Saturday, September 11, 2010

Christie to Propose NJ Pension Rollback; United Steelworkers Tries to Organize Car Washes; Illinois Legislators' Phone Service Canceled for Nonpayment

The circus in the bankrupt state of Illinois continues unabated. Please consider Legislators feeling sting of Illinois' deadbeat ways http://www.herald-review.com/news/local ... b034e.html

State Sen. Dave Luechtefeld was in session in Springfield earlier this year when he got a call from the secretary in his district office. She was calling from her cell phone because the district office phones, which are paid for by the state of Illinois, had been disconnected for nonpayment.

"That was the first time," recalled Luechtefeld, R-Okawville.

His office phones were later cut off again, with the state still months behind in paying for the service. He's now getting renewed threats from the phone company of a third cutoff. "It's laughable," he said, "but it's not."

It's the same story at the district offices of Illinois' elected legislators across the state: Phone, utilities, garbage and rent payments months behind, prompting a monthly flurry of terse late notices and cutoff threats to offices with the state emblem on the doors.

Of course, in a state where teachers are getting laid off, hospitals are struggling and small businesses are failing because the state isn't paying its bills, the office budget plight of a relative handful of politicians isn't going to cause anyone to take to the streets.

But the news of a northern Illinois legislator who was forced to shut down her district office because the state had stiffed her landlord for so long certainly drives home the depth of Illinois' $13 billion budget crisis

Illinois legislators keep offices in or around the Capitol in Springfield, and also have district offices back home. The state allots $69,409 per year for the district office expenses of each House member, which goes toward salaries for office staff, rent, utilities, supplies and related costs. For senators, who have larger districts and often maintain more than one district office, the annual allotment is $83,063.

Lawmakers have often complained that the annual allotment is too small, given the need for clerical workers, professional office space and other significant expenses. However, the current problem of deadbeat district offices isn't about the budgeted amount, but rather about the state's cash flow problems, which stem from a deficit that's roughly 50 percent the size of the state's entire regular operating budget.

"We have 220,000 vouchers sitting in our office waiting to be paid, because we don't have the money to pay them," said Alan Henry of the Illinois comptroller's office, which is responsible for cutting the checks. Those backlogged vouchers at the end of August totaled about $4.5 billion in late bills, which are paid as money becomes available to the state from taxes, fees and other sources.

United Steelworkers Tries to Organize Car Washes

The New York Times reports Labor Tries to Organize Carwashes in Los Angeles http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/busin ... anted=1&hp

The carwashes of Los Angeles would appear to be an unlikely target for a unionization drive. Many of the estimated 10,000 workers in the business here are illegal immigrants, who are too scared to speak out or give their bosses any excuse to fire them. Many carwash companies have just two or three outlets, not 20 or 30, requiring scores of separate organizing efforts. And carwash owners, who invest a million dollars or more in each facility, are fiercely resisting the prospect of being tied down by collective bargaining and union rules.

Nonetheless, labor organizers have set out to unionize this city’s carwash workers, hoping to improve their paltry pay and end widespread abuses. The unions, led by the United Steelworkers, acknowledge that it is a struggle, but they voice confidence that they can organize the first carwashes in the next few weeks or months, and that this will start a domino effect once other owners realize that unionized businesses can survive and even thrive.

California officials have estimated that two-thirds of the 500 carwashes in Los Angeles violate workplace laws. Many workers say they are paid just $35 for a 10-hour workday — less than half the minimum wage — and some say they are not paid for time during which no cars go through the wash. Others complain that they are not given gloves or goggles even though they often use stinging acids to clean tire rims.

Randy Crestall, owner of Autospa Chevron Hand Wash in Valencia, a Los Angeles suburb, said that law-abiding owners resented their scofflaw competitors.

“They’re a blight on our industry,â€