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Showing posts with label US minimum wage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label US minimum wage. Show all posts
THIS is the perfect example of what is wrong with so many politicians, especially repiglicans in congress. They claim to be Christian but reject the teachings of Jesus Christ regarding the poor, the least among us. Their guiding "religious" philosophy is the gospel of greed and the perversion of the teachings of Jesus. They have created an alt-Jesus to justify their political agenda just like the apostates of Islam have created daesh / isis, the taliban, wahhabism and al-qaeda. Here is the vocalization of the gospel of greed's teaching of how to deal with the poor and their need for healthcare. Is it any wonder younger people in America are turning away from Christianity? GOP rep tells town hall crowd that people using the Medicaid expansion need to 'get better jobs'
Rep. Warren Davidson held a town hall over the weekend and his jaw-dropping comments were indicative of Paul Ryan’s heartless Republican agenda. An Ohio mother stepped to the microphone to explain her son works in the service industry and was not able get insurance before the Affordable Care Act. He was able to get insurance because of the Medicaid expansion and she wanted to know why he was so eager to take away affordable insurance from people like her son. Rep. Davidson’s answer? Quit being entitled and get a better job. Read the jaw-dropping exchange (transcript via Shareblue) and see the video below:
WOMAN: My son did not have health insurance for four years, until the ACA when Medicaid was accepted. He didn’t have health insurance because he’s in the service industry. And that industry pays minimum wage and they keep their employees below a certain number of hours so that they cannot — so that they don’t have to pay health insurance. So, many of the people that are on Medicaidareworking, and they are the working poor.
Under Trumpcare, one of the major ways to make health insurance affordable is to bring back catastrophic insurance, which is basically no insurance at all. Given that, given that preventative health care is the number one way to keep people healthy in our society. Can you explain why my son and millions of others in his situation are not deserving of affordable, decent healthcare that has essential benefits so that he can stay healthy and continue working?
DAVIDSON: OK, I don’t know anything about your son, but as you described him, his skills are focused in an industry that doesn’t have the kind of options that you want him to have for health care.So, I don’t believe that these taxpayers here are entitled [sic] to give that to him. I believe he’s got the opportunity to go earn those health benefits.
In fact, according to the National Restaurant Association, there are an estimated 14.7 million Americans in the restaurant service industry, accounting for 10% of the total U.S. work force. Contrary to popular Republican beliefs, these jobs are not filled with teenagers and many or most do not provide basic health care insurance. The same can be said for the retail industry, with companies like Walmart costing American taxpayers $6.2 billion per year in public assistance for their employees.
"The study estimated the cost to Wisconsin’s taxpayers of Walmart’s low wages and benefits, which often force workers to rely on various public assistance programs," reads the report,available in full here.
"It found that a single Walmart Supercenter cost taxpayers between $904,542 and $1.75 million per year, or between $3,015 and $5,815 on average for each of 300 workers."
The National Employment Labor Project, which advocates for the jobless, pointed out another sobering statistic Friday: Fast food industry jobs have set the pace since 2000, rising 23.3 percent, against a 5.1 percent overall gain in private sector job growth.
In New York City specifically, fast food jobs exploded by 87 percent, or about twice the rate of the previous 15-year period. In New York state, the gain was 57 percent at a time when private jobs increased by just 7 percent.
Perhaps Rep. Davidson would do well to meet more of the people in his district who work in these jobs. Listen to their stories, hear their daily struggles to make ends meet. Get to know some of the people with pre-existing conditions in his district. Otherwise, with an attitude like the one he displayed this weekend, voters may be sending him into a new job in the not-too-distance future.
See the exchange in the video below (starts at the 37 minute mark):
THE drumpf/trump-pence administration has a new nominee to head the US Labor Dept now that andrew puzder was forced to withdraw, not because the White House had a problem with his lack of morals and ethics but but because there were even some republicans in the senate who did. The votes just weren't there for puzder to be confirmed. It is doubtful r alexander acosta is any better, just consider who picked him! From +NPR .....
President-elect Donald Trump with Labor Secretary-designate Andrew Puzder at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., on Nov. 19, 2016.
