US union membership sinking, except for managers: study - Yahoo News

 

protester holds a sign during a march for labor and union rights on March 4, 2015 in New York City (AFP Photo/Spencer Platt)

Washington (AFP) - Labor union membership has sunk across the United States over the past 15 years for most jobs except legal workers, mathematicians and, ironically, management, according to a study published Monday.

The Pew Research Center's new survey said that the number of union members in jobs classified as "management occupations" rose from 438,000 to 562,000 in the 2000-2014 period.

Over the same period, the number of union members in manufacturing jobs fell by nearly half to 1.1 million.

In another once relatively strongly unionized sector -- installation, maintenance and repair occupations -- the number of union members fell from 933,000 to 655,000, according to the study.

Overall union membership sank to 14.6 million people last year, or just 11 percent of the workforce, marking a steady slide since the peak of the labor movement in the 1950s, when nearly 35 percent were in labor unions.

Pew said the gain in management occupations involved not high-level executives but people deemed management because they had authority over others, including school administrators, construction foremen, food-service managers and other supervisory personnel.

And the rate of union membership in the category remains extremely low at 4.5 percent.

The losses in union jobs over the past three decades have all been in the private sector, while public sector unions remain strongest.

Many economists blame the growth in income disparity across the country to the weakening of unions. In the past three years unions have fueled a growing movement to force higher wages for low-paid workers in retail and fast-food service jobs.

Despite a decline in pro-union sentiment, the Pew study said more Americans still support the right to unionize.

Forty-eight percent have a favorable view toward unions, compared with 39 percent unfavorable. Just five years ago, more people had negative views of unions.

There was relatively stronger support for the right to unionize: 62 percent of people back fast-food workers in their right to set up and join unions, and 82 percent back the same rights for manufacturing and factory workers.

But only 45 percent of those surveyed say the fall in union membership has been bad, while 43 percent say it has been mostly good for the country.

US union membership sinking, except for managers: study - Yahoo News

Rauner details more budget cuts

 

SPRINGFIELD -- Gov. Bruce Rauner's effort to patch a big hole in this year's budget includes cutting aid for low-income college students and programs for sexual assault and homeless youth.

Documents obtained Thursday by the Lee Enterprises Springfield bureau show the Republican governor's attempts to close a $1.6 billion budget gap will mean reductions to the state's Monetary Award Program, which helps students offset the cost of college tuition.

Nursing homes face a 16.75 percent reduction in Medicaid reimbursement rates saving an estimated $53 million, while programs that pay for sexual assault treatment, domestic violence initiatives, homeless youth programs and teen parents also will see $1.1 million in cuts, the documents note.

The latest list of cuts came as Rauner aides met behind closed doors with budget officials from the legislative branch as part of a pow-wow to outline the latest developments in the governor's attempt to manage the state's budget mess.

State Sen. Heather Steans, D-Chicago, attended the session. Steans, who is a lead budget negotiator for Democrats in the Senate, said the specific programs identified for reductions were not a surprise.

"It is totally aligned with what we expected when we worked to close the $1.6 billion gap," said Steans.

Members of the House and Senate last month approved a plan to cut most state agencies by 2.25 percent and allow Rauner to dip into a series of special state funds to fill the hole that occurred when the state's temporary income tax expired in January.

But, some social service programs had already run out of money, leaving Rauner aides the task of picking through individual programs to find the 2.25 percent savings as the clock ticks down on the state's fiscal year, which ends July 1.

Among those announced Thursday was the University of Illinois Sickle Cell Center in Chicago.

In addition, as part of the deal with lawmakers, hospitals were spared, putting the Medicaid savings largely on the back of the state's nursing homes.

The current year budget remains a sticking point for the governor and Democrats who control the General Assembly.

On Good Friday, Rauner riled Democrats when he made another $26 million in cuts to programs covering autism therapy, indigent burials, epilepsy treatment and addiction prevention.

