Migration Category: National Old Site

For the fourteenth day in a row, demonstrators in Madison, Wisconsin have been protesting Republican Governor Scott Walker’s extreme anti-union bill that proposes to reduce state workers’ salaries and take away the right of unions to collectively bargain for salary benefits, hours, and working conditions.

Yesterday the Republican-controlled House voted 335 to 91 to approve a two-week budget to avoid a government shutdown. The budget measure cuts $4 billion in federal spending. The vote was along party lines, with 229 Republicans and 104 Democrats voting in favor of the budget measure and 6 Republicans and 85 Democrats voting against it.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) stated, “So what is before us today is a short term, let’s just keep the government open two weeks, so we use that time to do the right thing. Use that time to have a reality check. A reality check on how we got these deficits in the first place and how tax cuts at the highest end, they do not create jobs but increase the deficit and are not the appropriate path to deficit reduction.”

According to the Washington Post, the budget proposal eliminates dozens of earmarks and a handful of programs. The proposal, which will expire March 18, will allow Congress to continue negotiations for the government budget. The Senate is scheduled to vote this morning.

An NBC/CBS survey revealed that the majority of Americans are against the weakening of public workers’ collective bargaining rights and the reduction of their pay or benefits. The survey showed that 60 percent of Americans opposed the weakening of bargaining rights, and 56 percent were against cutting public employees pay or benefits. The majority of Americans polled also indicated that they thought that the salaries and benefits of public workers were either “about right” or “too low,” contrary to many Republican governors’ assertions that these workers were over paid with overly generous benefits.

The results of the survey were divided along partisan lines, with a slight majority of Republicans in favor of getting rid of at least some collective bargaining rights and a large majority of Democrats and Independents in support of preserving those rights. The nation wide survey was conducted between February 24 and 27 over the telephone and included 984 adults.

For almost two weeks, demonstrators in Madison, Wisconsin have been protesting Republican Governor Scott Walker’s extreme anti-union bill that proposes to reduce state workers’ salaries and take away the right of unions to collectively bargain for salary benefits, hours, and working conditions.

In a settlement with the US Labor Department, Intercall, a federal contractor, has agreed to pay $700,000 in back wages, interest, and benefits to the 151 minority job applicants who faced discrimination by the company. Following its investigation, the US Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) determined that 103 black, 28 Asian, and 20 Hispanic applicants were systematically rejected for jobs for which they had applied in the company’s Chicago offices in 2006 and 2007.

Sandra Zeigler, Midwest Regional Director of OFCCP, stated, “Companies that do business with our government have a responsibility to ensure that their workplaces are safe, fair, and diverse. Going forward, we expect that to be true at InterCall.”

OFCCP found that InterCall’s hiring practices violated Executive Order 11246, which “prohibits federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of race and national origin” in their hiring practices.

On Saturday, thousands of women’s rights supporters, including activists from the Feminist Majority Foundation, the National Organization for Women (NOW), and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) gathered in Foley Square in Lower Manhattan to protest the defunding of PPFA and the elimination of Title X funding.

Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation, stated, “There’s no question the new Republican leadership has just shown they have no concern for women’s health care and are willing to score political points with their base at the expense of women by passing the Pence amendment to de-fund Planned Parenthood.”

Meghan Shalvoy, a National Campus Organizer at the Feminist Majority Foundation who attended the event, stated, “The gathering of activists this weekend in New York City and all across the country demanding access to comprehensive, affordable reproductive health care demonstrated a strong commitment to women’s health.”

Late last week, House Republicans, led by Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), voted to prohibit any federal funds from going to Planned Parenthood, even in reimbursement for services rendered. In spite of statements that the Pence amendment would prohibit taxpayer funding of abortions, such spending is already prohibited. Even payments that are akin to insurance reimbursements will be prohibited, including reimbursement to Planned Parenthood for services provided through Medicaid for low-income women’s health care, gynecological exams, HIV testing, contraceptives, and other critical services. Planned Parenthood health centers across the country conduct over one million cervical cancer screenings and 830,000 breast exams yearly. Its clinics also provide contraception to approximately 2.5 million women per year.