Carolyn Kaster/AP
Updated at 4:15 p.m. ET
Fast-food executive Andrew Puzder withdrew his nomination to head the Labor Department on Wednesday as his support on Capitol Hill faltered. Facing criticism from both sides of the aisle, Puzder became the first Trump Cabinet pick whose nomination failed.
"After careful consideration and discussions with my family, I am withdrawing my nomination for Secretary of Labor. I am honored to have been considered by President Donald Trump to lead the Department of Labor and put America's workers and businesses back on a path to sustainable prosperity. I want to thank President Trump for his nomination. I also thank my family and my many supporters—employees, businesses, friends and people who have voiced their praise and hopeful optimism for the policies and new thinking I would have brought to America as Secretary of Labor. While I won't be serving in the administration, I fully support the President and his highly qualified team."
Ahead of his scheduled confirmation hearing on Thursday, which had been delayed several times, it became less clear Puzder had support from his own party, facing pressure to withdraw. Several Republican senators, including Maine's Susan Collins, Alaska's Lisa Murkowski, Georgia's Johnny Isakson and South Carolina's Tim Scott, signaled trouble by saying they were undecided on Puzder.
In a statement responding to Puzder's withdrawal, Scott said, "As revelations regarding paying employees in cash, illegal immigration, and comments regarding some of the American workforce came to light, I developed serious concerns regarding his nomination." Scott said he informed Senate GOP leadership about his reluctance to support Puzder.
Puzder has faced a range of criticisms, from his record running the Hardee's and Carl's Jr.'s fast-food chains to old allegations — since retracted — of domestic abuse made by his ex-wife. More recently, Puzder disclosed he employed a housekeeper who was not in the country legally. Labor unions, which had planned to protest his nomination outside the Senate offices where the hearing was to be held, have argued a Puzder-led Labor Department would undermine their efforts to raise the federal minimum wage, expand the eligibility for overtime pay and enforce wage and hour violations, among other things.
Puzder, a corporate attorney by training, was first a lawyer for CKE Restaurants, which operates Hardee's, Carl's Jr., Green Burrito and Red Burrito restaurants. He helped founder Carl Karcher settle an insider trading case with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Then, after the chain fell into financial trouble following its acquisition of Hardee's in the late 1990s, Puzder helped turn the company around and in 2000 was named CEO.
As CEO, and later as a Trump campaign adviser, Puzder has been outspoken about his views on labor policy, contributing to newspaper opinion pages and on television, discussing issues such as immigration. During the Republican presidential primaries, Puzder advocated creating a path to legal status for unauthorized workers living in the U.S. He endorsed a more moderate "comprehensive immigration reform," similar to what candidates Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio were proposing at the time.
That endorsement won him critics from the right, who want the Trump administration to make good on promises to get tougher on illegal immigration and crack down to deport those in the country illegally.
In an opinion piece titled "No to Puzder" in the National Review published Feb. 15, the conservative magazine wrote: "The case for his confirmation has diminished to the point of disappearing."
The most vocal critics, however, have pointed to his industry's record at the very department he would lead.
For the fast-food industry overall, during the 2016 federal fiscal year, the agency found violations in 86 percent of the 1,300 cases it investigated for wage theft, or for unpaid overtime. CKE Restaurants had one of the lowest incidents of reported cases, faring relatively well in an industry that came in for a lot of criticism under the Obama administration.
Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, said Puzder would not have enforced labor laws against his own industry. "How can he possibly go out and defend workers," he said, arguing the agency should be headed by someone with a history of trying to protect the interests of workers.
R. Alexander Acosta, seen in 2007, is President Trump's new pick for labor secretary.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
President Trump has named R. Alexander Acosta as his replacement for labor secretary nominee. Trump's earlier pick, fast-food executive Andrew Puzder, withdrew his nomination on Wednesday afternoon after losing support on both sides of the aisle.
Acosta has been dean of the law school at Florida International University since 2009. He has been a member of the National Labor Relations Board and was U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida. Prior to that, he was an assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division during the George W. Bush administration.
