Guest Post: Project 2025 vs the Working Class
Project 2025 vs the Working Class
Project 2025 is a right-wing blueprint to use the Federal government to attack the rights of unions, women, people of color, and the LGBTQ community. This guest post comes from a presentation done for CWA Local 7470 in Lincoln Nebraska on what Project 2025 would mean for Unions and Union members. These attacks would mean even more obstacles to organizing, ending OT pay, and gutting health and safety regulations. It's important to know our enemies and what they are planning for us and our families. Please keep these facts in mind when making political decisions. - Kieran F. Knutson, CWA Local 7250.
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Guest Post by Shane Hatch,
Windstream Technician
Secretary/Treasurer CWA Local 7470
Lincoln Nebraska
What Would Project 2025 Do?
Project 2025 vs Labor and Unions
"The Ability to Organize:
It would reverse the “Persuader Rule” which states that all corporations must disclose when they hire union busting consultants.
It would remove card check neutrality and make it illegal for companies to accept it. Meaning that if fifty percent plus one sign union cards the company cannot voluntarily recognize the union and will still require a secret ballot election. Thus, giving the company more time to bust the union.
Allow companies to bust unions mid contract. When a new contract is ratified, the company is not allowed to have a decertify vote for the length of the contract, except for certain windows of time. This would allow companies to hold the vote whenever they please.
Remove “protected concerted activities” meaning that companies will be able to retaliate against union organizers without penalty.
It would reintroduce and try to pass the Teamwork for Employees and Managers (TEAM) act. This is an employee council to work with management hand and hand outside of the organized union. This will severely weaken any unions and bargained for contracts
Government Workers:
It will ask Congress to make all public unions illegal. 2025 states that union representation of government workers is “incompatible with democracy”.
As stated in the opening paragraph, it would reclassify tens of thousands of civil workers to Schedule F category, thus exempting them from being protected by civil service rules. Giving the President the power to fire all of them and replace them with loyalists.
Cut retirement benefits for all Federal civil workers. They believe that civil workers make too much and receive too many benefits even before retirement.
Worker’s Rights:
It would allow employers to stop paying OT. It instead would give employees time off instead of OT. Trump has said he will no longer tax OT. Well, if you are getting paid time off in place of OT there is no OT to tax. To ensure this happens, where OT is still calculated, OT will be calculated on 2 week or even 4-week time periods, giving employers the ability to change schedules to avoid any OT being calculated.
It will repeal the Davis-Bacon act, which requires construction companies to pay wages and laborers and mechanics on federally funded projects the same as similar projects in the area. It also will encourage the federal government from using PLA’s (project labor agreements). These set the terms and conditions of employment with labor organizations. This will lower wages and weaken safety precautions at work sites.
It will restrict unemployment insurance. It will make it extremely difficult for anyone to get unemployment insurance by implementing strict regulations. While this will help with fraud, it will harm more people than reduce fraud.
It will cut assistance to workers whose jobs have been sent overseas. 2025 states “that workers who have had their jobs sent overseas should receive no special treatment.” Right now, the federal government has programs for these employees to get training and placement at new jobs.
Health and Safety:
It will exempt small businesses and for the first time, non-willful violators from fines issued by OSHA, even potentially in egregious cases of employer malpractice.
It will change the DOL’s hazard -order regulations to permit teenage workers access to work in dangerous occupations, like mines and meat packing plants. They believe this will solve the labor shortage problem. Adults already have plenty of safety issues in these jobs, why would we subject teenagers to this?
It wants to remove the government’s ability to negotiate with Medicare Part D prescription drug prices. This is the provision in the Inflation Reduction Act bill that caps insulin at $35 a month.
It wants to slash funding for Medicaid. It will require states to have much tougher regulations to become eligible for Medicaid. It also would apply lifetime caps or time limits on receiving Medicaid.
