GR City Workers Hold Informational Picket
Yesterday, members of the Grand Rapids Employees Independent Union (GREIU) held an informational picket in from of City Hall to let the public know that they are not happy about the ongoing city efforts to cut benefits, downsize staff and privatize services.
Last Saturday, Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell said in his State of the City address, “The current level of benefits received by municipal employees is, I am convinced, unsustainable in the long-haul.” I asked some of the GREIU members what they thought about the Mayor’s statement.
Loran Moyer said that when the local government can afford to increase the salary of the City manager by $6,000 they cannot tell him that he needs to continue to take cuts in benefits. (Although it was announced this morning in the GR Press that the City Manager and other salaried officials want to give back their raises.)
Joe Casalina agrees and thinks that whenever cuts are being considered by City management it always begins with lower level positions. Joe said that the union recognizes that times are tough and that they always take into consideration the economic climate before negotiating a contract. “We all have families to take care of and to feed, just like everyone else. We aren’t doing this to get rich, but just to make a decent living.”
I also asked the union members what they thought about Mayor Heartwell’s criticism of the current level of benefits that GREIU members have – “This benefit level is not typically found in the private sector and, if we cannot control it, it will break the back of local government.”
GREIU President John Good responded by saying that they are not private sector employees they are public sector workers. Good also stated that their workforce has been cut by 25% and that they have made numerous concessions in recent contracts. The GREIU president also said that they are willing to further negotiate if the city was willing to make some compromises.
Joe Casalina said in response to the comparison of benefits to the private sector that it is a false argument. He said that when the economy is good they never make this comparison, especially when benefits are really high in the private sector. “Now that things are not so good in the private sector they want to make comparisons.”
Some of the GREIU members talked about the threat of further job loss because of privatization. The unionized city employees are concerned about the upcoming budget creation and the strong possibility that the city might want to privatize more services in order to “balance the budget.”
One worker, Mike McKay, who has 25 years in as a city employee, said that he was very concerned about talk of privatizing the city’s water & sewage services. “I don’t feel valued as a city employee. Not too long ago Mayor Heartwell referred to us as low hanging fruit, meaning that many of us would be workers who could easily lose our jobs. I wear this vest as a form of protest against that kind of mentality. We deserve to be treated better.”
Time will tell in terms of what the City will do about the labor contracts, but it seems clear that there is a serious conflict between what city management wants to do and what city employees are asking for.
Kids Count in Michigan Report says child poverty has increased
Yesterday, the Kids Count in Michigan Project released its annual report on the state of children in Michigan.
Some of the indicators were positive, such as a decline in dropout rates for teens across the state. However, there were numerous negative indicators that should cause concern for anyone who cares about the well being of children.
First, “many children, particularly in low-income families, face chronic challenges related to their oral health, mental health, and physical health, including obesity, asthma, and lead poisoning.” Asthma is one of the leading causes of children staying home from school and, according to the Kids Count in Michigan report, 1 out of every 10 students is affected.
However, maybe the most sobering data from the annual report was the substantial increases in the rate of abuse of children over the past decade and the number of children living in poverty.
According to the Kids Count in Michigan report the number of children in Michigan who suffered from abuse or neglect has risen 25% between 2000 and 2009. The report also stated that in 2009 alone, “roughly 30,800 children in Michigan were confirmed as victims of abuse or neglect.” One of the causes for the increase in abuse or neglect is the growing level of children living in poverty.
The Kids Count in Michigan report notes that child poverty grew in the last decade with 27% of young children living in poverty by 2009 and one fifth of all children. This level of childhood poverty led the report producers to state that this negatively impacts the educational climate and opportunities for Michigan’s children.
At the local level, particularly in Kent County, the data is quite sobering. The level of childhood neglect or abuse increased by 66% between 2000 and 2009, according to the Kids Count in Michigan report. On the matter of childhood poverty there has been a 12% increase for children between the ages of 1 – 17.
When you break down what this means along racial lines, there is also a disturbing trend. According to the Kids Count in Michigan report, while 1 in 5 children in Michigan live in poverty, the rate for African American children is 1 in every 2 are living in poverty and 1 in 3 for Hispanic children.
This data and the very harsh reality of what it means for so many of Michigan’s children and families is not the picture that was recently painted by the newly elected Governor Rick Snyder in his State of the State address or the State of the City speech by Grand Rapids Mayor Heartwell.
