Candidate Mitt Romney makes more in one day than the average American makes in a year, all while paying a lower rate than millions of middle class Americans.

Candidate Newt Gingrich claims entrepreneurship is understood “by most of the Asians, partially by Latinos,” and to a “small degree” by African Americans.

Local 34 News!

Scholarships, Next Wave, Local 34 Elections, AFSCME Day on the Hill.

The DFL, Independence and Republican parties hold precinct caucuses on Tuesday, February 7, at 7 p.m.

State legislators ‘under the influence’ of ALEC

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow: 75 Years of AFSCME

Sign On with the 99%

All workers deserve decent wages, health care, and a secure retirement. That’s what AFSCME stands for, that’s what unions stand for, and that’s what the 99 percent stand for. Council 5 is supplying locals with winter-proof lawn signs so you can demonstrate that those are values you stand for, too.

To get a sign contact your Local 34 union President.

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world!" ~ Mohandas Karamachand Gandhi

Hennepin County Negotiations 2011

Updated 11/26/2011

February, 2012 edition now on line!

Hennepin AFSCME Action on Facebook

From the Desk of the President

Last updated 1/18/2012

‘Right to Work (for Less)’ is Wrong

The next stealth attack by tea-party Republicans is their attempt to add a “right to work (for less)” amendment to the state constitution. This misleading proposal protects no rights, creates no jobs, drags down workers’ pay by $5,500 a year, destroys collective bargaining, and undermines unions. It is wrong for Minnesota.

Tell your legislators to keep it off the ballot.

University of Notre Dame study on Right to Work

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Let's Remember

 

  

  AFSCME LOCAL 34     1/26/2012

"We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well, while a growing number of Americans barely get by. Or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share and everyone plays by the same set of rules." 

President Barack Obama

We Can't Win

 

2012 State of the Union

President Obama delivered his State of the Union and laid out his plan for an economy built on American manufacturing, American energy, new skills for American workers, and a renewal of American values.

• Since the last State of the Union, the economy has created 1.9 million private sector jobs. 

• The top 1 percent take home 24 percent of the nation’s income, up from about 9 percent in 1976. 

• Private sector job creation under Obama in 2011 was larger than seven out of the eight years Bush was president. 

• The top 1 percent of Americans own 40 percent of our country’s wealth while the bottom 80 percent owns only 7 percent. 

• Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, 2.5 million young adults gained health insurance. 

• For every one job opening, there are four people looking for work. 

• Last year, China spent 9 percent of its GDP on infrastructure. The U.S. spent 2.5 percent. 

• 2.65 million seniors saved an average of $569 on prescriptions last year thanks to the Affordable Care Act. 

• “In 2011, the United States killed Al Qaeda’s most effective propagandist, Anwar al-Awlaki; its operating chief, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman; and of course its founder, chief executive and spiritual leader, Osama bin Laden.” 

• Union membership is at a 70-year low. 

• Unemployment benefits have lifted 3.2 million people out of poverty. 

• The United States used to have the world’s largest percentage of college graduates. We’re now #14.

• One quarter of all contributions to federal campaigns come from 0.01 percent of Americans. 

• 47.8 percent of households that receive food stamps are working, because having a job is not enough to keep them out of poverty. 

• In the last three years, 30 major corporations spent more on lobbying than they paid in taxes. 

• 50 percent of U.S. workers make less than $26,364 per year. 

• More than one in 70 homes faced foreclosure last year. 

• Oil and gas jobs increased by 75,000 under President Obama. 

• Since 1985, the federal tax rate for the 400 wealthiest Americans dropped from 29 percent to 18 percent. 

ThinkProgress’ Judd Legum rounded up these 19 essential facts we should know.

Theory of Evolution! "When businesspeople take credit for creating jobs, it is like squirrels taking credit for creating evolution. In fact, it’s the other way around.

It is unquestionably true that without entrepreneurs and investors, you can’t have a dynamic and growing capitalist economy. But it’s equally true that without consumers, you can’t have entrepreneurs and investors. And the more we have happy customers with lots of disposable income, the better our businesses will do.

That’s why our current policies are so upside down. When the American middle class defends a tax system in which the lion’s share of benefits accrues to the richest, all in the name of job creation, all that happens is that the rich get richer.

And that’s what has been happening in the U.S. for the last 30 years.

Since 1980, the share of the nation’s income for fat cats like me in the top 0.1 percent has increased a shocking 400 percent, while the share for the bottom 50 percent of Americans has declined 33 percent. At the same time, effective tax rates on the superwealthy fell to 16.6 percent in 2007, from 42 percent at the peak of U.S. productivity in the early 1960s, and about 30 percent during the expansion of the 1990s. In my case, that means that this year, I paid an 11 percent rate on an eight-figure income.