It will require a complete overhaul of the department of Health and Human Services. With the main point of removing the ACA, (affordable care act, Obamacare). This would take millions of Americans insurance away from them, with no plan to replace it.
It will tax worker benefits. There would be a cap on the tax deductions that employers can claim for benefits they offer workers. Anything over $12,000 per employee will now be subject to tax. It also removes the tax break for health insurance used to cover children over the age of 23.
Transportation:
It calls for the end of Capitol Investment Grants, (CIG). This program provides funding to state and local governments for new and expanded rapid rail, commuter rail, light rail, streetcars, bus rapid transit and ferries. It recognizes this program has a lot of favor in congressso it will “settle on” grants to maintain the current systems but not expanding them. It will then recommend slashing the “exorbitant wages” of all transit workers.
Summary:
They want to remove 50,000 to 100,000 career officials, to start with, they promise there will be more. They believe that there is a Dark State working against them, at all levels of the Government. They want to remove these officials for no other reason other than that person may have written a check to a Democratic candidate at some time. Whether these officials are Republican or Democrat it doesn’t matter, if they don’t have 100% loyalty, they want them gone. This is planned for Day 1.
When you visit the official page for Project 2025, there is a link to apply for all these openings that will be available immediately. After you apply, they will vet you and if you get through the vetting, you will be sent to an official site where they will train you for the position you want, so will be prepared to start on day 1. After the vetting it will obviously cost you money to participate any further.
This is a blatant attempt to weaken unions and weaken labor safety standards. This will take us back decades if not a century. This is just a review of how it affects labor. This project 2025 is a blueprint of how they plan on removing multiple agencies all together and rebuilding them with loyalist.
Except for the last paragraph this entire write up is their words, their plan, not my summary or twisting of their words. This was taken directly from Project 2025. Remember, everything fought for at the bargaining table, whether it took years to get, or the first time asking, can all be removed by the stroke of a pen. This is why labor is involved in politics."
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ADT Bargaining Report #3 November 1st 2024
Friends & Union Family at ADT,
We met with ADT Labor Relations Director James Nixdorf over two long sessions – in person this time - in south Minneapolis Thursday, October 24th , and Friday October 25th.
We opened our meeting confronting the company with new data confirming what we had previously warned them about: ADT’s Minnesota pay scales were causing enormous turnover in the bargaining unit. 40% of ADT Techs in Minnesota had left the company in the last 90 days!
We later presented our 7th compromise wage proposal, further moving the rates in the company’s direction – but also including a $600 signing bonus for every MN ADT Tech upon ratification of the contract.
ADT remained unmoved – instead of a serious response to our reasonable offer, Nixdorf climbed down some rabbit holes researching how many ADT Techs who quit, later come back to the company. He tried to minimize the turnover issue by claiming that 269 Techs had come back to the company in the last 4 years. An impressive number – but when we pressed him on the total number of Techs who quit in the last 4 years he had to admit that the returning 269 represented only 1% of those who had left!
While 90% of the contract is agreed to – including big wins like Overtime pay after 8 hours, and a members’ grievance process – the minimum salary wage scale remains a sticking point. Nixdorf’s position is unreasonable and insulting – we will need to up the pressure on the company to see some movement. More to come . . .
Solidarity,
CWA Bargaining Committee
Jesse Selin, ADT Tech and CWA 7250 Steward
Marvin Wells, CWA District 7 Representative
Kieran F. Knutson, CWA Local 7250 President
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Activision Workers to Rally for WFH Accommodations
Time: 12 Noon-1:00pm
This Friday employees at the Activision quality assurance department in Eden Prairie MN will rally for the right to Work-from-Home accommodations. Since January of this year Activision and its new parent-company, Microsoft, have enforced a strict Return-to-Office policy despite more than two years of successfully working from home entirely or in hybrid with in-office
Media Contacts:
Allen Junge,CWA 7250 Steward, Activision employee 507-993-4065
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