Media Bites – Budweiser and Product Placement in Films
In this week’s Media Bites we look at a Budweiser commercial that ran during the 2011 Super Bowl. The Budweiser spot is mocking the reality of Product Placement in films with numerous exaggerations.
In many ways the commercial depicts the pervasiveness of product placement in Hollywood Movies and Budweiser regularly buys time in films. We look at some recent examples of Budweiser being used in Hollywood films – Wolverine: X-Men Origins, Friday the 13th and Star Trek. You can track product placement in films by year or brand at the online source BrandChannel.com.
Obama, Inc.
(This article by Jim Hightower is re-posted from the site Otherwords.)
When you dance with the devil, never fool yourself into thinking that you’re leading.
That would be my 50-cents-worth of advice to President Barack Obama as he remakes his presidency into a Clintonesque corporate enterprise. Following last fall’s congressional elections, he immediately began blowing kisses to CEOs and big business lobbyists, and he’s now filled his White House dance card with them.
First came Bill Daley, the Wall Street banker and longtime corporate lobbyist. In early January, Obama brought him to the White House ball to be his chief-of-staff, gatekeeper, and policy coordinator.
Then Obama tapped Jeffery Immelt to lead his Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, which is supposed to “encourage the private sector to hire [Americans] and invest in American competitiveness.” This is a bizarre coupling, for as General Electric’s CEO, Immelt was a leader in shipping American factories and jobs to Asia and elsewhere. Today, fewer than half of GE’s workers are in our country.
As an AFL-CIO official notes, “Highly globalized companies don’t have the same interests as the United States. There is no company more emblematic of this than GE.”
In his recent State of the Union speech, Obama offered only cold comfort to the millions of Americans who are unemployed or barely employed, saying blandly that “The rules have changed.” Well, yes–and who changed them? Self-serving CEOs like Jeffrey Immelt, that’s who.
America’s working families–our endangered middle class–have a right to expect Obama to fight for rules that are fair to them and our country, not meekly accept rules that have been skewed by an elite corporate class to profit them alone. Instead, our president is waltzing with the devil.
He’s rebranding his presidency, all right. It’s becoming Obama, Inc.
Forget Egyptian Freedom, Levin wants Israeli Security
After weeks of protest in Egypt, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and Michigan Senator Carl Levin finally released a statement on the civilian uprising.
Along with Senators Bob Casey (PA) and Chris Coons (DE), Levin sent out a Media Release on Friday (2/4) that tells us something about what some members of US Senate feel are priorities for the US during Egypt’s uprising.
The statement by Levin and company makes some vague comments about “international obligations:”
“With new freedoms, come new responsibilities for the future leaders and Government of Egypt. During this period of transition, we believe that the U.S. should send a strong message to key Egyptian leaders and members of the opposition, including the Muslim Brotherhood, that Egypt’s international obligations must be respected during a political transition and beyond.”
However, with the next sentence Levin makes it clear where his allegiance lies:
“Specifically, it is imperative that Egypt maintains its historic commitment to peace with Israel, as agreed to in the Camp David Accords, and that the Egyptian military and security forces ensure security on the border with Gaza.”
Levin, Casey and Coons are echoing a long-standing position of the US government as it related to Middle East politics, in that Israeli “security” is the main priority. Their emphasis on Israeli security is interesting considering that recent WikiLeaks documents show that Israel undermined every opportunity at a peaceful settlement with the Palestinians.
It is also interesting that the statement by Senator Levin and his colleagues would emphasize the need for security on the border of Gaza. It has been more than two years since the Israeli assault on Gaza, which resulted in thousands dead and wounded Palestinian civilians. Naomi Klein said in a recent article that despite the international outrage of these war crimes, Israel has not been forced to change its behavior one bit. This is mostly due to the fact that the US continues to bankroll the Israeli occupation of Palestine and allowed the continued expansion of Israeli settlement.
However, there is one additional reason why Levin would be so assertive about Israeli security in the wake of the Egyptian uprising. Michigan Senator Carl Levin has been the second largest recipient of Pro-Israeli PAC money in Congress since 1990. He has received $1,390,594 in campaign contributions from Pro-Israeli groups, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. For more details on Levin’s relationship to these groups, check out an article from 2008 that breaks down the financial backing of Levin from Pro-Israel organizations.
