My Take

November 28, 2004

some thing i posted here a few 
parsecs or microns back 

has me bugged

we're all believing 

theres this 
 huge hunk
 of wagery whites
out there 

that figure 
jesus 
and his moral re armament posse 

 have 
 way better bigger 
and  perter tee tees 

then sween and 
the familly stern

yes 
  for too many wagery geeps
the  big eared 
 lunch bucket DUMB-ocratic party
 ain't gettin em off no more


well wait up pals 
hold your horse a mo
 

maybe we're on the wrong foot path  here 

let me ask ya 

just fuckin exactly 
what the fuck
has the jack ass done
lately ?

i mean
lunch bucket wise ?

=========================== 


=============================

the answer is nothin

not a damn thing

not in two decades

in fact all the fuckin ass holes have done
 is join in a series
of bi-partisan pay roll raids
to shore up the retirement system
after 2018 
by collecting
 trillions 
    in excess SSI tax payments

lunch bucket afl-xxx politics?

i fuckin hope not

so how the fuck can we possibly
know 

familly value jesus 
trumps  
 lunch box bendix  

we don't

at least not
 till the dummos 
 make good 
on a few 
         serious lunch pail promises

---------------------------------------
of course 
st paul's
johnny pants
didn't even bother 
to make any promises
let alone get a chance to fulfill em


unlike klint in 92

who went out there and
promised 

"a real  working mans tax cut"

and 
then instead 
 delivered 

"don't tell won't blow"

or what ever
 that fucking hell
that military horse fly
 was called

i guess 
that was all 
theym DLC-ers 
 could come up with
after booby rubin 
nixxed any tax cut
as 
   "not kool with the street  "

-----------------------------------------------
far as i can tell 
 the 94 
elephant house 
contract on amerika
               for ever after majority
was pretty much elected 
once that 
"swop"
      went down

no need 
even for 
the infamously egregious
Hillary punt
 on any  fed- med  
                deal 

----------------------------------

ohh shit why am i 
wasting my PRICELESS time 
on this horse shit?


AT LONG LAST

am i reduced to this 

a whiner !

for christ sake

u saw that HR thing 

 
shit

i'll get terminated .....


its just for heavans sake

there hasn't been 
a lunch bucket party
since aaahhh

well really
             1944

at least 
not outside 
the "nothin but  hot air"
                    department 

shit calling for 

" more jobs jobs jobs
 and
"easier friendlier mortgages 
          mortgages mortgages"


turns out
the bad guys 
  can play that tune too
  

sure jesus don't play dat 

but the elephants got 
other voices
other rooms  

they  say
stuff like 

"hey i know
we cut taxes 
to the rich 
but comrades 
listen to me 
thats 
the only way
to create lasting jobs"

where as the  demos?

hell
they come off
looking  like 
they spend taxes
to create 30 second 
        leaf rake jobs 

 if i didn't understand keynes
and deficit thrust

shit 
i'd prolly  think 
the damn dems
were just takin away 
 some 
of my hard earned job dough
to create a  temporary
          job for a ni....
or a fa... or a cu...or a ....

get me 

hodoo economics 

"and we're  payin for it "


========================================
   

 yes 
martha washington

the institute 
does not  have an impressive  campus

===========================================

and yes
 that iz 
the howard  hughes
medical institute 
in coral gables florida 

not the herb sorrell building
 in fontana california  

so what


we needed some ummmph 

the struggle ranch 
didn't seem towering enough

especially 
given our mission

we needed to project
a " bustling image"

a real hive of  activity 

besides don't it have a cool 
 retro deco power plant 
               type look ?

remember
oh yee of little faith

we pride ourselves 
on being
the pacific coasts
biggest klass collider 

a veritable dynamo 
of wage conflict 

throwing off
an unending series
           of
 
   "JAGGED BLUE SPARK   
            KLASS lightening "

"a non stop  klass - quake machine" 

hence the need 
for 

an objective 
co relative

an edifice 
worthy 
   of our daring deeds 

-----------------------------

and no 
i don't have 
an advanced degree
 
not in anything

and  while we're at it

that academic "garb "
i/m wearing   
there
in the picture 

the one 
 you click on 
to get here

 
it's   a totally 
 faked up shot 

let me put it this way;

i got no more " formal education"
 then that
fucking  british guy
 who to demonstrated 
the connection 
between 
electricity 
           and magnetism 


=======================================

check this human resource shit list out ...


 good stuff 
i oughta turn thiz hose
on my staffers here at the ranch 




===========================================

1) antagonist:
is rude and unpleasant to
co workers vendors and customers

2)blameless bob:
          always has an excuse 
for everything

3) whiner:
          complains no matter 
what he or she is asked to do

4)thumb twiddler :
   lacks motivation
and initiative 

5) insubordinate subordinate :
 challenges you in front
of other wagelings and wall guards

6) tortoise:
shows up late or not at all

7) amy attitude:
  has a negative attitude
that brings everybody down

8) hand holder:
  needs canstant supervision

9) early retiree:
has been around awhile
and is beginning to practice
on the job retirement 

10) worry wart:
 has personal problems 
that infringe on the job day 

11)clock watcher:
refuses to work weekends
or even a minute beyond quitting time
even during deadline crunches 


---------------------------------

and there's more....


------------------------------------
Understanding why employees 
don´t perform
the first step to breaking down resistance
 
 Learn why difficult employees 
act the way they do 
 Understand the negative,
 ripple effect 
of poor performance 
in today´s work place 

 Know if an employee 
is unable—or unwilling—
to do the job 

 Bad attitudes—
where do they come from? 

 Why many managers´ 
efforts to correct performance fail 
 
 
Taking control 
of tough performance 
and attitude problems
 
 The games naysayers play—
and how you can defend yourself 
 
 Creating a sense of ownership 
in employees 
who are barely skating by  

 What to do about workers 
who are just there for the paycheck
  
 What´s really going on 
with excuse makers?
 What you need to know  

 How to reprogram pessimists 
to see the glass half full
—not half empty 

 Just say "No" to energy-draining,
 high-maintenance employees 

 How to bring a negative attitude 
into clear focus—
then zap it 

 What employees 
who don´t follow the rules
 are really begging for 


 Draw the line!
 How to keep an employee´s 
personal problems 
from becoming
 a management problem 


 Your role 
in helping employees 
who choke
 during stressful situations 
 
 
Conducting performance reviews 
that encourage the behavior you want
 
 The rules of proper documentation 
 
 How to mentally prepare
 before a dreaded performance review
  
 Questions to ask 
to break the ice 
and get the conversation going 

 How to head off 
negative emotions—
and what to do if you can´t  

 A checklist for avoiding 
unwanted surprises 
during the review  

 How to wrap up the review 
on a positive—
and motivating—note 
 
 The problem with rating scales 
 
 
Using coaching and feedback 
to challenge under-performers
 to do their best 
 
 Giving feedback:
 Could what you´re saying 
be getting you nowhere? 
 
 Using the power 
of open communication 
to conquer any 
and all under-performance 

 Dealing with problem employees
—where good managers
 can go bad  

 How you personally shape
 attitude and performance—
both unconsciously and deliberately
 
 Coaching:
 Is it the missing component
 in your turnaround efforts?
 
 Take a look at your management style—
you may be setting 
the stage for poor attitudes 
 
 
 
Giving criticism to get rid 
of unwanted work habits
 
 How to criticize employees 
without losing their support—
it´s what you say 
and how you say it 

 The difference between
 a put-down and constructive criticism 

 Anticipating—and neutralizing—
how employees will react
 to your criticism  


 How to criticize 
the behavior, not the person 
 
 How to gain the upper hand—
simply by listening 
 
 The lost art of confronting problems,
 directly and professionally 

 Building an environment 
where open communication 
is practiced by everyone 
 
 
Putting the spirit of hard work,
 high morale and peak performance 
back into the work place
 
 Using the power only you possess 
to positively influence 
everyone around you 


 What respect
 has to do 
with how employees feel 
and perform 


 Improving morale—moving 
beyond the pat on the back 
to gain long-term results
 
 Stopping the spread 
of negativity—
do this one thing 
and the battle
 is half over 


 How managers and employees 
together can curb 
the knee-jerk tendency
 to blame others 
 
 
Using the disciplinary process 
to turn problem employees around
 
 Build good relationships 
by using the 6 rules 
of discipline 

 You can´t mishandle 
the "final written warning"—
make sure all these elements
 are in place 

 Attorneys love to use
 your own policies against you
—are yours fair and comprehensive?