One reason this policy is so wrong-headed is that there can never be enough superrich Americans to power a great economy. The annual earnings of people like me are hundreds, if not thousands, of times greater than those of the average American, but we don’t buy hundreds or thousands of times more stuff. My family owns three cars, not 3,000. I buy a few pairs of pants and a few shirts a year, just like most American men. Like everyone else, I go out to eat with friends and family only occasionally." *****Nick Hanauer

Support Indiana Workers! First it was Wisconsin, then Ohio, and now it’s Indiana.  Deep pocketed corporate interests, including Wal-Mart, in an effort to destroy unions and workers’ rights, are pushing right-wing legislators to ram through a Right-to-Work for less bill.  The record shows that Right-to-Work laws have not only not created jobs, but have actually eliminated them, have lowered wages and benefits, and have increased unsafe working conditions.

Fortunately Democrats in the Indiana House and Senate are doing everything they can to stop this attack on working families. They need your support now! 
Please, Click Here to sign the petition in support of lawmakers who are standing for workers’ rights in Indiana. If we are to stop this blatant attack on working people and workers’ rights, we need to do everything we can to show support for Democratic lawmakers showing their courage in opposing this bill.

Indiana's governor needs a fact checker as he spins the truth about anti-union so-called 'Right To Work' laws. The new position from Daniels is in stark contrast to comments he made in 2006 when he told Teamsters he opposed Right-to-Work.

AFSCME Local 34 Member News!

Union Plus Scholarship Deadline - January 31st: Need money for college? You could get a job wearing a pirate’s hat and selling fish dinners to tourists in T-shirts. Or you can apply for a Union Plus scholarship. It’s a process that just takes a few minutes. What you need to apply: a union sponsor – you, your parent or spouse who is or was a union member (make sure the union participates in Union Plus); and acceptance in a U.S. accredited school. ust last year, 130 union families received scholarships ranging from $500 to $4,000. And 18 of those winners came from AFSCME families. One scholarship recipient said, “This scholarship enabled me to go to the school of my dreams. I highly encourage any prospective applicants to take advantage of this opportunity.” 

You’ve got everything to gain. What you need to do: Submit a letter of reference and an essay on your career goals and community service. Fill out the application online. Need to take a break? Don’t worry. You can save your work and return later. But don’t take too long. The deadline to submit is Tuesday, January 31st.

Next Wave Meets February 25th! Council 5’s Next Wave – for ¬members younger than 35 or so – will meet February 25th from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. at the South St. Paul office, 300 Hardman Ave. South. Lunch will be served.

Reservations are required: Contact Amy Johnson; the reservation deadline is February 21st.

Local 34 Elections! LaQuita Williams has been appointed as Nominations Chair for this year's elections. Joe Weston was appointed as the Elections Chair. Nominations will be taken at the February 1st and March 7th General Membership meetings. Please note that our Constitution has been amended to change terms of office from one to two year terms. To effect that change, the following officers will be elected to a one year term in 2011: President, 2nd Vice President, Financial Secretary (Treasurer), Sergeant-at-Arms, Junior Chief Steward, and three Executive Board Members-at-Large. These officers will serve May 2011 – April 2012 with those positions up for election for a two year term in 2012. The following officers will be elected to a two year term in 2011: 1st Vice President, Recording Secretary, Senior Chief Steward, Membership Secretary and three Executive Board members-at-Large. These officers will serve May 2011 – April 2013. Click Here to read the 2012 Officer Election Notice 
Day on the Hill March 27th! Registration is now open for AFSCME Council 5’s Day on the Hill March 27th. Last year, a record 1,500 AFSCME members ignited a push that saved 5,000 jobs; stopped $1.5 billion more in budget cuts; and defeated attacks on our pay, pensions and health care. We expect the same attacks this year – plus a new one that threatens our very existence as a union. A proposed “right to work for less” amendment to the state constitution could cripple our union and hurt every middle-class family in Minnesota. It’s the same kind of anti-worker bill we’ve seen in Wisconsin, Ohio and elsewhere. To fight back, we again need a huge turnout on March 27th. Details are available online. Local 34 will elect its delegates at the February General Membership meeting.
 

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"There is, of course, no guarantee of success. But politics is not about observations or predictions. 

Politics is what we create, by what we do, what we hope for, and what we dare to imagine." ~ Paul Wellstone

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