Indiana State AFL-CIO - HOOSIERS WON’T FALL FOR “RIGHT TO WORK” FALLACY

Indiana State AFL-CIO - NEWS RELEASE: HOOSIERS WON’T FALL FOR “RIGHT TO WORK” FALLACY:

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For Immediate Release: Monday, Nov. 21, 2011
Media Contact: Jeff Harris, Indiana State AFL-CIO, 317.632.9147
GUYOTT: HOOSIERS WON’T FALL FOR “RIGHT TO WORK” FALLACY
Out of state corporate interests push bill designed to destroy unions, reduce worker wages
INDIANAPOLIS – In reaction to the announcement by Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma and Senate Pro Tem David Long that they would make passing the called “right to work” bill their top legislative priority in the 2012 legislative session, Indiana State AFL-CIO President Nancy Guyott issued following statement this morning:
“It’s laughable that Republican leaders in the Statehouse actually have the gall to cite “freedom” in their renewed push for the so-called “right to work” law given that its already the law of the land that no one can be forced to join a union. In reality, this legislation isn’t about giving Hoosier workers and employers more freedom, it is about taking away existing freedoms and choices.
If passed, this bill would restrict a private business’ ability to freely enter into an agreement with a union. And, it forces organized labor to represent workers who refuse to pay for services, thus severely depleting their ability to effectively represent dues paying members in fights for better wages, working conditions and needed safety precautions.
Anyone who has followed this debate in Indiana in recent years knows that this isn’t being pushed by Hoosiers, but by out-of-state corporate interests. As they have done in other states, they claim it’s about workers’ freedom, economic development or jobs – but can never produce verifiable information to support their arguments. That’s because the “right to work” bill isn’t about those things, it’s about money and power. Big corporations and their elected friends want to bust up unions, eliminating the last group of people standing in the way of unfettered corporate control. They want to drive down wages and increase profits. They want to eliminate the voice of working people in the political process.
And while this Wall Street re-branding effort is amusing, like our neighbors in Ohio, Hoosiers know that this is just another attack on working families”
The Indiana State AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations) is a federation of 800 local unions across the state belonging to 50 International Unions. In total, the Indiana State AFL-CIO represents more than 300,000 working Hoosiers.
For more information on please visit www.in.aflcio.org or call 1-800-433-8423.

Indiana State AFL-CIO - All Workers Lobby Day at the Indiana Statehouse on Tuesday (11/22)

Indiana State AFL-CIO - All Workers Lobby Day at the Indiana Statehouse on Tuesday (11/22):

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With the so-called "right to work" legislation back on the table for consideration in the 2012 General Assembly, it's time for all working Hoosiers to come together again and stand in opposition to this radical anti-worker measure.
The Indiana State AFL-CIO, along with our affiliates and community partners, are encouraging all working Hoosiers - union and non union alike - to join us for a "Workers' Lobby Day" on November 22nd at the Indiana Statehouse. On that day the Indiana General Assembly will convene for its Organization Day. It's a great opportunity to speak directly with your state senators and representatives about how the falsely labeled "right to work" bill would negatively impact you and your families as well as other issues facing working Hoosiers.
Please make every effort to attend and bring as many people with you as possible.
WORKERS' LOBBY DAY AT THE INDIANA STATEHOUSE
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
11:00 a.m. *
Indiana Statehouse
200 W. Washington St.
Indianapolis, Indiana
*The Indiana House of Representatives will convene at 1:00 p.m. and the Indiana State Senate will convene at 1:30 p.m. Please be sure to get there before the start of session to ensure you have the time to talk to your legislators and to allow time to get through security at the doors.

Mr. Dieter & Occupy South Bend

In the past I've helped organize and have protested at many events in SB and our police have always been more than respectful and very protective of us in lots of ways. However, I see that it's not like that in many places around the country, and an interesting intersection to that point and almost on cue here in SB, is that the first politician to discuss dismantling the camp and cracking down on the protesters in front of the Morris at Occupy South Bend is a policeman on the Common Council, Dereck Dieter. It's been posited around this here internet thingie that there's a concerted effort among police admins to crackdown on the protests:

The cop group coordinating the Occupy crackdowns

…a little-known but influential private membership based organization has placed itself at the center of advising and coordinating the crackdown on the encampments. The Police Executive Research Forum, an international non-governmental organization with ties to law enforcement and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, has been coordinating conference calls with major metropolitan mayors and police chiefs to advise them on policing matters and discuss response to the Occupy movement. The group has distributed a recently published guide on policing political events.

Speaking to Democracy Now! On November 17, PERF Executive Director Chuck Wexler acknowledged PERF's coordination of a series of conference-call strategy sessions with big-city police chiefs. These calls were distinct from the widely reported national conference calls of major metropolitan mayors.

Mr Dieter might want to remember that we’re fighting for his public employee pension too and we all need to remember who comes dressed for riots at the protests.

Move on is asking people to contact Officer Pike. As always, please be polite.
The officer who sprayed the students was UC Davis Police Lt. John Pike at (530) 752-3989 or japikeiii@ucdavis.edu.

Mary Chapin Carpenter w/ Vince Gill and Kathy Mattea - Wall 'Round Your ...

Beautiful Lyrics.

Save our Sorting Center | Occupy Indiana!

On Thursday November 17 at 7pm, the U.S. Postal Service will hold a public hearing at South Bend’s Century Center about the future of the major Postal Service building on Michigan Street in downtown South Bend. This building houses the USPS South Bend Processing and Distribution Center–the formal name for this sorting plant. It is one of the 487 such sorting plants located at strategic points across the country. Claiming that the Postal Service budgetary problems compel it to do so, the hearing is intended to hear the public’s input on this proposal to close down this sorting plant along with 252 others around the country.This is a call to action to show for this meeting!

Direct Action Called November 17! | Occupy Indiana!:

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Dr. Oz: Fight over Health Care Law Is Killing Americans

Wow. Just wow.

Dr. Oz: Fight over Health Care Law Is Killing Americans:

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The smell was unmistakable. I recognized it immediately – a fungating infection. It’s what happens when a cancer breaks through the skin and the puss oozes out and aerosolizes, producing an unsurprisingly foul odor. This is what late-stage cancer looks like if left unchecked, like many cancers were 100 years ago and still are today in the developing world. But I encountered this case this month, and Yvonne, the woman who sat crying before me, lives in Los Angeles. She lost her job two years ago, and when her insurance expired, she was too ashamed to seek help for a mass she felt in her right breast. Now the tumor had replaced her entire breast and blasted through the skin. Being cared for now — so late in her illness — was surely not what she would have wanted; and just as surely, it could have been avoided. How did we let this happen in America?

Read more: http://ideas.time.com/2011/10/31/enough-is-enough/#ixzz1cVflaN5n