Top 150 PACs raised $48 million in 2010 Election cycle in Michigan
The Michigan Campaign Finance Network MCFN) released its findings of the top 150 PACs (political action committees) for the 2010 Election cycle. Their findings demonstrate that money overwhelmingly influences electoral politics in this state.
According to a Media Release from MCFN, “The top fundraising PAC of the cycle was the RGA Michigan PAC, one of numerous state PACs created by the Republican Governors Association across the country in the 2010 cycle. The RGA Michigan PAC reported $8,429,328 in contributions, a record for a Michigan state PAC. The RGA Michigan PAC gave $5,295,000 to the Michigan Republican Party, $3,000,000 to the campaign committee of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, $130,000 to the Republican Governors Association and it has filed for dissolution.
The Michigan Chamber of Commerce was the top contributor in 2010 to the top PAC’s parent organization, the Republican Governors Association. The Michigan Chamber’s corporate contributions to the RGA totaled $5,372,500. Net of the $3,000,000 contribution to the Texas governor’s campaign, the contributions ascribed to individual donors to RGA Michigan PAC were a near perfect replacement for the Michigan Chamber’s contribution to the RGA. Of the $8.4 million in individual contributions recorded by RGA Michigan PAC, 98 percent came from persons who do not reside in Michigan. The individual contributions that came to the RGA Michigan PAC first passed through the parent organization.”
This kind of financial shell game is just the beginning of how money will influence politics since the 2010 Supreme Court decision that change how campaign donations could be made during electoral campaigns.
The MCFN confirms this influence in their look at 2010 PAC spending in Michigan by corporations. “Corporate PACs made their Michigan debut in 2010, exploiting the opening created by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. In Michigan, corporate funds can be used only for independent expenditures, not contributions to candidates, so organizations that are using corporate funds, so far, are segregating their corporate money in new PACs. The most notable corporate PACs were those of the Michigan Association of Realtors, $450,100, and Business Leaders for Michigan II, at $135,500.”
MCFN executive director Rich Robinson said of the new funding schemes, “The Byzantine transfers into and out of the Republican Governors Association, and the ‘Russian doll’ financing structure in the Realtors’ corporate PAC are clear notice that state PACs have new formulations to defeat transparency. That is not a positive development for democracy in Michigan.”
The list of the top 150 PACs is worth looking at, with several entities on the list from West Michigan, such as Meijer, Progressive Women’s Alliance of West Michigan, Warner, Norcross & Judd and the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce.
Film “Scarred Justice” brings forgotten student massacre to light
(Left to right) Henry Smith, Samuel Hammond Jr. and Delano H. Middleton
Dinner and A Movie:
Scarred Justice: The Orangeburg Massacre 1968
Thursday Feb. 10, 6:30 – 8:30 pm
The Bloom Collective
671 Davis NW (Steepletown Center)
Corner of 5th & Davis, Grand Rapids
$3-$5 suggested donation.
The Bloom will serve a light supper with vegan options.
Forty years ago, the Kent State shootings made national headlines. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s song, “Four Dead in Ohio,” made the charts—and is still played frequently today on classic rock radio stations. Last 
May, on the 40th anniversary, the shootings made headlines again in USA Today, on CBS news, Vanity Fair and other major news outlets.
Did you know that two years before the National Guard gunned down these four white students, the South Carolina Highway Patrol shot dead three African American students, injured 28 others and caused a young pregnant woman to miscarry? All those shot were shot in the back. Why? They were protesting the illegal segregation practiced by the local All Star Bowling Lanes.
The dead included South Carolina State College students, Samuel Hammond and Henry Smith, and high school student, Delano Middleton.
If you are old enough to remember Kent State but can’t remember hearing about the Orangeburg Massacre, don’t blame your bad memory. The story barely made the news, let alone the top forty. But it’s not too late to learn about these brave young folks who stood up for their civil rights and were gunned down by the local police.
The Bloom Collective is screening the documentary film, Scarred Justice: The Orangeburg Massacre 1968 on Thursday. The film’s website tells us, “This film brings to light one of the bloodiest Civil Rights era tragedies after four decades of denial. The killing of four white students at Kent State University in 1970 left an indelible stain on our national consciousness. But most Americans know nothing of the three black students killed at South Carolina State College in Orangeburg two years earlier. It raises disturbing questions about how our country acknowledges its tortured racial past in order to make sense of its challenging present.”