 
 How the way you put together 
a documentation file 
could turn a jury against you 

 
 Is the problem serious enough 
to start the formal discipline process? 
Here´s how to judge 

 Why you must be careful—
very careful—when carrying out
 your company´s
 written discipline policy 


 Does the employee really get it?
 How to test their understanding
 of what´s expected—
and the consequences 
 
 
Understanding your right 
to fire as a last resort
 
 The pros and cons of suspension 
as an alternative to firing 

 Know the laws on wrongful discharge—
and never have to say,
 "I wish I had ..." 

 The delicate job 
of breaking the news 
to the rest of the staff 

 What to do 
should the departing employee
 become vindictive or hostile
 
 "Bad attitude" may not hold up 
in court—
but here´s what will 

 
 The steps to conducting 
a worry-free termination session 

 Why you must choose 
your words carefully 
when showing an employee the door 


 The top 3 things you can do
 to head off legal problems later 
 
---------------------------------------------------

 
              
 
 

November 27, 2004

  herb ain't no eleanor
but sometimes 
we need to survey the damage ....



==========================================

okay geeps

whats up here?

we still trying to job crow these darker folkz?

 frankly 
with all these brie types lookin down their noses at uz
for what 32 years at least 
that iz since we put nixon back in the saddle in 72

you know hard hat 
bunker gi joe shit

white blue collar back lash 

myth 
dumb rap 
justified 
mis understood

what ?

hasn't the smoke settled enough now

to draw up an accounting 
of our behavior 
since say '68 ?

think on it gomer homer 
while your loafin on the job

==========================================

November 26, 2004

 heres a nice old ethnic fool 

lets see what he's got to say
about the klass struggle
american style  ...




===============================

this gray ghost's
got  his own 
wagery type  party 
" THE labor party"
paid up membership 
  365 
except on leap years 

  a real big chief 
so listen close ....



-----------------------------------------

" 
 some of uz 
 union officers  
and activists 
 came
together to found the Labor Party
in 1996"

------- thiz be
the dudski's own special
 workery hoakery
 co- agitator
co -agulator
    wager it all par par pardee  -------------
 
" we  
were part of
an upsurge 
that also 
swept new leadership 
into the
AFL-CIO, "

------- "the sween team "------------------------
 
"  for
the first time in 15 years 
we seemed on the verge
 of
organizing a million new members a year."

----- we org-ed one milion in 81? ---------------------

 " Fed up with
four years of Clinton administration 
sellouts 
and
betrayals, 
we felt that we would fairly rapidly bring
in the broad labor support
 necessary to become a mass
electoral party."

--------- you got me wid ya dud --------------

" Today, the labor movement 
is under siege and consumed
by internal divisions.

--------right right right -------------

 Its weakness is measured not
only by the lost strikes 
and failed organizing drives
but also by its diminished 
political capacity 
to speak
on behalf of the interests 
of working people." 

---------a -fuckin-men 
                     bro dud --------------

"In some
states and regions, 
more workers identify 
with the
populist social conservatism 
of the Bush/Rove team 
than
with the lunch bucket 
politics of the AFL-CIO."

---------- the truth -----------------

 "That we
have failed to capture 
the hearts and minds 
of these
workers is a disgrace and a shame."

------ stop right fuckin here daddy  
           be4 u done  kill  me
wiff yow nasty  beat ---------------

==============================

------ so far..

butfuck 
after a few more steps forward 
 watch how 
 he done turn dah  wagooooon  
             back toe-woods dah dang same ole  barn ----------

" The debates now raging 
within labor 
about its future
are long past due. 
They need to be about 
more than just
building density 
and allocating jurisdictions. 

-------- okay i'm still wid ya ------------

How do
we begin to build 
an independent politics of labor? 

------- right on question bro -----------

How
do we become 
a real movement again 
that is seen 
to
speak for the vast majority 
of workers both organized
and unorganized? 

How can we build 
real power for
working people?

------- shit 'nough
 wid da dang build ups
izz so pumped 
izz 'bout  ta busticate 

please please   
gib  wid  dah answers daddio-----------


Labor needs its own political party.

------- woopz i miss sumpin here
 izz back in 96 agin ?????????-------------

 The opening lines
of our Electoral Policy say it best: 

"The Labor Party
is unlike any other party 
in the United States.

------ no its not 
its the spittin image 
of  about 10,000
other flea circuses just like it ---------------

 We
stand independent 
of the Democratic and Republican
parties.

------ so do all the other butt end  biters -------

 Our overall strategy 
is for the majority of
American people
--working class people--
to take political
power." 
------------- well ain't that just perfect ------------

And here we must be frank:

 we do not have an
effective Labor Party 
in this country 
because the labor
movement has not met 
the challenge of creating 
and
sustaining one. 
That is the task at hand.

----- ok now for real
this guy says 
the unions need to sponsor a third party
ok now thats worth debating 
to bad he doesn't call his group
the  labor party organizing committee
                   stick with the where we're at stage  ---------


"What Next? 
How we respond
 to the loss of this election
will determine our very survival
 as a movement."

------ which movement 
  the  union movement 
or the labor party 
            for 
an  electoral majority movement ? -------------
 
"There
are some basic steps 
that we need to take now 
to
prepare for the kind 
of bold and visionary independent
political party
 that will have 
the power to build a new
majority of working Americans:"

"1. Abandon the Inside Game. 

We need to embrace the
reality that we stand on the outside,
 confronting
global corporate power"

----- now i don't agree one iota
but if i waz u bro
i'd  say it flat out  
we are a klass against klass society
and the wagery needs 
its own electoral organization
or it will get fleeced again and again and again 
by trusting klass enemy 
oaky doak organzations
like the democratic party  ------

 "There is no chance 
that we will
be called back
 to the table 
to get our piece of the
pie"

----- this can't be 
 what he means to reveal here
in essence 
he's saying
sween andy krumke 
you pie card crap facers
get with the program 
 you ain't got enough to offer
so you izz off the a list 
off the b list
maybe off the z list 
stop waitin for the big invite 
ait ain't comin 
so you might as well 
set up your own party -------------- 

"The sooner we realize this,
 the easier it will be
for us to act 
like a real opposition 
and seek out new
allies and new strategies."

-------- amazingly frank
but why don't it sizzle ? ---------------


"
   2. Promote Clear and Bold Solutions.
 This is no time
for policy wonks.
 Instead of tinkering 
with the
Medicare drug negotiating authority

 we should declare
that

 health care is a right

 Instead of trying to
expand the Pell Grant system

 we should call for 

free higher education."
 
-------- 
  what a dud , dud 
these two for instances 
are 
odd choices 
to start a fire under  a worker movement
 
how about wages hours jobs 
economic  security 
the old  maxes and minz
and 
what the hell about
job site rights 
these are firstandlast items dud
you know that 
unless dunik....
unless ..... 
you izz actually
become 
a  wonk in dork clothing  ----------------

"We need to build a movement
 from the
bottom up 
around clear 
and easily 
understandable
principles"

-----go fer it daddy ---------------

3. Shift Resources.
 The labor movement contributed
massive amounts 
of time, energy and resources 
to the
failed Kerry campaign.
 In four years,
 we will be
expected to contribute 
even more to the next 
Democratic
candidate. 
------------- say it sharp dudzinko 
no more union  cash 
orno more union  volunteers
 feed your self  jack  ass   ---------

We need to learn 
from the example 
of right wing social activists 
and invest in building a real
base around boldly articulated issues

--- ya but they bore from within the elephant
you should be showin'
 why they are not  a good parallel
just like black caucuses within  the jack ass 
aren't a good parallel either 
white worker movements
wil not look like either of those models 
despite their success------ --------

 "If we move our
activists and organizations 
into well-financed
strategic national campaigns 
around issues of concern
to all working people, "

---- like what minimum wage ?-----------


"if we declare our political
independence,
 we can change the national political
landscape."

-------- "independence"
run your own candidates?
 have your own party line in all 50 states 
get fed money
like the reforms and greens did?
to do what
certainly 
you don't mean 
choose between the offered hacks ?
sam gompers took that position 
in 1896
and so did dan tobin in 1948 
before he got slung in the pen ---------

"4. Deepen and Broaden the Debates.
 The future survival
of the labor movement 
concerns all of us. 

---ok but why are
 so many of  we rankers
           apathetic ? ------------

The debate
over that future 
should not be confined 
to the
Executive Council of the AFL-CIO."