His tenure there was not without controversy. Acosta filed a brief defending an Ohio law that allowed people to challenge the legitimacy of a voter at a polling place, even though the Justice Department was not involved in the case, as the Los Angeles Times reported in 2004.
While Acosta was U.S. attorney, his office was reprimanded by a federal judge after it was revealed that prosecutors there had illegally recorded conversations with the attorney of a doctor accused of illegally prescribing painkillers. Acosta said he had instructed his employees to not do that again.
If confirmed, Acosta will be the first Hispanic member of the president's Cabinet.
Puzder, CEO of CKE Restaurants — including Hardee's and Carl's Jr., had been scheduled for a confirmation hearing on Thursday after multiple delays. He faced criticism for his management of the company and for more personal issues, including a since-retracted domestic abuse allegation from his wife and hiring a housekeeper who came to the U.S. illegally.
+Senator Elizabeth WarrenD MA is angry, you can hear and read it the words of her speech to the +AFL -CIO on 10NOV16. drumpf/trump-pence, republicans, tea-baggers and right wing theocratic plutocrats and DINOS, you have been warned. And the rest of us have our marching orders. The BOLD PROGRESSIVES of the PCCC / Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Our Revolution offer opportunities to be to be informed and involved. If you are committed to defending our democracy, protecting our Republic then check them out, sign up and get involved. From the PCCC, transcripts from the +The Boston Globe .....
We’re now two days removed from an incredibly close and hard-fought election, and many people here in Washington and around the country are trying to make sense of what happened.
This wasn’t a pretty election. In fact, it was ugly, and we should not sugarcoat the reason why. Donald Trump ran a campaign that started with racial attacks and then rode the escalator down. He encouraged a toxic stew of hatred and fear. He attacked millions of Americans. And he regularly made statements that undermined core values of our democracy.
And he won. He won - and now Latino and Muslim-American children are worried about what will happen to their families. LGBT couples are worried that their marriages could be dissolved by a Trump-Pence Supreme Court. Women are worried that their access to desperately needed health services will disappear. Millions of people in this country are worried, deeply worried. And they are right to be worried.
Today, as President-Elect, Donald Trump has an opportunity to chart a different course: to govern for all Americans and to respect our institutions. In his victory speech, he pledged that he would be “President for all” of the American people. And when he takes the oath of office as the leader of our democracy and the leader of all Americans, I sincerely hope that he will fulfill that pledge with respect and concern for every single human being in this country, no matter who they are, no matter where they come from, no matter what they believe, no matter whom they love.
And that marks Democrats’ first job in this new era: We will stand up to bigotry. There is no compromise here. In all its forms, we will fight back against attacks on Latinos, African Americans, women, Muslims, immigrants, disabled Americans-on anyone. Whether Donald Trump sits in a glass tower or sits in the White House, we will not give an inch on this, not now, not ever.
But there are many millions of people who did not vote for Donald Trump because of the bigotry and hate that fueled his campaign rallies. They voted for him despite the hate. They voted for him out of frustration and anger-and also out of hope that he would bring change.
If we have learned nothing else from the past two years of electioneering, we should hear the message loud and clear that the American people want Washington to change. It was clear in the Democratic Primaries. It was clear in the Republican Primaries. It was clear in the campaign and it was clear on Election Day. The final results may have divided us - but the entire electorate embraced deep, fundamental reform of our economic system and our political system.
Working families across this country are deeply frustrated about an economy and a government that doesn’t work for them. Exit polling on Tuesday found that 72 percent of voters believe that, quote, “the American economy is rigged to advantage the rich and powerful.” 72 percent of ALL voters-Democrats and Republicans.1 The polls were also made clear that the economy was the top issue on voters’ minds. Americans are angry about a federal government that works for the rich and powerful and that leaves everyone else in the dirt.
Lobbyists and Washington insiders have spent years trying to convince themselves and each other that Americans don’t actually believe this. Now that the returns are in and the people have spoken, they’re already trying to wave their hands and dismiss these views as some sort of mass delusion. They are wrong-very wrong.