Democrats in the Senate Wednesday rammed through a plan to jumpstart funding for those programs, but House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, believes Rauner has the ability to fund those programs without legislative help.

Rauner budget chief Tim Nuding has warned lawmakers that the governor might not be done when it comes to cutting programs as a way to close the budget gap.

kurt.erickson@lee.net

Rauner details more budget cuts

Rauner appointee to Illinois Gaming Board heads group that took money from casino: BGA | Chicago

 

A Gov. Bruce Rauner appointee to the Illinois Gaming Board heads a group that has taken money from the Rivers Casino in Des Plaines, the state’s most lucrative casino.

In naming Illinois State Police special agent Hector Alejandre last month to the board that regulates the state’s casinos, Rauner said Alejandre “will bring a law enforcement perspective to the position.”

The governor noted that Alejandre is the president of the Hispanic Illinois State Law Enforcement Association, or HISLEA, a nonprofit organization of Latino police officers.

The group — which holds safety seminars and provides college scholarships — has taken $5,500 in donations from Rivers since 2012. The money went toward scholarships and programs, according to Juan Valenzuela, a spokesman for the group.

Alejandre wouldn’t talk about that.

Don Tracy, who chairs the gaming board, said that after being asked about the casino’s donations, Alejandre has agreed to recuse himself from voting on anything involving Rivers that comes before the board in the next six months.

Valenzuela said the group has decided not to take any more donations from Rivers Casino as long as Alejandre is on the gaming board.

Another HISLEA member, past president Isaiah “Danny” Vega, is the gaming board’s deputy administrator of enforcement, investigating casinos to ensure they’re operating above board.

The Rivers Casino donations came while Vega and Alejandre were both top officers of HISLEA.

Vega didn’t return calls seeking comment.

Mark Ostrowski, the gaming board’s administrator, said Alejandre and Vega haven’t broken any agency rules.

But Aaron Jaffee, who was gaming board chairman, under former Gov. Pat Quinn, said “people who sit on the board can’t take money” from the casino industry. “We’ve always held very strict standards.”

In January, Rauner replaced Jaffe with Tracy, a Springfield lawyer.

“The administration does not believe these prior donations, which help support scholarship programs, will impact Hector Alejandre’s ability to remain impartial while a member of the Illinois Gaming Board,” a Rauner spokeswoman said. “The last donation to the HISLEA by Rivers Casino was more than six months ago, and it will decline any future contributions.”

A Rivers spokesman didn’t respond to requests for comment.

 

The gaming board regulates the state’s 10 casinos.

Last year, Rivers reported taking in more than $425 million after paying winnings, a figure that made the casino the most lucrative in Illinois, state records show.

Rauner’s EPA pick and his lobbyist-father

In January, Ryan McCreery was in the private sector, trying to calm Kentucky residents who feared that a natural gas pipeline proposed by his then-employer would contaminate drinking water.

Today, he’s one of the state’s top environmental regulators, hired by the Rauner administration in February as deputy director of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.

Asked about his environmental experience, McCreery pointed to his time as a contractor and public affairs manager for the gas and oil pipeline company Kinder Morgan.

“I partnered with stakeholders on many different projects,” he said in response to questions, “with the objective to expand energy infrastructure in an environmentally conscious and compliant manner.”

McCreery’s father, W. Michael McCreery, os a longtime Springfield lobbyist. And the elder McCreery intends to lobby the Illinois EPA, he says in a registration statement filed with the state.

Ryan McCreery said there will be no conflict of interest, though.

“My father has listed numerous agencies under ‘lobbying intent,’” Ryan McCreery said. “He does so on an annual basis so as to be covered in case he gains new clients throughout the reporting period.”

Ryan McCreery said his father doesn’t have any current environment-related clients, nor will he take any as long as his son is deputy director of the state EPA.

Michael McCreery didn’t return calls.

Ryan McCreery said Nancy Kimme, acting on behalf of Rauner’s transition team, recruited him. Kimme, a lobbyist, was chief of staff for Judy Baar Topinka, the late Illinois state comptroller. Kimme couldn’t be reached for comment.