-debate confined to executive soviet?
shit the only thing 
that ought to be  confined  
 to those wee wizzlers
  is confinement itself 
prison confinement --------------


Workers need to be
involved 
from the local union level 
on up

-------
   at least say it "mean" 
  will ya  mister nice guy  wind bag ---------
 
We need to
talk about political density
 as well as market density

We need to talk about ways 
of building real power
 for
working people 
that go beyond 
simple technical fixes

------- beyond technical fixes ?
what technical fixes 
we got no fucking technical fixes
shit 
i'd settle for a little fucking 
technical fix 
just fucking get uz some fucking fixes
technical non technical   
fuck with
trying to  swing for the fences
" a US october 17 by 07 " 

how about a simple  cola 
on the minimum wage 
and a cap on daily  hours 
straight time pay  -------------

"5. Act Like a Real Movement."

-----u gotta be a real movement first -------

 "All too often labor is
seen as an interest group 
that is divorced 
from the reality 
of the millions 
of workers and poor people
struggling to earn a living."

--well shit thats what unions are 
and have been since say 1949 -------

" While regular folks 
 might hope for
the wages, benefits and security 
that go with a union job, 
they may not see 
that our struggles are
intertwined with theirs."

------ no dud we don't see that
cause they aren't 
unions are opportunistic parasites -----------

 Whenever we have found ways
 to
make our issues resonate 
with large numbers 
of
unorganized workers,
 we have made advances. 

------- what are u talking about
the wagner act of 1935
the fair labor practices act of 1939

how old are you ?
  "we" haven't 
fucking "resonated " since 1944
 
We must
restore our ability 
to create large-scale social
turmoil
--which is the only
 real source of our power

 ----- wow did you pull a rabbit out of  yer hat

aaaaaamen brother ----------------------


Sometimes a defeat
 can act as a catalyst for change.

The crushing of the Pullman Strike 
over 100 years ago
led unions to reconsider 
how they organized workers 
and
led Eugene Debs
 to organize a new movement 
that broke
with the Democratic and Republican parties

---- wildly bad example 
but a for effort ------------

 The activism unleashed
 by this year's election 
changed many
people's lives.

----- jesus i hate goo goo rah rah
     nothing of the sort happened 
the war in iraq did it --------------

 Fed up with Bush 
and all that he
represents, 
they yearn for a better world.
----- who do
white workers?--------


 We must
speak to those millions 
and build a new politics
 of
hope. 

------ jesus the fucking MLK  mojo
wrong lines wrong movement 
"large scale turmoil"
  that sed itall  bro
after dat
why didn't ya gist 
shut up and sit down 
before ya fell down -----------

We must reach out to 
those who have fallen under
the sway 
of populist conservative demagogues
 and
present them
 with an alternative 
that will make a real
difference 
in their lives. 

------ pure 
handin out of blank form 
sure you got the forms right

but shit we got those forms  
fill in the blanks dudski
we need ya to give us details 
not the damn old  forms that ned fillin ----------
 
We must convince 
those who
have concluded 
that politics is nothing more
 than a corrupt 
rich man's game 
that activism
 can bring real change.

 We must build a Labor Party 
out of the ashes
 of
this election.
of 04 
-------- like 
we did out of the ashes 
of 46  52  72 80  94  -----------------

Don't mourn, organize! "


    ----- organize 
     what?
        the choir ?------- 

November 24, 2004

 no time to post up the details

 but operation pancho 
 just got cut 
another head hole ....
 


 =============================

    
i haven't heard from chig

only 
    dos lobos  borachos
managed a brisk kall in 
up date 

 " herb the shits flyin
there after chig
 course 
he blew  yesterday

but  we fuckin  missed 
 them
 copa  -de  - fuckalos 
 
by less time 
then it takes a  delaware whore
 to  blow a boy scout  

this after around 3 

about 15  bean n' badge types
   
surrounded 
el bodaga del  struggle  
 and proceeded with out warning

 to fucking smoke  the place 
with gas

  the fucking nasty shit
 nearly choked 
our two secratarias 
to fucking death  

we're comin home 
soon as we locate the chigro " 

i wonder 
what  the folks will  say 
over at the cornkafer fund 
when sleeves tells em this 
plot twist?

" need another 100 gees ?"

===========================
 
  

 is it the color orange ?

 what happens to me in 
             mid november ?

can't conceal it folks 

and why bother
right?

i got the fuckin crotch itchin
   sour sign lay about
                   blues 

  out side my trailer
in the pines here

the klass struggle's afoot

the tempo livens  

 there's 
a  pacific surf  rising  

back east 
thunder heads 
mobilize  over pittsburgh   

and here i am
near motionless 
 loadin  up 
on super market beer 



=================

	Posted by herb jr. jr. at 06:20 PM
		| Comments (0)
	
		| TrackBack
	

    bad bloods bad blood


take the stewardii wrangle

thats an industry make or brake 

"do we go down to frickin air wages or org them up to ours

andy's rescue one van ?

nope 

 thats a cwa pitch 

where's andy et al ?
beatin the meat in public
per usual

no wonder 
    cwa type cadre have a bad funny bone 
over the purple flushers  

i would too 
======================================

   the flight gals got a solidarity thing goin

proves as if all of latin europe ain't enough
that multi union industries 
aren't
 a necessary problem 


  yes chaos is cool
and it oughta streak thru all the carriers
so their not picked off one by one

     it amazes me the flight gals can't generate any support

 is it the over paid good lookin shit ?


=======================================

 i got this weird EEEEE
from the lady eve 

this morning 




==================================

herb:

 did some runs here
at the big one 

surpirsed even myself

looks like 
you need to push 
your 
 construction pals 
 to get a clear idea of what 
level of lettuce 
theyre probably  missing out on 

 my estimate
" most"
 ofwhat now
gets pissed away out of ground rent
as  code/zone
supply  limits 
 and pull out
 by developers
as  soft costs 
could 
in a properly reconfigured  union wage environment
get turned into hiked up  hard costs
with no serious work time lose 

if the pie card
 dopes could develop some 
real barg levers 
the  capitalized value
  of the ground rent 
can be
 in the  memberships
 envelops
not the developers 


==================================================

i know theres alot here
so
i 'll get her to spell it out
 in american if i can 


--------------------------------------------------

ok why drag it out

lets get the strippin done now


lets put
 all 
the old dinosaur corporations 
thru a special 
sub section of chapter eleven 

make it a class action
a clean sweep 

strip off 
their fucking benefit obligations
now 

why drag it out 
 
remove 
all
the obligations
all
 at once

cover 
the whole flock
all
 40 million of em 


====================================================

its  final curtain :


-------------------------------
drop  the false promises

you know where
 each and every one 
of these 40 million 
dinky little stories
is going to end 

so why the fuck string em all out?


drop the aweful truth  
  all at once

 every where
  on everyone
  and
  with  one big send off 

 chip in for a group communique
   
-----------------------------------------------

 

 code name it

 judgement day  lite 

now 

get to it 

--------------------------------------

don;t try telling me 

you don't
get the idea


come on 

you  wanta tell ya all face to face 

right?

mano a mano 

so 
 designate 
a place and time
where
 all  the hopeful and hopeless 
can fore gather


all  the god damn stupid rubes
that walk around out there 
countin
on  corporate  pension and health plans

contact em 
and tell em
 to  show up  

round em up

set em  up

so you can 

knock em down

sorta like 
 those crazy ass 
mass wedding ceremonies
the reverend moon throws
now and again 
over in seoul korea 

only way bigger way way bigger
-----------------------------------


" here's an extra special announcement
 from your old friends 
  at job site x-19
 
show or blow 
boys 

there'll be 
valuable exit raffles
at each venue 

and yes 
there 
will be 
  full hat 
         cash prizes " 

-------------------------------------

                  
imagine the stew

 
you'll draw millions

it 'll be as if nascar 
held races 
at all their official tracks at once 

no bigger

way way way  way bigger......


you get 
all those union ranker geeps 
and their 
clueless 
   pie panter officials too

millin'
and wonderin'
 and fussin' and cussin' 
  
just a chillin'
 and a waitin'
 on the word 
-----------------------------------------
assemble em  

in say the parking lots 
 
 of 
   america's leading sports   stadiums

all 
across the nation
   couple hundred 
out door venues say 

hey do it grand
its a one time only deal guys

you're good for it




 plan on  
  a  nice may  evening 

you string together 
this  giant hook up

like a heavy weight title bout

big time video screens 
every place posible 

with those fuckin
delux
heavy metal type 
speakers 
the ones capable of 
the riot control strength
 infra sound capacity

spare no details 
money is not a proper object here 
these are 
"your people'
you're throwin this for  

 get say charlie daniels and toby keith
and jessica simpson 
and some shit for the nig...

  to keep every body warmed up

you can count on plenty of BYO
so 
the places will
all  be hoppin

ohh ya

ban the press 

really bill
 this  as a private party
just 
 for "our " people only
no spouses even


then wam 
when they 're higher 
       then  yard full a october turkeys 

shoot the pikers
  the big bad word

have some fucker come 
on the screen

wearing one of those 
executioners black hoods

all you see is 
a pair of lead like eyes 
zinging out at you from two holes 

mag up his voice with deep deep slow wave gut jigglers 



 

and have him
whack m
with
both barrels 

  really fucking 
stun belt em 

make absolutely sure 
no matter what fool notions
 they come in with
 the dick heads 
all leave  
on the same fuckin 
blank fuckin  page  

-------------------------

heres a first draft..