The truth is that people are right to be angry. Angry that wages have been stagnant for a generation, while basic costs like housing, health care, and child care have skyrocketed. Angry that our political system is awash in barely legalized campaign bribery. Angry that Washington eagerly protects tax breaks for billionaires while it refuses to raise the minimum wage, or help the millions of Americans struggling with student loans, or enforce the law when the millionaire CEOs who fund our political campaigns break it. Angry that Washington pushes big corporate interests in trade deals, but won’t make the investments in infrastructure to create good jobs right here in America. Angry that Washington tilts the playing field for giant corporations - giving them special privileges, letting them amass enormous economic and political power.
Angry that while Washington dithers and spins and does the backstroke in an ocean of money, while the American Dream moves further and further out of reach for too many families. Angry that working people are in debt. Angry that seniors can’t stretch a Social Security check to cover the basics.
President-Elect Trump spoke to these issues. Republican elites hated him for it. But he didn’t care. He criticized Wall Street and big money’s dominance in Washington-straight up. He supported a new Glass-Steagall. He spoke of the need to reform our trade deals so they aren’t raw deals for the American people. He said he will not cut Social Security benefits. He talked about the need to address the rising cost of college and about helping working parents struggling with the high cost of child care. He spoke of the urgency of rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure and putting people back to work. He spoke to the very real sense of millions of Americans that their government and their economy has abandoned them. And he promised to rebuild our economy for working people.
The deep worry that people feel over an America that does not work for them is not liberal or conservative worry. It is not Democratic or Republican worry. It is the deep worry that led even Americans with very deep reservations about Donald Trump’s temperament and fitness to vote for him anyway.
So let me be 100% clear about this. When President-Elect Trump wants to take on these issues, when his goal is to increase the economic security of middle class families, then count me in. I will put aside our differences and I will work with him to accomplish that goal. I offer to work as hard as I can and to pull as many people as I can into this effort. If Trump is ready to go on rebuilding economic security for millions of Americans, so am I and so are a lot of other people-Democrats and Republicans.
But let’s also be clear about what rebuilding our economy does not mean.
It does not mean handing the keys to our economy over to Wall Street so they can run it for themselves. Americans want to hold the big banks accountable.2 That will not happen if we gut Dodd-Frank and fire the cops responsible for watching over those banks, like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. If Trump and the Republican Party try to turn loose the big banks and financial institutions so they can once again gamble with our economy and bring it all crashing down, then we will fight them every step of the way.
It does not mean crippling our economy and ripping working families apart by rounding up and deporting millions of our coworkers, our friends and neighbors, our mothers and fathers, our sons and daughters. And if Republicans choose that path, we will fight them every single step of the way.
Americans want reform to Obamacare -Democrats included. We must bring down the costs of health insurance and the cost of health care. But if the Republicans want to strip away health insurance from 20 million Americans, if they want to let cancer survivors get kicked to the curb, if they want to throw 24-year-olds off their parents’ health insurance, then we will fight them every step of the way.
Americans want to close tax loopholes that benefit the very rich,3 and Donald Trump claimed to support closing the carried interest loophole and other loopholes. We need a fairer tax system, but if Republicans want to force through massive tax breaks that blow a hole in our deficit and tilt the playing field even further toward the wealthy and big corporations, then we will fight them every step of the way.
The American people - Democrats, Republicans, and Independents - have been clear about what economic policies they want Washington to pursue. Two-thirds of people support raising the federal minimum wage.4 Three-quarters of Americans want the federal government to increase its infrastructure investments.5 Over 70 percent of people believe students should have a chance at a debt-free education.6 Nearly three-quarters support expanding Social Security.7 These are the kinds of policies that will help level the playing field for working families and address the frustrations felt by millions of people across the country.
The American people sent one more message as well. Economic reform requires political reform. Why has the federal government worked so long only for those at the top? The answer is money-and they want this system changed. The American people are sick of politicians wallowing in the campaign contributions and dark money. They are revolted by influence peddling by wealthy people and giant corporations. When Bernie Sanders proved his independence by running a campaign based on small dollar contributions and when Donald Trump promised to spend his own money, both were sending an important message that they could not be bought. And once again, if Donald Trump is ready to make good on his promise to get corruption out of politics, to end dark money and pay-to-play, count me in. I will work as hard as I can and to pull as many people as I can to end the influence of big money and return democracy to the people.