— Brett Chase

Rauner appointee to Illinois Gaming Board heads group that took money from casino: BGA | Chicago

Illinois GOP targets political hiring; Democrats wary | Miami Herald Miami Herald

 

Illinois Republicans have unveiled legislation backed by Gov. Bruce Rauner they say will clean up state hiring rules that allow a governor to hand out jobs to loyal lieutenants instead of hiring strictly on merit.

The measure, sponsored by Sen. Karen McConnaughay of St. Charles, is intended to rectify problems uncovered last year in a hiring scandal at the Illinois Department of Transportation under former Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn.

It defines the type of employee a governor may hire without restrictions, because he needs someone with a similar political affiliation to carry out his wishes. The U.S. Supreme Court recognized the need for such allegiance to the boss among high-ranking policymakers. In a 1990 case from Illinois known as "Rutan," the high court decreed, however, that most government jobs should be open to anyone who can show proper ability and skill.

But majority Democrats in the General Assembly are wary. The bulk of McConnaughay's measure is devoted to limits placed on collective bargaining units, going so far as to remove some employees from labor unions and empowering the government to transfer or dismiss those found to have been improperly hired at IDOT. They warn that the bill could lead to more politics in state hiring.

It also includes a "hiring reform" section which directs agencies under the governor to correct faulty job descriptions, revise procedures for determining exempt positions and seek to decertify union coverage where appropriate.

"It's good legislation," Rauner said last week. "We strongly support it. We look forward to having hearings about it."

Posts for which a governor may hand-pick candidates based on loyalty, such as those handling confidential information or who speak publicly for the executive, are for the most part not covered by the Supreme Court rules. They're referred to as Rutan-exempt.

In recent years, investigations showed IDOT hired more than 250 employees into jobs the agency described as performing duties that would exempt them from hiring rules, meaning IDOT could hire anyone it chose for them. But then some did routine work such as mowing grass or answering phones — jobs that should have been available to the general public. Many were transferred into jobs that had union protection, defeating the purpose of the politics exemption, which should have meant that they could be fired, as well as hired, at will.

"That was always the intention, that Rutan-exempt employees are at-will employees," McConnaughay told The Associated Press last week. "That in itself is an automatic conflict with collective bargaining. ... You can't have it both ways."

The GOP stance has the support of Noelle Brennan, a federal court monitor appointed to assess state hiring after the authors of a 45-year-old legal challenge to Chicago patronage practices trained their sights on IDOT. In her March interim report, Brennan called the matter an "inherent conflict." She declined last week to comment on McConnaughay's legislation.

The legislation tackles the issue by declaring that Rutan provisions trump collective bargaining unit rules "to ensure that political affiliation is not considered in filling Rutan-covered positions and that collective bargaining units are protected from improper political influence."

The plan also changes the definition of who is eligible to join a union, including eliminating anyone who is exempt from Rutan hiring rules.

But simply removing them from bargaining units could make them purely political, expanding partisanship in state employment, according to the state council of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

The proposal "would result in stripping thousands of public employees of their right to be represented by a union," AFSCME Council 31 spokesman Anders Lindall said, "with the perverse result, given the bill's supposed purpose, of giving agencies even greater leeway to circumvent the merit system." It would do "nothing to prevent future political hiring scandals," he said.

To union-friendly Democrats, it could lead to "unintended consequences," said Sen. Gary Forby of Benton, the chairman of the Labor Committee which will decide whether to give McConnaughay's bill a hearing as early as next week. He said he will discuss the issues with McConnaughay.

"Given the history and sensitivity of this issue, we need to take some time and give this a closer look to make sure there are no unintended consequences," Forby said. "For example, the last thing we would want is for something to increase the role of politics in government employment decisions."

Above is from:  Illinois GOP targets political hiring; Democrats wary | Miami Herald Miami Herald