" good people
listen up
i'll make it quick
 .. blah blah blah...
blah blah .....
and so 
friends ( really goose up the low waves here )
 
it gets down to this:
 
  we tried

 we fried 

  and  
you
are plain 
 shit outa luck

yup 

we shit the bed

and you gotta lay in it anyway

we failed ya 

and we fucked ya



ssoooooooo
aahh ...well geeks ....

 
the boards
of all your companies
have authorized me 
to tell you  all 
 
eat  shit
and learn to     
like  it "

then with that cue

commence to fire off 
  one hell of a canonade 
of sight sound smell 
 burn and itch  


shoot em in all ways
and on all  sides 

 fire works ?

shit 
like nothin ever seen before 

like 50 fourths all at once 
and fired 
directly
at the crowd not above it 

hit em with 
everything ya can get 

such  a fucking  shit load 
of monstrous 
blinding deafening 
skun scorching 
 explosive devices

the hapless fools
 piss their draws
and shit their shorts 

you know 
high high impact 

make em puke till they feint  

make it huge

 make it last 

make it linger 

make it lawless


cover the fuckers 
with 
such  a mother fuckin
thick thick
blanket
of  blue assed smoke 

they  stagger 
around 
in desperation 
cause  
hells arrived 

leave em 
 choking and flapping
     like seals 
            escaping  a  fog bank


then what else
blame it all
on outside agitators
and 
send in the shrewdly 
         pre-postioned
                     riot cops

and pay handsomely
to  beat 
  the fuckin puss  out of em

come on get into it



make it  
a night to remember !


======================================

a little test here


what do you figure 
is the share of wagery 
that 
would find themselves
from first job to last
answering 
the usual 
employment question 

with some morph
 or other 
of the above 

==================================

obviously
 to org these folks 
is not to org 
a critter much like 
the old artisan crafty guy 



nor is it much like orging
the guy who responds 
itts a tit and i don't wanta l;ose it
cause the alternative prolly iz
just a damn job

got a real skill you can sell
or love what you do 

or
get paid way more then the options pay

we got security on our org side
plus low turn over maybe plus 
some degree of job ID

but say like us 
here at the tute
u want to org jobs
that amount
to little more then

" another fucking 
9 to 5 bill payer "


-------------------------------------------

" job enrichment ?
shit i can think 
 of a good reason
 to keep this grindy windy crap up
the  cost of high turnover
 may be way less 
  then the cost of getting unionized "
                               saul putsky
                                     1975
----------------------------------------------------

  so in the toxic waste 
           of mcjobbery
how can we build 
 a collective bargaining org 

how can we 
assemble all thses free agents
 these floating elements  
 into a massively  interconnected 
  all for one one for all   polymer 

catalytic action

cadre involvement
speed up co agulation time 
if we can get it done fast enough 
and get it  to spread
the jobblers become vectors of union orging 

but how do we build the cadre the ronin orgers 
that speed the synthesis and pull outto hit up a new stew of elements  

ole herb don't like these numbers much....




========================================

there are in total
45 million folks covered by
   corporate     defined benefit plans  

   imagine they all call for a modest 
              annual 12 k pay out 

say at peak 30  mill 
         are all suckin tit 
at once 
thats 360 billion per annum 

ok now 
go figure the tower  cuffs 
will all pull  out in time 

then what

butfuck 
what else

this all becomes 
  uncle sapheads budget item....

okay so the plans have some value 
say enough to cover half the exposure 

still 180 billion on
 uncles credit card per annum

like fighten
 one and a half 
    iraq wars at once 
and for
    say what 10 years minimum



no way right ?



====================================================== 

jesus the press
 is alive with low wage abuse 
by big cap companies

shit
 the washing post
and 
the manhattan timeless
are duelin each other
for top rooster here

and are they diggin

even off the clock 
snides are now fair game 
for large spread exposes

================================

imagine

the use of sweatin whippers
at the unit level
has been discovered 
by the knights of the press 

the simon lagree's 
of the large chain 
              service companies

where findin' a way
to cut  job comp  
 gets you  paid 
a piece of the squeeze

no need to say 
this goes down 
from the tower 
to the broom closet 
in ten seconds

"do it 
just do it 
do it any way  
any how any who
 and we'll give ya 
a taste of the gains"

how wide spread ?

well who knows
officially

no one at the labor department 
has seened fit
to commision  a study......


but hey

how bout that big time press ?

first they start jackin off 
that lovely ivy league 
  union maid  purple-andy  

next their wrestlin 
with the corporate pension ponzi

and 
now thiz stuff

where will it all  end citizens ?

what's next ?

formal endorsement 
  of the klass struggle
 by the washington post 


------------------
this from the gray lady :

off the clock?

"It is prevalent," said Alfred Robinson,
 director of the wage and hour division 
of the Labor Department. 
"It is one of the more common violations 
of the Fair Labor Standards Act."

Though there have been no formal studies
 of the practice 
or of its overall cost 
to employees, "

----big caps facing lawsuits include ---

" A&P, J. P. Morgan Chase,
 Pep Boys, 
Ryan's Family Steakhouses,
 TGF Precision HairCutters 
and SmartStyle,. .....

---uncle ---
" has grown more aggressive
 after plaintiffs' lawyers filed scores 
of off-the-clock lawsuits, 
some resulting in multimillion-dollar settlements
 with prominent companies,
 including Radio Shack and Starbucks. "

" among many others
the labor department's enforcement agency
 found that  Hanna Steel Corporation 
forced 522 employees 
 for months to begin work
 five minutes before 
their regular shifts started.

Last November, the Labor Department announced
 a $4.8 million back-wages settlement
 with T-Mobile, the wireless telephone company,
 after finding that it had forced 20,500 call-center employees
 to work off the clock 
by making them show up 10 to 15 minutes 
before their scheduled clock-in time."


"dudes you got a choice 
Show Up Early or Stay Late"

--------------------------------

more gray lady...

" Off-the-clock work can take many forms.
 Employees are sometimes told 
that it is the way people advance in a company,
 and other times they are forced 
to show up early or stay late 
under threat of losing their jobs."


"Many people
 who study business practices 
say 
off-the-clock work has become
 more prevalent 
because middle managers 
face greater pressure 
to lower labor costs 
and because the managers' bonuses
 may even be tied to cutting those costs. 
Off-the-clock work 
is most often found, 
they say, at workplaces 
that employ many immigrants, 
like farms and poultry-processing plants,
 but the phenomenon has spread, 
especially among low-wage companies 
in the service sector. "


"There's more of this stuff going on
 than 10 and 20 and especially 30 and 40 years ago," 


"There are a lot of incentives 
to engage in these kinds of practices,
 because they result in higher profits
 for the company and they can lead
 to higher bonuses for local managers."

 

Unlike factory workers,
 many hourly employees work 
where there are no time clocks
 and the situation is somewhat fluid.
 For example, an employee might work 
two hours past the end of a normal shift
 without putting in 
for overtime pay one night
, but arrive two hours late on another morning 
because of a parent-teacher conference.
 In such settings,
 employers may easily wring out 
extra hours from their workers. 



" Executives at many companies acknowledge
 that their policies encourage store managers
 to cut costs,"



" Some managers receive bigger bonuses
 for cutting labor costs deeply
 or are threatened with dismissal 
if they exceed payroll targets."

  " many companies pushed for such unpaid work 
  because it is an easy way to bolster profits. "

Working for the Bottom Line

"Corporate profits are derived 
from efficiency,
 and every extra minute 
off the clock 
they can squeeze out 
of a worker 
generates profits 
to the bottom line," 

"some companies have even
 institutionalized 
the notion 
that preshift and postshift 
work doesn't
            have to be compensated."




 " more people work off the clock
 because 
job insecurity makes 
them increasingly eager to please management". 

"One big reason for off-the-clock work 
is people are really worried about their jobs,"  

" Managers often persuade their subordinates 
to work off the clock 
by promising promotions 
and other rewards 
or by threatening 
those who refuse with demotions
 or fewer paid hours,"

" Employees and managers 
at many call centers 
say off-the-clock work is endemic."


 managers at callcenters
, run by TeleTech Holding,
 ordered everyone to arrive early
 to start their computers 
and software
so they could begin taking calls 
the second their shift began.