Donald Trump won the Presidency under a Republican flag. But Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan and the Republicans in Congress - and their way of doing business - were rejected-rejected by their own primary voters, rejected during the campaign, and rejected in Tuesday’s election. Regardless of political party, working families are disgusted by a Washington that works for the rich and powerful and leaves everyone else behind.
The American people have called out loudly for economic and political reform. For years, too many Republicans and too many Democrats have refused to hear their demands.
The majority of Americans voted against Donald Trump. Democrats picked up seats in both the House and the Senate. And yet, here we are. Republicans are in control of both houses of Congress and the White House. And that makes our job clear. As the loyal opposition we will fight harder, we will fight longer and we will fight more passionately than ever for the rights of every human being in this country to be treated with respect and dignity. We will fight for economic opportunity, not just for some of our children, but for all of our children. We do not control the tools of government, but make no mistake, we know what we stand for, the sun will keep rising, and we will keep fighting - each day, every day, we will fight for the people of this country.
The time for ignoring the American people is over. It’s time for us to come together to work on America’s agenda. Democracy demands that we do so, and we are ready.
Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts on Thursday pledged to work with President-elect Donald Trump to build an economy that works for everyone while vowing to fight him if the vitriol of his candidacy takes root in his presidency.
“There are many millions of people who voted for Donald Trump not because of the bigotry and hate that fueled his campaign rallies,” Warren said in her first major address since the New York businessman was elected president of the United States. “They voted for him out of frustration and anger and out of hope that he would make real change in this country.”
She spoke before the AFL-CIO Executive Council in an address that was broadcast via Facebook live and watched by more than 16,000 people.
“I believe the outcome of this election is an indictment on politics as usual,” Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, said while introducing Warren. “The type of indictment that Senator Warren has spent her career fighting against.”
Warren, a progressive Democrat, and Trump, a Republican, have both argued that Wall Street has harmed the working class. And while they agree on the problem, their worldviews could not be further apart.
Thursday’s speech was an attempt to chart a path forward for dispirited liberals after Trump’s stunning victory on Tuesday. Warren also tried to explain and validate aspects of Trump’s appeal to workers who have been hammered by Wall Street.
She vowed to put aside their differences if Trump makes good on his promises to increase government spending on infrastructure to create jobs, oppose trade deals, and increase Social Security benefits.
“When President-elect Trump wants to take on these issues, when his goal is to increase the economic security of middle-class families, then count me in,” Warren said. “I will work as hard as I can and pull as many people as I can into this effort.”
But Warren was clear: There would be no compromise if President-elect Trump insults women, minorities, or immigrants the way candidate Trump did.
“Whether Donald Trump sits in a glass tower or sits in the White House, we will not give an inch on this, not now, not ever,” she said pounding the podium for emphasis. “We will stand up to bigotry.”
The election wasn’t pretty, she said, calling the campaign a “toxic stew of hatred and fear.”
“Millions of people are worried, and they are right to be worried,” she said.
Trump’s candidacy started with a speech in which he disparaged Mexican immigrants as “rapists.” He proposed a temporary ban on allowing Muslims into the country. He mocked a disabled journalists and was accused of sexually assaulting women.
Warren became one of Trump’s biggest foes, engaging with him in a fierce war of words that often played out in 140-character exchanges on Twitter. He called her “Pocahontas” in reference to the controversy about her Native American heritage that emerged during the race for her Senate seat. She called Trump a “bully.”
But their common ground appears to be making the country a better for those angry that government seems to work only for the rich and powerful.
And while Trump might have won the White House, Warren noted that he lost the popular vote.
“The time for ignoring the American people is over,” Warren said. “It is time for us to come together to work on America’s agenda.”
“Are we ready to be in this fight?” she asked to rousing applause. “You bet!”
Michael Levenson of Globe staff contributed to this report. Akilah Johnson can be reached at akilah.johnson@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @akjohnson1922.