The Continuing Resolution would also eliminate all of Title X funding, the only federal family planning program dedicated solely to reproductive health. Title X has provided reproductive health services to millions of women yearly.

Police officers announced Sunday that they would not arrest or forcibly remove protestors who have been camped inside the Madison, Wisconsin Statehouse. The demonstrators have been protesting Republican Governor Scott Walker’s extreme anti-union bill that proposes to reduce state workers’ salaries and take away the right of unions to collectively bargain for salary benefits, hours, and working conditions for almost two weeks. The bill would cut public workers’ wages between six and eight percent.

A day prior, the state agency in charge of the Capitol police had announced that the overnight protestors would be removed. Although police are now encouraging the protestors to leave so that the Capitol could be cleaned, they stated that no one would be detained or forcibly removed from the premises.

The number of protestors reached 70,000 on Sunday. Governor Walker is encouraging the fourteen Democratic Wisconsin Senators, who secretly fled from the state and blocked the vote on the bill in a strategy to make the Governor negotiate with them.

The Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act (SB 116), which would grant marriage rights to same-sex couples in Maryland, passed the state Senate yesterday by a vote of 25 to 21. The bill awaits a vote in the Maryland House of Delegates. If the bill is passed by the state legislature, Governor Martin O’Malley (D-MD) has publicly declared that he would sign the bill into law.

Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign stated, “Today the state Senate recognized the simple truth that recognizing the love and commitment of same-sex couples under state law will strengthen families and communities. This is a matter of fairness and equality and will put Maryland on the leading edge of giving loving same-sex couples the rights, responsibilities, benefits, and dignity that marriage entails.”

Currently, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Washington DC allow marriage of same-sex couples. Six states, California, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii allow same-sex couples to form civil unions or domestic partnerships, which carry many of the benefits of marriage. Yesterday Governor Neil Abercrombie signed the Hawaii civil union legislation into law.

The Virginia Senate voted yesterday to pass a bill (SB 924) requiring that clinics that perform first trimester abortions meet the Board of Health regulations on hospitals, which are far more stringent than the regulations on physician’s offices. The 20-20 tie was broken in the Democratic state Senate by an unusual vote from Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling (R). The House voted in favor of the bill on Monday. Republican Governor Bob McDonnell announced that he will sign the bill.

These regulations will significantly and unnecessarily increase the cost of early abortions and will make it difficult to get an abortion in Virginia. The costs of implementing the required changes could cause as many as 17 of the state’s 21 abortion clinics to shut down.

Tarina Keene, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia, stated,”[The bill] represents a shameful level of political interference in the doctor-patient relationship. The politicians behind this plan falsely claim they are protecting women’s health, yet their ultimate goal is to make it even more difficult for women to access abortion care in Virginia.”

Reproductive rights groups, including the Feminist Majority, the National Organization for Women, and the American Civil Liberties Union oppose the bill, which would impose unnecessary and onerous regulations on abortion providers and restrict women’s access to reproductive health services.

Wisconsin: After three days of debate, Republicans in the Wisconsin General Assembly passed an anti-union bill that proposes to reduce state workers’ wages between six and eight percent and take away the right of unions to collectively bargain for benefits, hours, and working conditions. The vote occurred at 1:00 am this morning and was closed within seconds, before 25 of the 38 Democrats could vote. The fourteen Democratic Wisconsin Senators who secretly fled the state last week, have vowed to remain outside the state until Republican Governor Scott Walker agrees to negotiate with them.Union supporters continue to camp out in the Capitol rotunda and tens of thousand are gathering daily.

Ohio: Republican lawmakers have agreed to modify the bill prohibiting collective bargaining to allow public workers to negotiate on their wages.

Michigan: Republican Governor Rick Snyder has agreed to negotiate with state employees regarding their collective bargaining rights.