  "That's the way it's going to be."

Firing Those Who Complain



 SmartStyle,  company policy 
is
" order stylists off the clock when business is  slow"

The stylists were supposed to be paid 
the higher of their commissions-
 about 45 percent of their receipts -
 or the hourly wages due them. 
But if the commissions were lower 
than the sum of their weekly wages,
 managers told them to go off the clock 
to reduce their pay. 

 

 

==========================================================

 got to love 
those stalwart 
doomed communion 
wafer snappers
  over there
in  bean and cod country

boy are they battlin' back 

=========================================

caught in 
 the  arch catholic 
 sacred property 
blow out 
fire sale 

"hey come on down baby
these are 
genuine 
 once in a generation 
          opportunities..
check out our prices ....
this stuffs gotta go go go 
            we am     liquidating....  "
-----------------------------------

god the little folks 
are occupying 
the joints

and  
with their
rock solid
 solidarity
their community support 
their  rotations 

shit 
the hoop la 

the camping out
 
the  vigils

an ark's load 
of familly favorites

plus
the kids 
granny and the village idiot too

shit what a show ....


" no
you  ass holes
you gay old crows 
we will not   go quietly   
           into thiz dark  night "
------------------------------------------

 a real 
" till hell freezes"
alamo style
 hold on hold out 


god bless their bathetic 
  fightin hearts 

obstructing
even  for a moment 
has such beauty

thwarting 
the fucking
indecent speed 
 of a perversion soaked 
      hierarchy

rushing like thieves 
to fence their goods 
 
rushing
to close down 
and sell off
 these tacky holy places

 little dopes  contributions' 
and their parents' and grand parents' 
contributions 
  built and sustained 
all these years .............

 fuck the buggars

----------------------------
then again 
too bad say 
gm or us steel
or peabody coal 
 ain't constrained
to handle
occupations  
like the boston  arch bishop
 and his grove 
of singed 
           jesus trees 

===================================================

the  big print shops 
are all a blaze 
with purple ink these days

seems our cousin andy 
is todays 
 darling of the liberal  wing
  of the  haute  middle klass 

with  his latest
master plan in ten points
andy boy gets
to wear the liberal press gang's 
"  biggest boldest 
union  maverick "crown
               

  at least for the moment...... 

============================================

Angered by  cases of
-----------" yellow union rat outs"----------------
 Andrew L. Stern  
has ignited a debate throughout the labor movement
 by arguing that labor needs 
a sweeping overhaul,
 including the merger 
of many unions
 and a vast increase 
in organizing,
to reverse its long decline.

Last week, Mr. Stern,
 president of the Service Employees International Union,
 called on the A.F.L.-C.I.O. 
to adopt a 10-point plan,
 and the debate he began 
could lead to the most far-reaching changes
 in the labor movement in a half-century

Mr. Stern complained 
that unions were doing far too little
 to help American workers
 because they were organizing
 too few workers
and were often undercutting one another 
in negotiations. 

He also complained 
that many unions were too small
 to contend with giant companies, 
noting that 40 of the 60 unions 
in the A.F.L.-C.I.O. 
had fewer than 100,000 members. 

Mr. Stern,
called for the  60 unions to merge 
into fewer than 20,
 so that each would be large enough
 to square off against
 big corporations. 

Alarmed that labor's ranks 
are shrinking,
he also proposed that the A.F.L.-C.I.O., 
whose unions represent 13 million workers,
 be authorized to set ambitious goals 
on how much money each union 
should spend on organizing. 


He made his call for change
 a week after President Bush won re-election,
 notwithstanding labor's all-out efforts
 to defeat him.
 Many union leaders
 agree that labor badly needs 
to take steps to reverse its decline,
 but they favor far less sweeping 
and painful change than Mr. Stern advocates. 

He has warned
 that unless the A.F.L.-C.I.O.
 embraces bold changes,
 his union,
 with more than 1.6 million members, 
may leave the federation.

The director of the U.C.L.A. Labor Center
, Kent Wong,
 said labor's weakened state 
has had important repercussions. 

"Unions put together a very impressive campaign 
to unseat George Bush,''
 Professor Wong said.
 "But the reality is 
when they represent just 13 percent
 of the work force, 
even with their huge effort,
 they were unable to prevail." 

He suggested that if unions represented 
more of the work force, 
like the 22 percent level
 it did three decades ago,
 the Democrats might have 
won the election.

Mr. Stern's proposals have set off 
a fierce debate. 
Some labor leaders 
have accused him 
of arrogantly seeking 
to dictate to others.
 Many accuse him 
of favoring a top-down approach 
in which the A.F.L.-C.I.O.
 would tell long-autonomous unions
 what to do. 

Mr. Stern's plan would,
 for example, 
force unions to recruit
 members only in their core industries,
 barring them from raiding 
those where other unions dominate. 

Some labor leaders 
say Mr. Stern
wants service unions 
to dominate the A.F.L-C.I.O. 
at the expense 
of fast-shrinking manufacturing unions.
 The president of the machinists' union,
 R. Thomas Buffenbarger,
 has even threatened 
to quit the federation 
if Mr. Stern gets his way. 

Some labor leaders
 complain that Mr. Stern's proposals
 to merge unions 
would allow the big fish 
to swallow the little fish.
 His defenders say 
the heads of some small unions, 
despite their puny bargaining power,
 oppose mergers
 because they desperately want 
to cling to their positions,
 power and salaries. 


"Stern is absolutely right
 that the status quo isn't acceptable,
 that it's a recipe for oblivion,"
 Paul F. Clark,
 a professor of labor relations
 at Penn State University, said.

 "But I don't see how the consolidations 
he's calling for will get done.
 You'll find resistance 
because a lot of union leaders
 don't want to give any 
           of their power to the A.F.L.-C.I.O."

 John W. Wilhelm,
 the longtime president 
of HERE
the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees 
International Union,
 which merged last summer 
with Unite,
 the textile and clothing  workers' union,
 urged leaders of other small unions 
to follow his example. 

"The fundamental problem is that
 too many unions don't have the resources 
to meet the challenges," 
Mr. Wilhelm said.
 "We're dealing with global corporations
 in virtually every industry.
 I was very proud of our union. 
We had 265,000 members.
 We were doing great stuff. 
But we didn't have the size,
 strength and resources that we needed."

How far Mr. Stern goes 
with his push for change 
will depend on his one-time mentor,
 John J. Sweeney, president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O.

If Mr. Sweeney, 
Mr. Stern's predecessor 
as head of the service employees,
 pushes hard to sell the proposals 
to other unions, 
the federation's executive council 
might adopt many of  them 
at its meeting in February. 

Last week, Mr. Sweeney said 
a new committee he heads 
would take a hard look 
at proposals by Mr. Stern 
and others and 
would make far-reaching recommendations.

"It will be a very serious effort," 
he said. 
"The labor movement has through the years 
tried to change with changing times." 

He said there might be resistance. 

"We have to recognize and acknowledge
 the fact that individual unions are autonomous," 
Mr. Sweeney said. 
"There may be some differences 
of opinion about the degree of change."

Larry Cohen,
executive vice president 
of the Communications Workers of America,
 who is widely expected 
to win its presidency next year,
 has his own proposals,
 which focus on expanding
 the right to bargain collectively.
 He complained that many companies
 break the law in fighting unionizing 
and that public employees 
in many states 
do not have the right
 to form unions. 
"What we should focus on 
is strengthening bargaining power,"

 he said.

In Mr. Stern's view,
 one factor undercutting bargaining power 
is that in some industries 
10 or more unions are active
 and often trip over,
 and undercut, one another.
 He has proposed giving the A.F.L.-C.I.O.
 the power to designate two or three unions 
in each industry 
to take the lead in bargaining and organizing.

To show how well this strategy can work,
 S.E.I.U. officials point to a contract
 approved recently by many workers
 at the Valley Medical Center in Renton, Wash.
 Four unions represent workers at the hospital,
 and they agreed that the service employees,
 which represents the registered nurses 
and some other employees 
and is the largest union at the hospital,
 should lead the talks. 

The service employees 
btained an agreement 
that its members would not have to pay
 health insurance premiums,
 paving the way for similar provisions
 in contracts for the other unions, 
many of whose members
 had previously paid about $1,000 a year
 for family coverage.

"This shows that if you have a dominant union 
that's willing to fight 
and sets a standard,
 management usually has to bring everybody up,"
 said Diane Sosne,
president of District 1199 Northwest. 

