Committee OKs new restrictions on state workers' union
Source: Knox News
Committee OKs new restrictions on state workers' union
Officials debate motorcycle seat belt, helmet laws
By Tom Humphrey
Posted March 13, 2013 at 9:53 p.m.
NASHVILLE — A bill putting new restrictions on the Tennessee State Employees Union — enough to disable or eliminate many of the organization’s functions, according to a TSEA official — won approval of the House State Government Committee on Wednesday.
The bill (House Bill 913) is being pushed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and is sponsored by House Republican Caucus Chairman Glen Casada, who said it is intended to assure that state employee dues “do not go into political areas.”
But Sarah Adair, director of government affairs for TSEA, said the bill actually forbids TSEA from using dues money for anything but collective bargaining, enforcing a bargaining contract or helping members with grievance procedures. The bill permits lobbying only to the extent of contacting the group’s own members.
Since Tennessee prohibits state employee collective bargaining and there are no contracts, the organization would effectively be left to do nothing but handle grievances, she said. And even that may be in doubt because a state law enacted last year eliminates the term “grievance” in state law and instead sets up an appeals system for a state work who believes he or she has been wrongly disciplined or discharged, Adair said.
Read more: http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/mar/13/committee-oks-new-restrictions-on-state-workers/
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Typical... Republicans know they can't win elections on the issues, so they're making every change they can to manipulate the election. We're seeing the spread of voter id laws, we've seen the gerrymandering, and they'll most likely get a big gift from SCOTUS when the Voting Rights Act is over turned. But that's not enough for the greedy bastards... now they want to make sure their corporate buddies can donate, but the one semi-equivalent (as in - still doesn't come close to the money of big business) shouldn't be allowed to contribute to elections. This is a perfect example of why we need publicly financed elections. I won't be surprised to see these bills pop up around the country - or to find out that ALEC is behind this one.
Until people wake up and stop voting against their own best interest, we're doomed. And at this point, even if they do, they're gonna have one damn hard time getting their vote to count for anything.