Indiana: Republican Governor Mitch Daniels and Indiana Republicans have agreed to abandon the “right to work” bill, which would have made it against the law for employers to require their employees to join or remain a member of a union.

Attorney General Eric Holder announced yesterday the Obama administration will no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in court on the grounds that it considers the law violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution. Attorney General Holder stated in a letter to Congress, “the President and I have concluded that classifications based on sexual orientation warrant heightened scrutiny and that, as applied to same-sex couples legally married under state law, Section 3 of DOMA is unconstitutional.” DOMA defines marriage as between one man and one woman and denies federal recognition of same-sex marriages, as well as the legal benefits attached to marriage, including Social Security survivors’ benefits, family and medical leave, and immigration rights.

Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, stated, “This is a monumental decision for the thousands of same-sex couples and their families who want nothing more than the same rights and dignity afforded to other married couples. As the President has stated previously, DOMA unfairly discriminates against Americans and we applaud him for fulfilling his oath to defend critical constitutional principles.”

The federal law banning same-sex marriage nevertheless remains in place, Currently, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Washington DC allow marriage of same-sex couples. Six states, California, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii allow same-sex couples to form civil unions or domestic partnerships, which carry many of the benefits of marriage. Governor Neil Abercrombie just signed the Hawaii civil union legislation into law.

DOMA was passed in 1996. In July 2009, Massachusetts became the first state to challenge the constitutionality of DOMA in a lawsuit filed by state Attorney General Martha Coakley. A second suit, Gill v. Office of Personnel Management, was filed in July 2009 on behalf of seven gay and lesbian married couples and three widowers by the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders. In that case, Federal Judge Joseph Tauro agreed that DOMA violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution.

On Tuesday, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) proposed a budget that would dramatically cut teachers’ and other public employees’ retirement and health benefits, while doubling the middle-class property tax rebate. The budget reforms would cost teachers over $12,000 per year.

Barbara Keshishian, president of the New Jersey Education Association, clarified, “In this budget, the governor continues to scapegoat public education employees… He promises to make a legally required $500 million contribution to the pension system, but only if teachers and school employees pay thousands more out of their salaries – on top of their current contributions.”

Governor Christie’s proposal would force public workers to pay for 30 percent of their health insurance costs, an increase from the 8 percent that they currently pay. Christie has also proposed to alter the state’s pension system by increasing the retirement age and offering workers smaller payouts.

Christie’s budget proposal is yet another attack on public workers around the country. The New Jersey AFL-CIO announced that it will stage a rally tomorrow in Trenton in support of public workers in Wisconsin. Yesterday, tens of thousands of protestors marched to the state capitols in Indianapolis, IN and Columbus, OH to oppose proposed Republican bills that challenge public workers’ collective bargaining rights. In Wisconsin, union supporters are camping out in the Capitol rotunda and tens of thousand are gathering daily.

Over 550,000 people signed an open letter to Congress demanding that the Senate stop the amendment to the continuing resolution that would defund Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA). Women outraged by the defunding of PPFA and the elimination of Title X funding are flooding Congress with communications. Women’s groups, including the Feminist Majority, the National Organization for Women, the National Women’s Law Center, and the National Partnership for Women and Families have joined PPFA in urging the Senate to strike down the amendment.

Late last week, House Republicans, led by Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), voted to prohibit any federal funds from going to Planned Parenthood, even in reimbursement for services rendered. In spite of statements that the Pence amendment would prohibit taxpayer funding of abortions, such spending is already prohibited. Even payments that are akin to insurance reimbursements will be prohibited, including reimbursement to Planned Parenthood for services provided through Medicaid for low-income women’s health care, gynecological exams, HIV testing, contraceptives, and other critical services. Planned Parenthood health centers across the country conduct over one million cervical cancer screenings and 830,000 breast exams yearly. Its clinics also provide contraception to approximately 2.5 million women per year.