Shannon Halme,
 an official with a union
 for Valley Medical office 
and clerical workers,
 said:
 "I don't think we could have gotten
 this by ourselves.
 We flew on the coattails
 of what the nurses got."



===========================================

 will the ponzi  love train 
   stop here now 

in one huge final pile up

 or chug on a while longer 
    taking on more and more refugees 
   till a later 
      bridge too far 
    gives way  under it ?

----------------------------

here's uncle slam's 
hired and appointed ginkery
telling us 

" get ready freddie "

get ready 
to take
a possible 12 figure 
privateer off load 

thanks  corporate amerika 

nice 
citizen moron dunking  ....


===========================

"the federal agency 
that insures pension plans 
said yesterday that its deficit
 already at the highest
 in its history 
had doubled
 in its last fiscal year 
to $23.3 billion.

Over a 12-month period, 
the agency, 
the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, 
incurred losses of $12.1 billion,
 according to the agency's 
audited annual report 
for fiscal 2004


The agency,
 created in 1974 
to be the federal safety net 
when pensions fail 
has now lost an average
 of $10 billion a year 
for the last three years,
 
----ie it went into  deficit 
some time early last year
 or late the prior year 
 after taking loses 
that finally  exceeded reserves--------  

The mounting losses
 come at a time 
when the agency is responsible 
for paying the pensions 
for more than one million people
 covered by pension plans that
have already  failed.

 The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation 
is paid premiums by companies 
that offer traditional pension plans.

 But it does not have 
the legal authority
 to raise those premiums
 or take other fundamental steps
 to bring its finances back into balance.

 Such measures would have 
to be enacted by Congress. 

Congress, however,
 has not addressed the problems 
of America's pension system 
in a comprehensive way 
since the late 1980's,

 when a number of large steel companies 
with traditional pension plans defaulted.

 
any true pension reform 
will be costly to someone 

- either companies, 
workers 
or the federal government.

Experts warn 
that waiting will not make
 the troubles go away. 

The system of regulating and insuring 
traditional pensions
 called defined-benefit pensions 
is increasingly resembling 
the system that did the same 
for the savings and loan industry 
two decades ago. 

in the end, the entire S&L system 
collapsed in 1989 
and Congress had to authorize 
a federal bailout
 that cost about $200 billion.

In announcing the pension agency's 
latest financial results,
 Mr. Belt, the executive director, 
said that it was not 
running out of cash. 

With reserves of $39 billion,
 he said,
 it should be able
 to keep sending 
retirees their pension checks 
"for a number of years," 
even if Congress does nothing.


--- wow is this nutz
  talking as if 
there will be
  no further plan  defaults
you figure it
0ne milion pensioneers
say 12 k a copy
thats 12 bills per
now theres annual premium payments of x 
and new defaults additional pansioneers of y
well lok no way to make sense here
typical
 no full cycle  picture
a table with 10 entries 
would give much more
insight  then this quote comment quote shit
the mass media way  
journalism for effect only   ---------



 The pensions owed retirees
 measure $62.3 billion in today's dollars.

Unless the agency 
finds a way to close
 the gap 
between the $39 billion 
that it has 
and the $62 billion that
 it owes,
 it will run out of money 
at some point.

----- one way or other already 
  hence the leads number of 
   23 billion 
dat momma ain't in the hopper -----------

 In that case, 
 either retirees 
will be denied their benefits

--- what no legal right here ?
s&l had it in black and white
up to 100k in deposits
guarenteed  
but oh those were depositors 
not wage geeps -----------

 
or else Congress 
      will have to
 appropriate money for a bailout

---or some of both --------------

belt said the agency now faced 
$96 billion worth of risk from companies 
that are "reasonably possible"
 to default on their pension promises.

 The comparable number a year ago 
was just $82 billion.

-- get this now its 23 bills 
plus 93 bills in the woods
going up at the rate of 14 bills per annum 

try this on
minus premiums 
 yet to be paid by remaining plans
we need a nice little 
see you later 
calculator here

wheres my gal eve  ------

The pension agency identifies
 such companies by looking at 
their corporate credit ratings, 
together with the weakness 
of their pension funds.

The agency does not identify 
the companies whose pension plans 
it expects to take over. 

-- no moodys does the credit thing ----------

US Airways three pension funds 
alone 
are expected to cost 
the agency $2.1 billion.

 And United Airlines, 

 recently announced 
that it would terminate
 all four of its pension plans 
  this 
 will cost the agency
 an estimated $6.3 billion
 
   
In addition to the premiums 
it collects from companies,
 the pension insurance program
 receives the assets 
from the failed pension funds 
it takes over and invests them

---- ok like whats that figure 
 and is it neted in or is  out 
of the 93 billion might make
 big exposure diff right? -----

 It does not currently receive money
 from income tax receipts

------- nor ever will
at least  directly
only uncles credit card 
will be used to bail this barge -----

The insurance premiums 
have not been increased since 1994 
and are thought to be inadequate
 relative to the amount 
of insurance coverage 
companies receive.
----- ain't that line priceless----------

 United Airlines, for instance,
 has paid about $50 million 
in insurance premiums
 over the years,
 for coverage 
of its $6.3 billion claim

-- feature creature alert:
 that alone  oughta fuckin
 get the 13  closest overseeing
     congress men deballed by starving ratz  -------------

 Companies with pension plans 
that do not have adequate funds 
 pay higher premiums 
than companies with strong plans.
But that  does 
not account 
for  
 the most important sign 
of whether the plan will 
collapse or not:

 the company's own health.

A strong company 
with an unhealthy pension plan 
poses nowhere near
 the risk 
of a weak company 
with an unhealthy pension plan.


----------- this is gobble de gook
 too obvious 
and yet to wrong headed 
to be here 
no reason to over load a fast slider

the whole premium structure 
is too low 
and by intent
it surely always has been
 ain't that always
 the wally boyz way
shit klan
you know 
uncle sam's
always  a real 
high stakes risk taker
when "street" types
are  playin'
  hiz  cards  for him--------------
---------------------


 experts have suggested finding
 a way to distinguish
 between weak 
and strong companies

---" ahh  yes invent wheels
          now 
  lets see 
  theres lots of shapes 
  we could try 
 there's  square theres...." ---------------

 and charge higher premiums 
to the companies 
that pose greater risk.

-- non sense by then its too late idiot ------ 

------

p.s.
imagine we're to believe
  it took till now 
30 years after its foundation 
to come up with a plan 
to get risk and premiums right
even after the 89 dust ups 
that actual hit this out fit too
with a few big pension blow outs 
and this article ends by
whipping the losers 
a plan 
to accelerate a crashing corporation's 
 dive in  chapter eleven 
where it hands  off the whole fund to uncle 

what else ya got for uz bell-head 

shit 
 no one's that stupid 
not even a washington loopacrat ----------


====================================
ps more to the point 

WASHINGTON—The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's insurance program for pension plans sponsored by a single employer incurred a net loss of $12.1 billion in fiscal year 2004, according to the agency's financial statements released today. The program's fiscal year-end deficit increased to $23.3 billion from $11.2 billion a year earlier. For the first time, the total number of people owed benefits by the PBGC passed 1 million and the total amount of benefits paid passed $3 billion.

"The PBGC is committed to protecting pension benefits, and with $39 billion in assets we can continue to meet our obligations for a number of years," said Executive Director Bradley D. Belt. "But with more than $62 billion in liabilities, it is imperative that Congress act expeditiously so that the problem doesn't spiral out of control. The Administration proposed an initial set of pension reforms last year, and today's report highlights the need for comprehensive reforms that ensure pension plans are better funded."

The PBGC's single-employer program insures the pensions of 34.6 million Americans in 29,600 plans. Of the $12.1 billion net loss for 2004, the two biggest factors were a $14.7 billion loss from completed and probable pension plan terminations and a $1.5 billion charge for actuarial adjustments due to a change in mortality assumptions. Partially offsetting the single-employer program's losses were premium income of $1.5 billion and investment income of $3.2 billion. Overall, including the assets of terminated plans for which PBGC became trustee during the year, the single-employer program had $39.0 billion in assets to cover $62.3 billion in liabilities as of September 30, 2004.

In addition to losses booked, the PBGC calculates "reasonably possible" exposure, an estimate of the amount of unfunded vested benefits in pension plans sponsored by companies at greater risk of default. The 2004 financial statements estimated PBGC's reasonably possible exposure at $96 billion, up from $82 billion a year earlier.

"While the economy is improving, pressures on the pension insurance program are expected to continue," Belt said. "These challenges warrant prompt action. When Congress reconvenes, the Administration will submit a comprehensive proposal that strengthens the funding rules, rationalizes premiums, enhances transparency, and provides new tools to protect the insurance fund."