Come out and learn about The Orangeburg Massacre and pay homage to the brave students who died or were injured while standing up for their civil rights in 1968.
View the trailer.
Contextualizing the Egyptian and Tunisian struggles
As the people of Egypt continue to struggle for freedom from the abusive Mubarak regime it is important for those of us in the US to think about the role of the US government and the historical significance of this liberation struggle.
It is important to continue to follow the daily news coming out of Egypt, but it is just as important that we understand the context of this struggle. There has been some good commentary and analysis on the contextual significance of the Egyptian and Tunisian uprisings.
Naomi Prins helps us understand that the uprising in Egypt is not just a response to the politically repressive Mubarak regime, it is also a response to the economic conditions imposed by Capitalism. Prins states, “Mubarak wasn’t pushing subprime loans onto Egyptians; instead, he was embarking on an economic strategy that entailed selling large pieces of Egypt’s banks to the highest international bidder.”
When it comes to the US role in Egypt it is important that we understand the US has backed the Mubarak regime for decades. And while it is likely that the US will support Mubarak stepping down they are not likely to allow the Egyptians to determine their own future. Here Paul Street has some important things to say about the Obama administration’s response to far. Street correctly acknowledges that the US will not allow real democracy in Egypt, since it would conflict with the long term goals of the US and its allies in the region.
“……the administration is certain to strictly qualify any support it might be seen as giving the people in the Arab streets for fear of helping reinforce a new wave of democratic national independence across the oil-rich Middle East, whose petroleum reserves are seen by American planners as too critical for U.S. power for them to be controlled by the region’s actual residents.”
The strategic and resource acquisition motives of the US in Egypt are further supported by an excellent piece from Vijay Prashad on the people the US has used to work with the Egyptian regime to protect elite interests. Thus, the “transition” away from the Mubarak regime that the US is likely to endorse will involve backing the vice president Omar Suleiman. Stephen Soldz points out in a piece on CounterPunch that Suleiman, the most prominent intelligence officer in the country, has been involved in torture for years while being a US/CIA asset.
There are issues that civil society in the US must come to terms with if we are to truly support the Egyptian and Tunisian struggles. We have to be willing to question our own understanding of the Arab world, the role of Islam and our notions of liberal Democracy. These are issues that were the subject of a recent show on Al Jazeera that involved a conversation with Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan and Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek.
Yesterday, members of the Grand Rapids Branch of the IWW joined thousands of other people across the country at Chase Bank locations to show support for farmworkers who are being exploited by RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company.
Some members handed out flyers to Chase Bank customers to let them know about the campaign to pressure RJ Reynolds to meet the demands of farmworkers who pick tobacco. The flyers also encouraged people to pull their money out of Chase Bank until there was economic justice for the farmworkers. Chase Bank is the largest lender to RJ Reynolds, which is why the Farm Labor Organizing Committee called for actions all across the country yesterday.
Many people took the information flyers and several people talked to IWW members about the campaign. However, just minutes after IWW members arrived at the Michigan Avenue Chase Bank, the branch manager came out to tell people they could not be there and that if anyone parked in their lot they would have the car towed away.
Minutes later 3 GRPD squad cars showed up and told the IWW members that they could not be on the bank property and remove their signs that were planted in the snow along the sidewalk. IWW members remained for 90 minutes distributing flyers, talking with customers and holding signs for those driving by on Michigan Avenue.
GRIID spoke with IWW member Cole Dorsey about the action and another IWW member who went into the bank to close her account in support of the FLOC campaign.
HOEKSTRA TAKES A SPIN
(This article is re-posted from the Center for Responsive Politics.)
Former Rep. Pete Hoekstra is the latest member of the departed 111th Congress to take a spin through the revolving door of political influence.
The former Intelligence Committee chairman will translate his know-how to major law and lobbying firm Dickstein Shapiro, according to Politico. As the firm’s new legislative and regulatory adviser on intelligence, Hoekstra joins a host of former members of Congress, including once-speaker of the House of Representatives, Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and former Sen. Tim Hutchinson (R-Ark.).
Hoekstra, a Michigan Republican, surrendered his congressional post during the last election cycle, after leaving to run for governor of his home state. He failed to advance beyond the primary in that contest, but Hoekstra is one of several high-profile Republicans reportedly considering a challenge to Democrat Debbie Stabenow, Michigan’s junior senator, during the 2012 election.
