Gov. Pat Quinn names Jerry Stermer as comptroller to replace Judy Baar Topinka - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

 

Jerry Stermer has been director of the governor’s budget office since 2012. He was the Chicago Democrat’s chief of staff during Quinn’s first term and the longtime director of advocacy group Voices for Illinois Children.

Incoming Gov. Bruce Rauner had called on Quinn to name Topinka’s longtime chief of staff as her replacement.

Stermer will serve until Rauner takes office on Jan. 12, when the new governor will announce a full four-year replacement.

There have been conflicting ideas about how to fill Topinka’s terms.

Quinn has called lawmakers back to Springfield to consider a 2016 special election so voters could have a say in the process.

Gov. Pat Quinn names Jerry Stermer as comptroller to replace Judy Baar Topinka - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

McDonald’s: Federal complaint says company is joint employer | The Rock River Times

 

the federal government on Friday, Dec. 19, charged that the company is indeed an employer that exerts substantial power over its employees’ working conditions.

In a complaint, the National Labor Relations Board’s general counsel found that the company wields such extensive influence over the business operations of its franchisees that individual franchise operators have little autonomy in setting or controlling workplace conditions. McDonald’s, for all intents and purposes, is the boss, the complaint concludes.

“McDonald’s and its corporate lobbyists continue to claim that the company has no responsibility for workers at its restaurants, but today’s complaint underscores the obvious fact that McDonald’s is the boss,” said Micah Wissinger, an attorney at Levy Ratner who brought the case on behalf of McDonald’s workers in New York City. “The complaint validates what workers have been saying over and over again — that McDonald’s requires franchisees to adhere to such regimented rules and regulations that there’s no doubt who’s really in charge.”

For nearly two years, McDonald’s and other fast-food workers across the country have been joining together and going on strike, calling for $15 and the right to form a union without retaliation. But time and time again, the company and other industry players have tried to sidestep workers’ calls, inventing a make-believe world in which responsibility for wages and working conditions falls squarely on the shoulder of franchisees.

“Rather than continue to deny the obvious, McDonald’s should own up to its responsibility for its workers and pay us enough so we can support our families,” said Richard Eiker, who has worked for the same Kansas City McDonald’s franchisee for 18 years. “Instead, the company is only fighting to keep the current system in place where wages are stuck at the bottom, even as profits grow.”

In November, the Wall Street Journal reported that McDonald’s plans to launch a “far-reaching campaign” to fight the board’s finding that the company is a joint employer, including a comprehensive lobbying effort targeting local, state, and federal elected officials and administrative bodies.

“It’s time McDonald’s put its powers to work to do something about the fact that its workers are living in poverty, instead of spending tens of millions on corporate lobbyists to defend a status quo that forces its workers to rely on food stamps to get by,” said Kendall Fells, organizing director of Fast Food Forward.

Catherine Fisk, professor of law at the University of California, Irvine School of Law, said: “The federal government’s complaint makes clear that fast-food companies like McDonald’s can’t have it both ways — it can’t exercise such pervasive control over a workplace and effectively dictate wages and working conditions while still saying that it’s not the employer. The NLRB general counsel’s complaint reflects the general counsel’s determination that evidence shows that McDonald’s exercises so much control over the operation of individual franchise restaurants that it is a joint employer with the franchise operator.”

The complaint is the latest challenge to the fast-food industry’s low-wage business model, in which franchisors reap rewards of a profitable industry, while forcing franchisees to shoulder all the risk. In March, McDonald’s workers in three states filed class-action lawsuits against the company, alleging widespread wage theft. The New York Times wrote that the suits, “argue that both the corporate parent and the independently owned franchises where many of the plaintiffs work are jointly responsible for illegal pay practices carried out by the franchises. … That strikes at the heart of the low-wage fast-food business model.”

McDonald’s: Federal complaint says company is joint employer | The Rock River Times

Lawmaker wants investigation of St. Louis prosecutor - Yahoo News

 

A Missouri lawmaker is calling for an investigation of St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch, saying he "manipulated" the grand jury in the Ferguson case. McCulloch said in a radio interview on Friday that some witnesses obviously lied to the grand jury.

State Rep. Karla May is pushing for a state investigation, saying she believes McCulloch helped sway the grand jury into the decision not to indict Ferguson officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was black and unarmed.

McCulloch, who convened the grand jury in August, was interviewed Friday by KTRS Radio in St. Louis. It was his first interview since he announced the grand jury decision on Nov. 24.

"Clearly some were not telling the truth," McCulloch said.

He made reference to one woman who claimed to have seen the shooting. McCulloch said she "clearly wasn't present. She recounted a story right out of the newspaper" that backed up Wilson's version of events, he said.

McCulloch did not return messages left with his office by The Associated Press on Friday seeking comment about May's allegations, and whether he would pursue perjury charges against any witnesses who may have lied.

Read more by clicking on the following:  Lawmaker wants investigation of St. Louis prosecutor - Yahoo News

Email phishing scams escalate | The Rock River Times

 

For each legitimate confirmation email that will be sent by online retailers, there will be just as many that are fraudulent. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is issuing an alert to consumers warning of “phishing” scam emails that may hit their in-boxes.

“The scammers target individuals posing as major online sellers like Amazon, eBay and airlines,” said Dennis Horton, director of the Rockford Regional Office of the BBB. “Because consumers are anxious to receive confirmation of their purchases, they more easily fall into the trap of opening phishing and other malicious emails.”

The criminals are out to get personal and financial information to use for identity theft and other illegal activities. As an example, the Amazon phishing emails have a subject of “Your order on Amazon.com” and return address of “amazon.com” and use actual Amazon graphics, making them appear real. The email also has an attachment that, when opened, installs a Trojan virus that creates a process that will harvest banking information, email logins and social media accounts.

Horton also suggests employers warn their employees not to open attachments from major retail sites.

“Trying to stay ahead of their Christmas shopping, employees try to get some purchases done during the work day,” Horton said. “However, doing so can put your company at risk for a security breach. Because it’s difficult to monitor this kind of activity, it’s important to make sure your company’s computers have reliable email filters that will prevent spam, protect in-boxes and check for suspicious content.”

Following are some tips to avoid becoming a victim of a cyber-crime:

• If you are expecting a confirmation receipt, log into your account and check for confirmation there.

• Be cautious of emails that contain attached files.

• Don’t respond to unsolicited emails.

• Don’t click on links in unsolicited emails.

• Avoid filling out forms contained in email messages asking for personal information.

• Make sure that all links in an email match.

• If you are requested to act quickly or are told that there is an emergency, it may be a scam.

• Install anti-virus software and keep it up to date.

• Install a personal firewall and keep it up to date.

If you might have been tricked by a phishing email, do the following:

• File a report with the Federal Trade Commission at www.ftc.gov/complaint.

• Visit the FTC’s Identity Theft website. Victims of phishing could become victims of identity theft; there are steps you can take to minimize your risk.

• Forward phishing emails to spam@uce.gov — and to the company, bank or organization impersonated in the email.

For more about scams, visit www.bbb.org.

Email phishing scams escalate | The Rock River Times