The PBGC's separate insurance program for multiemployer pension plans posted a net gain of $25 million in fiscal year 2004, resulting in a fiscal year-end deficit of $236 million compared to a deficit of $261 million a year earlier. The multiemployer program covers 9.8 million participants in nearly 1,600 plans. The improvement in the program's financial condition is due largely to a decrease in loss from future financial assistance to multiemployer plans and an increase in investment income. The multiemployer program has about $1.1 billion in assets to cover $1.3 billion in liabilities.

For both programs combined, the total number of participants owed or receiving PBGC benefits in 2004 reached 1.1 million, up from 934,000 the previous year. Total benefit payments rose to $3.0 billion from $2.5 billion. The number of underfunded plan terminations rose to 192 from 155.

The PBGC's financial statements are prepared in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). The financial statements for fiscal year 2004 received an unqualified audit opinion. The audit was performed by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP under the direction and oversight of the agency's Inspector General.

PBGC is a federal corporation created under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. It currently guarantees payment of basic pension benefits for more than 44 million American workers and retirees participating in more than 31,000 private-sector defined benefit pension plans. The agency receives no funds from general tax revenues. Operations are financed largely by insurance premiums paid by companies that sponsor pension plans and by PBGC's investment returns.

  when 
its not just

"union or no union" 

 when its also

    "which union"

     watch out below .....
-------------------------------
 once again
   the spectre 
of dual unionism 
stalks the great american job site 


but fuck really folkz

is union competition bad ?

bad for who?

bad for unorged wagery? 

bad for orged wagery?

bad for unions ?

bad for ... profiteer corporations ?

this question
as you play thru the contradictions

turns out to have 
  a full string  
          of yes and no
               answers  

==================================
 

 part one :

 " hey mister manager
i'll get em to sign for less ?"


say  you got a target 

     you're after recognition

but there's a  preferment fight

another union 's ugly snout 

well
      you and 
 your  competition 
have  two very different
collective heads
  to wine  dine and swine 

not just 
 the prospective wagery's heads 
but their  kaps heads  too 

the bosses  have 
their preferences 

and the history 
    of this clash of interests 
 abounds with lessons 

in playing one union off on another 


--------------------------
 ( to be continued )
=================================

13% 13% 13% 
  wrong wrong wrong

 its far worse 

 really unions got
 8% 

thats all they got 
of profit sector
wagery under contract

back 50 years ago
back on  moige day 
in 54 
that number was 
                   33%

today
the only place
you see 33% 
is 
over in the fucking 
tax based 
  social parasite 
 public sector 

no cause for glory  

 so say 8% when you mean 8% 

only profit sector 
contracts 
  are  
  worth crowing about 
    cause there u 
         actually 
       earn your keep 

===============================

	Posted by herb jr. jr. at 04:42 PM
		| Comments (0)
	
		| TrackBack
	

here's 
 the future  wage world 
  according 
to the stern gang .....


  hand job andy's 
      been 
to the mountain top

he's visited 
John L Lewis's grave


and 
 he's brought back  A TABLET 
        with  ten commandments 
    fot uz wagery-doos 

======================

1. Build New Strength by Stopping the "Wal-Marting" of
Jobs

Good jobs are the foundation 
of strong and healthy
families and communities. 

But today
 the Wal-Mart business model
 of providing low wages and few benefits,
shifting jobs overseas 
to exploit workers 
under poverty conditions,
 and viciously opposing
 workers' freedom to form unions
 is setting a pattern 
that undermines 
good jobs for all working people
 at home and abroad.

Principle:

 A key function 
of the AFL-CIO 
should be to
support a strategy 
to win good jobs in America
 that is larger 
than the members
 of any one union 
could accomplish on their own. 

The AFL-CIO should establish
a center to support such projects 
and should allocate
to the center 
all of its $25 million annual royalties
from Union Plus credit card purchases

 Challenging WalMart
 should be its first project


-----------------------------

2. Build New Strength 
by Leading a National Campaign
for Quality Health Care for All

Out-of-control health care costs 
and declining quality
have become one 
of the leading threats 
to every family
in America.

 At any given time,
 45 million people have
no coverage at all, 
and even those that do 
see needed
improvements in wages
 and other benefits 
undermined by
the rising cost of health care.

 Health care costs are
now a leading issue 
in virtually every strike
 or
lockout.

Principle:

 The AFL-CIO 
and 
its affiliated unions 
and
allies 
should unite behind 
an all-out national strategy
to win access 
to quality health care for all. 

The AFL-CIO should lead 
a grassroots campaign
 for this purpose 
with dedicated funding, 
campaign staff,
 and other
necessary resources.

---------------------------------
3. Build New Strength
 by Protecting Workers' Free Choice

Independent polls show 
that between 40 and 50 million
workers
 would choose to have
 a union if they could do
so without employer intimidation,
 pressure from their supervisors,
 and the threat of firing.

 The laws
protecting worker choice 
were created over 70 years ago
and need to be modernized 
for the 21st century.

Principle: The AFL-CIO 
and 
its affiliated unions 
and
allies 
must make it a top priority
 at both the national
and local level
 to reestablish 
the right of workers
 to freely choose 
to form a union without employer
interference. 

Far more resources 
and focus must be dedicated 
to that goal,
 and no elected official 
should receive labor support,
 including an AFL-CIO
endorsement, 
unless they actively support
 free choice for workers.

------------------------------------
4. Build New Strength 
in National Unions 
That Match
21st Century Employers

Today's employers are more regional, national, and
International in size.

 While they pursue united
strategies,
 workers' strength 
is divided in two key
ways.

First, workers who do the same work
 and are in the same
industry, market, or craft 
often are divided
 into multiple unions 
and have their strength divided
 in dealing with employers
 and public officials.

Second, many union members 
are divided into national unions 
that do not have 
the size, strength, resources,
and focus 
to win for workers
 against today's ever
larger employers.

Transportation union members 
are divided into 15
different unions, 
and the same is true in construction.

There are 13 unions 
with significant numbers of public
employees 
and 9 major unions in manufacturing. 
Health
care union members 
are divided into more than 
30
unions. 
In 13 of the 15 major sectors 
of the economy
there are at least 4 significant unions,
 and in 9 of those sectors 
there are at least 6 unions.

Meanwhile, only 15 of the 65
 AFL-CIO national unions
have more than 250,000 members 
and 40 have less than
100,000.

 Many of these unions,
 even with good
leadership, 
do not have the strength 
to unite more
workers in their industry 
and change workers' lives.

At the same time,
 most of the 15 largest unions 
that
now represent more than 10 million 
of the 13 million
union members 
in the AFL-CIO 
are increasingly becoming
"general unions," 
organizing pockets of workers 
in a
wide variety of industries 
and further dividing
workers' strength. 
In a recent four-year period,
 at
least 16 national unions 
each conducted organizing
elections in at least 5 different sectors.

The AFL-CIO has repeatedly produced reports 
during the
past 20 years 
recognizing the need 
for unions to have
the size, strength, 
and focus 
to win for workers in
their industry, sector or craft,
 but the leaders of
affiliated unions 
have not adopted meaningful reforms.

True union democracy 
is impossible when workers 
who do the same type of work 
and deal with the same employers
don't have the opportunity
 to decide how to pool their
strength behind common strategies.

Principle: 
The unions of the AFL-CIO 
should involve
union members 
in a process to develop 
and implement a
plan by 2006 to 

1) unite the strength of workers 
who do
the same type of work 
or are in the same industry,
sector, or craft 
to take on their employers,

 and
 2)
insure that workers are in national unions 
that have
the strength, resources, focus, and strategy 
to help
nonunion workers 
in that union's primary area of strength 
to join 
and improve 
workers' pay, benefits,
and working conditions.

To achieve these goals, 
the AFL-CIO Executive Council
should have the authority 
to recognize up to three 
lead national unions 
that have the membership, resources,
focus, and strategy 
to win in a defined industry,
craft, or employer,
 and should require 
that lead unions
produce a plan
 to win for workers 
in their area of
strength.

In consultation with the affected workers,
 the AFL-CIO
should have the authority 
to require coordinated
bargaining
 and to merge or revoke union charters,

transfer responsibilities 
to unions for whom that
industry or craft 
is their primary area of strength,
and prevent any merger
 that would further divide
workers' strength.

The unions of the AFL-CIO 
should work together 
to raise
pay and benefit standards 
in each industry.
 Where the
members of a union
 have clearly established contract
standards 
in an industry or market
 or with a particular
employer, 
no other union should be permitted 
to sign
contracts that undermine 
those standards.
-------------------------------------------
5. Build New Strength 
Where Unions
 Already Have Some
Strength

One urgent need 
is to unite all workers 
in each
industry, sector, or craft 
where union members already
have some strength.