The Continuing Resolution would also eliminate all of Title X funding, the only federal family planning program dedicated solely to reproductive health. Title X has provided reproductive health services to millions of women yearly.

Thirty-seven of Indiana’s forty House Democrats fled the state yesterday, blocking the vote on a bill that would prohibit state workers’ right to collective bargaining. The Democrats vowed in their joint statement to remain in Urbana, IL until Republican Governor Mitch Daniels and House Speaker Brian Bosma (R) agree that the labor and education bills that died on the House floor as a result of the members’ absence will not be brought up again.

Yesterday, tens of thousands of protestors marched to the state capitols in Indianapolis, IN and Columbus, OH to oppose proposed Republican bills that challenge public workers’ collective bargaining rights. The Ohio bill would also eliminate bans on hiring alternate workers during a strike and would reduce cut public workers’ benefits.

The protests in Indiana and Ohio followed in the wake of mass demonstrations on the affront on public workers’ rights in Wisconsin. Last week, fourteen Democratic Wisconsin Senators secretly fled from the state, blocking the vote on Republican Governor Scott Walker’s anti-union bill in a strategy to make the Governor negotiate with them. Due to the senators’ absence, the state Senate lacked the 60 percent attendance rate required for the vote to occur. Moreover, On Saturday, 68,000 state and local public workers and supporters rallied in Madison, WI to protest Governor Scott Walker’s (R) anti-union bill that proposes to reduce state workers’ salaries and take away the right of unions to collectively bargain for salary benefits, hours, and working conditions.

On Monday, the Virginia House of Delegates voted 63-34 to amend the Targeted Regulations of Abortion Providers (TRAP) bill to impose increased regulations on abortion providers. If passed in the Senate, the bill would require that abortion clinics that perform five or more abortions yearly be licensed by the Board of Health and comply with the regulations for ambulatory surgery centers. Previously, only abortion providers that conducted 25 abortions annually were subject to these regulations.

The bill awaits a vote in the state Senate. Reproductive rights groups, including the Feminist Majority, the National Organization for Women, and the American Civil Liberties Union, oppose the bill which would impose unnecessary and onerous regulations on abortion providers and restrict women’s access to reproductive health services.

On Friday, the Obama administration rescinded the “conscience” rules, first instituted under the Bush administration, that granted protections to medical providers who refused to provide abortions, sterilization, in-vitro fertilization, and other medical procedures, such as care to AIDS patients, due to moral objections.

Under the “conscience” rules, hospitals could refuse to provide emergency contraception to rape victims and pharmacists could refuse to fill prescriptions for birth control pills. In addition, the Bush administration rules stated that hospitals, clinics, and health plans that refused to honor workers’ “right of conscience” could face a loss of federal funding.

Susan Berke Fogel, director of reproductive health at the National Health Law Center stated, “The 2008 regulation put millions of women at risk, and undermined the ability of providers to establish clear protocols to ensure that patients get the health care they need, by intentionally confusing birth control with abortion, and extending ‘conscience rights’ to an extremely broad group of health care workers – far beyond current law.”

The revised law, which will go into effect in 30 days, will continue to allow doctors and nurses to refuse to provide abortions on religious or moral grounds.

DC Council Member David Catania (I- At Large), chair of the city’s Committee on Health, introduced a bill that would allow women to obtain birth control pills from their pharmacist without first visiting a doctor. If the DC city council votes to pass the bill, the DC Board of Pharmacy and the DC Board of Medicine would work together to develop regulation, which would include age restrictions, regarding the dispensation of birth control pills. The bill would change medical practice, which currently requires that women have a doctor’s prescription in order to obtain the pills.

Catania stated that he hoped to make birth control available to women who could not afford to pay for a doctor’s visit. He told the Washington Post, “At this point, in this city, it’s already a challenge for many women in underserved communities to get the appointments and then find a pharmacy. I think it’s a way to expand access to contraception and to conserve valuable resources.”

The Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington supports Catania’s proposal. Similar programs have been tried but discontinue in Oregon and Washington State.

Sixty-eight thousand state and local public workers and supporters rallied Saturday in Madison, WI to protest Governor Scott Walker’s (R) extreme anti-union bill that proposes to reduce state workers’ salaries and take away the right of unions to collectively bargain for salary benefits, hours, and working conditions. The bill would cut public workers’ wages between six and eight percent.

The number of protestors has been increasing throughout the week, with over 2,000 gathering on Monday, 15,000 on Tuesday, and 20,000 on Wednesday, and 25,000 on Thursday. A significant number of protestors are now sleeping in the Capitol Rotunda and are vowing to stay until the issue is resolved.

Yesterday also marked the fourth day that schools remained closed in Madison. Some two dozen other school districts also closed operation last week. In addition, thousands of students at the University of Wisconsin in Madison staged a walk out, marching from campus to the Capitol, to protest the bill.

Legislation that would limit public workers unions has also been introduced by Republican leadership in Maine, Alabama, Ohio, Arizona, and Missouri.

Fourteen Democratic Wisconsin Senators secretly fled from the state, blocking the vote on Republican Governor Scott Walker’s extreme anti-union bill in a strategy to make the Governor negotiate with them. Due to the senators’ absence, the state Senate lacked the 60 percent attendance rate required for the vote to occur.

Walker’s bill proposes to reduce state workers’ salaries and take away the right of unions to collectively bargain for benefits, hours, and working conditions. The bill would cut public workers’ wages between six and eight percent.

The number of protestors has been increasing throughout the week, with over 2,000 state and local public workers and supporters rallying in Madison, WI on Monday, 15,000 on Tuesday, and 20,000 on Wednesday, and 25,000 on Thursday. A significant number of protestors are now sleeping in the Capitol Rotunda and are vowing to stay until the issue is resolved.

Madison and Milwaukee School Districts, the two largest in the state, closed today with over 600 teachers from the Milwaukee districted calling in sick in support of the protest. This is the third day in a row that the Madison School District has been closed. Plus, some two down other school districts closed operation during the week. In addition, thousands of students at the University of Wisconsin in Madison staged a walk out, marching from campus to the Capitol, to protest the bill.

Legislation that would limit public workers unions has also been introduced by Republican leadership in Maine, Alabama, Ohio, Arizona, and Missouri.

Late into Thursday night and early this morning, the Pence Amendment to the House Continuing Resolution to fund the federal government was debated. Emotions ran high. One Republican House member after another maligned Planned Parenthood and kept saying the amendment was to stop federal funding of abortions despite the fact that no federal funding of abortion has been permitted since the passage of the Hyde Amendment in 1976.

House Democrats defended Planned Parenthood and reminded everyone that millions of women depend on Planned Parenthood for basic health care, including family planning, cancer screenings, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, and many other health care services.

The Republican-controlled House is expected to not only pass the Pence Amendment but to pass a Continuing Resolution that will totally eliminate Title X funding of $317 million and will cut $125 million out of the teenage pregnancy prevention grants ($110 million cut). Since 1970, Title X, the national family planning program, has provided reproductive health services to millions of low income women yearly.

In a vote of 7 to 4, the Maryland Senate Judicial Proceeding Committee passed the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act (SB 116). The bill will go to the state Senate for a vote next week. If passed, the legislation would confer marriage rights to same-sex couples in Maryland.

Morgan Meneses-Sheets, executive director of Equality Maryland, stated, “This is a historic moment for marriage in Maryland, and truly shows that with continued work, civil marriage can be a reality for all loving and committed couples in Maryland very soon.”

Last year, an opinion from Maryland’s Attorney General Douglas Gansler recognized same-sex marriages performed in other states as valid in Maryland.

Currently, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Washington DC allow marriage of same-sex couples. Five states, California, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, and Washington, allow same-sex couples to form civil unions or domestic partnerships, which carry many of the benefits of marriage.