Month: January 2011

since it went on the air in 1953. While there were a few minor scuffles along the way, there was never a major dispute and the union and company enjoyed a unique partnership that maintained KGTV as a market leader.

That all changed in the Fall of 2005. KGTV cancelled the scheduled “informal” negotiations with Local 54 and hired a law firm that brags on its website about providing union-free environments. And that’s exactly what KGTV was up to. They intended to frustrate employees to the point that they gave up and decertified their union. But the employees said, “I don’t think so.”

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by Rebecca Greenberg

On Monday at precisely 11:19 a.m., Governor Schwarzenegger’s seemingly endless term finally came to a close as Jerry Brown was officially sworn in as our once and current Governor. And right away, it became clear that Governor Brown is about to usher in into a whole new era of California politics.

Unlike Schwarzenegger — who spent his inaugurals hobnobbing with corporate lobbyists and courting wealthy donors — Governor Brown instead chose to head straight to the People’s Inauguration Party on the Capitol lawn, sponsored by the Orange County Employees Association, where  he munched on a free hot dog alongside thousands of working Californians who came out to celebrate the occasion. Later in the afternoon, Governor Brown made a surprise appearance at the California Labor Federation’s own inauguration celebration, where he warmly greeted and mingled with the union activists and leaders who were instrumental in the 2010 campaign.

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Yesterday's New York Times reports that in a number of states around the country, Republican lawmakers are taking advantage of the budget crises they face to attack unions.

Proposals include limiting collective bargaining, ending prevailing wage on construction projects, eliminating the right to strike, and even banning the union shop. Some Republican House leaders are even pushing to take the word “labor” out of the “Education and Labor Committee” and change the title to “Education and Workforce Committee.” Here we are, in the midst of the greatest economic crisis since the Depression, and politicians are attacking the only voice for working people in this country.

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You gotta love the irony of this one. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has been on a crusade against public employees since the day he came to office. Faced with a serious state deficit, he places the blame squarely on the working people of his state. In spite of the national recession and the lingering foreclosure crisis, Christie has focused solely on state workers, city employees, and public school teachers, accusing them of creating the budget problem.

Now, Christie is taking heat because while his constituents have been hit by massive snowstorms, he and his Lieutenant Governor are both vacationing out of state. Even when it became clear that the storms had created chaos throughout the state, Governor Christie chose not to return from Disneyworld.

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