven years as governor, I have never seen the so-called right-to-work law serve as a valuable economic development tool.
He also says that the push for “right to work” in New Hampshire is being driven by ”national outside interest groups and is not a result of problems facing New Hampshire businesses or workers.”
Click here for his full veto message.
Workers Show Union Spirit Helping Tornado Survivors |
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After the worst tornadoes in recent U.S. history tore through Alabama and across the southern United States last month, union members by the hundreds immediately began to do what we do best—mobilizing and organizing to help people in need.
Within hours of the storms, local union halls began setting up to become relief centers for the entire community. Large numbers of building trades union volunteers from throughout the region showed up to perform cleanup, support and relief work.
And despite the fragile economy, union members are digging deep into their pockets to help others. United Steelworkers (USW) locals in Fairfield, Ala., collected more than $30,000 at factory gates to help the tornado survivors.You can help working families and their communities recover from the tornadoes by donating money by:
- Visiting www.uwca.org.
- Texting “Union” to 50555. This will contribute $10 to the fund on your phone bill. Normal texting charges will apply.
- Sending a check payable to “United Way Union Tornado Relief Fund” to United Way Union Tornado Relief Fund, P.O. Box 320189, Birmingham, AL 35232. You can designate the checks to “Regional Fund,” “Alabama Fund” or “Central Alabama Fund” if you wish.
Reid Blasts Republican Intimidation Tactics Against NLRB in Boeing Case |
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“Disgraceful and dangerous” is how Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) today described attempts by Republican senators and state attorneys general to intimidate the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). They are demanding the NLRB drop its complaint against the Boeing Co.
In April, the nonpartisan, independent NLRB issued a complaint against Boeing for moving a planned production line for its 787 Dreamliner from its unionized Puget Sound, Wash., plant to a nonunion facility in South Carolina. The complaint says the move was in retaliation against the Puget Sound workers for having previously exercised their federally guaranteed right to strike against Boeing and to prevent these workers from striking in the future.
In a videotaped interview with The Seattle Times, a senior Boeing executive said “the overriding factor” in the company’s decision to move the line wasn’t “the business climate. And it wasn’t the wages we’re paying today.” It was, he said, to avoid strikes. That is illegal. (For more information, check the NLRB’s fact sheet on the complaint against Boeing.)
Keep Social Security Out of Deficit Talks |
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When they’re not busy trying to privatize Social Security, congressional Republicans clamor to cut Social Security in the name of deficit reduction. Today, pointing out that “Social Security is not responsible for the deficits we face,” Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said Social Security should not be on the table in upcoming budget deficit talks.
In a Senate Finance Committee hearing, Baucus, the committee chairman, said the Social Security Trust Fund has a $2.6 trillion surplus and will pay full benefits through 2037 and “even after that, payroll tax revenues will be able to pay 78 percent of benefits.”
This is not a crisis. It is a long-term issue. It is an issue that should be addressed sooner, rather than later, to give workers time to plan for any changes. But the current situation does not necessitate rushed or severe action.
Click here for his full statement. Nancy Altman, co-chair of the Strengthen Social Security, Don’t Cut it coalition, told the committee, “the law is clear. Social Security shall not be counted for purposes of the federal budget.”
Koch Brothers Exposed in Brave New Video |
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For years, billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch flew under the radar as they financed right-wing campaigns and extreme conservative think tanks to overturn financial regulations, corporate rules, environmental standards, workers’ rights and the entire litany of “evils” on the radical right agenda.
But their cover was blown in a New Yorker article last year and further shredded when their connections to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) and his attack on public service workers and workers’ rights were exposed.
Now, our friends at the Brave New Foundation—the same folks who bring us Brave New Films—are making the spotlight on the Kochs even brighter with a series of new videos in their new Koch Brothers Exposed campaign.
AFL-CIO, NNU Back New Universal Health Care Bill |
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Last year, when Congress passed the Affordable Care Act, it was a “historic milestone on our path toward a more just society,” says AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker, “But we also know that much work is left to be done.”
That work includes moving to a single-payer, universal health care model as called for by the AFL-CIO Convention in 2009 and today in the America Health Security Act, introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.).
Speaking at a Capitol Hill press conference, Holt Baker said:
We in the labor movement have long insisted that health care is a fundamental human right and an important measure of social justice. And for more than 100 years, we have fought for universal health care coverage based on a social insurance model, an approach that has proven to be cost-effective and efficient in countries across the globe and in this country to provide health security for seniors.
Jean Ross, R.N., and co-president of National Nurses United (NNU), says the bill will “create a more just health care system.”
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