Principle: 
Lead unions 
whose members have built
strength 
in an industry or craft
 should be required to
develop a strategic plan 
to help more workers organize
and build new strength 
and unity in that sector.

To concentrate resources 
to help carry out those
strategic plans, 
the AFL-CIO should return 
to those
unions half of what they now pay 
in AFL-CIO dues ("per
capita") each year.

 Those unions' plans 
must include
using at least 10% 
of their national union revenue for
organizing and uniting more workers 
in their particular
industry, sector, or craft by 2006, 
15% in 2008,
 and at
least 20% beginning in 2010.
 Their local unions would
have to be using at least 10%
 of their income for this
purpose by 2008
 and at least 15% by 2010.

These changes will build 
new strength for workers 
by
reallocating from union members' current dues 
at least
$2 billion 
over the next five years 
for uniting more
workers with us in each industry,
 sector or craft.

--------------------------

6. Build New Strength 
Where Unions Have Little Strength
Now

The economy has changed substantially 
in the 50 years
since the founding of the AFL-CIO.
 Globalization and
new technologies 
have reshaped work. 
In whole sectors
of the economy, such as finance, 
insurance, and non-
food retail, 
workers are in unions 
in other countries
but have less union history 
in the United States.

In addition, few workers 
have unions in certain regions
of the country, 
especially in the South, Southwest, and
Rocky Mountain states. 

That undermines standards won
in more unionized parts 
of the nation,
 produces more
anti-worker politicians 
who dominate national policy,
and makes it difficult 
to elect pro-worker candidates
in national elections.

Principle: Key unions 
that have seen massive changes 
in
their own industries 
that have left them 
with few
opportunities 
for uniting more workers
 with our
movement 
should have the option 
of being provided
additional,
 matching resources 
to focus on uniting
workers and building strength 
in new and growing
sectors.

The AFL-CIO should help workers 
create new unions in
sectors where they are needed 
and experiment with non-
traditional forms of organization 
in industries with
little history of unions.

The unions of the AFL-CIO 
should jointly develop
 a
strategy to help workers 
in highly nonunion regions to
join strong national unions 
for their industry or
craft.

7. Build New Strength in Politics

The members and unions of the AFL-CIO 
have in the last
decade become more active and effective 
in political
action. 
Using political action 
to create opportunities
for more workers 
to unite with us 
and then using that
new strength to change workers' lives through
legislation and bargaining 
is a proven and essential
strategy.

Principle: Member involvement 
and alliances with other
organizations 
that share our goals 
should be the
engines of our political action efforts.
 The AFL-CIO
should allocate 
at least 10% more resources
 to its
political member-mobilization fund 
and involve members
in achieving 

1) public policies that help more workers
unite with us 

and 

2) other major national legislative
goals, such as health care 
and good American jobs, that
improve the lives of all workers.

-----------------------------------

8. Build New Strength at the Local Level

National strategies
 to change workers' lives cannot
succeed without vibrant,
 democratic, and accountable
local labor movements. 
Uniting the strength of members
in each local union, 
in each community,
 and in
alliances with other community organizations 
is crucial
to growing stronger 
and winning changes on issues that
affect everyone.

Principle: Key leaders of the AFL-CIO's
 community-based
organizations,
 the Central Labor Councils, 
have
proposed that every local labor council
 be required to
have a strategic plan 
for political action, 
supporting
organizing campaigns
 by unions that are uniting workers
in their industry or craft, 
and developing deep and
ongoing community alliances.
 Their proposal calls for
all unions in a metropolitan area
 to be required to
participate in 
and support the local labor council, 
and
for the councils to be accountable 
to the affiliated
unions and the AFL-CIO 
for carrying out their strategic
plans. 
Their proposal also calls 
for the AFL-CIO to
ensure that each council
 is provided with training to
help carry out 
its plan and develop 
the next generation
of leaders. 
This proposal should serve
 as a starting
point for a renewed discussion 
about how to build
strong local labor movements 
and community alliances.
Consideration should also be given 
to new ways of
bringing together stewards
 and other activists from all
unions in a local area 
to help develop 
and carry out
their council's strategic plan.

9. Build New Strength
 by Drawing on Our Diversity

In today's America,
 no labor organization 
can be strong
and united 
unless it draws on 
the diversity of our workforce
 and our communities. 

The AFL-CIO and its
affiliated unions 
must be leaders 
in demonstrating that
regardless of the color of your skin,
 the language that
you speak,
 or your age, gender, 
ethnicity, sexual
orientation, disability, 
or immigration status,
 you are
empowered to play
 an active role 
as a member or leader.

Principle: The AFL-CIO 
and each of its affiliated
unions should have concrete goals 
and training programs
to insure that the diversity 
of their membership is
reflected in membership participation, 
elected
leadership, staff, 
and conventions 
and other decision-
making bodies.

10. Build New Strength 
by Uniting a Global Labor
Movement

The big corporations 
that dominate today's economy 
have
gone global,
 moving from country to country, 
without
national loyalties,
 to find and exploit the cheapest
labor.
 "American" companies 
now do much of their
production in countries 
such as China, Mexico, and
India,
 while corporations originally 
from Europe and
Japan are shifting operations
 to the U.S. 
where the
rate of unionization 
and standards for pay,
 health care
benefits, and pensions 
are so much lower.

 Global
corporations have won trade agreements 
that make it
easier for them to move production
 from place to place,
while providing no rights 
to help workers improve pay,
working conditions, and job security.
 The result of
globalization 
is that workers 
in any one country cannot
set and maintain high labor standards
 without uniting
to raise standards everywhere.

Principle: U.S. unions 
must join with others
 around the
world to form a global labor movement
 that unites
workers by industry, sector, and craft
 to have the
strength to win for workers 
for common employers.
Friendly relationships
 between national labor
federations, 
along with occasional international
expressions 
of support during particular union crises,
are not enough.

 Unions in each country 
that have the
focus and the capacity 
to effectively use resources
 to
build strength in their industry 
or craft must jointly
carry out international strategies 
to unite all the
workers in their area of strength 
to win higher
standards and stop
 the corporations' global race to the
bottom.

 In addition, a new global labor movement
 must
fight for trade agreements
 that raise labor and
environmental standards 
to the highest level 
instead of
bringing them down to the lowest.



======================================

here's reportage 
on cousin andy's latest
        LOOEY  



===================

 "The president 
of the nation's largest union 
on
Wednesday 
called for major reforms 
in the AFL-CIO 

and
suggested 
that he would pull out (in time )
            if
 changes weren't quickly adopted.

"We have spent too much time 
writing too many reports
with too many recommendations 
that in the end 
the leaders did not have
 the courage to adopt,"
 said Andrew Stern,
 president 
of the 1.7-million-member
 Service Employees International Union.

Stern, an outspoken proponent 
for a corporate-style
consolidation in the labor movement,
 maintains that
 the number of national unions 
should be cut from about 60
to fewer than 20 
and that each 
should be limited to
members in its sector, 
such as healthcare 
or
construction. 

That would make each union stronger, 
he
argues, allowing it 
to bargain more effectively.

Most labor leaders agree 
that unions are in crisis
after years of declining membership 
and that they must change to survive. 

Organized labor represents fewer
than 13% of all workers, 
compared with a third 
when the AFL-CIO was created
 about 50 years ago 
as an umbrella
organization.

Not all agree with Stern's ideas, 
however, and some
privately fume 
at what they view
 as his aggressive
approach.

Stern's threat came 
at a meeting Wednesday 
of about 50
national union presidents, 
called by AFL-CIO President
John J. Sweeney 
to review labor's efforts
 during the presidential campaign.

Stern came armed 
with a 10-point proposal
 for change,
which he released 
to reporters 
before the meeting began. 

In addition to union consolidation,
 he called
for the AFL-CIO 
to return half of all dues 
to unions 
to fund aggressive organizing drives.

 And he said the
federation should set aside 
about $25 million -
 out of
its $118-million annual budget -
 for an effort to
organize Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

A person at the meeting 
who asked not to be named 
said
some attendees considered 
the plan and its public airing 
to be "quite presumptuous," 
and that Stern's
actions could further alienate 
him from other union
leaders. 

Already,
 the 700,000-member 
International Assn. of Machinists  
has
complained about what it considers 
to be Stern's heavy-
handed approach 
and threatened 
to pull out of the
federation 
if he or his allies 
took control of it.

 federation  president
  Sweeney assigned
 a  committee 
to review the
restructuring proposals,
 along with ideas 
from other
affiliated unions.

 He said the issue 
would be on the table 
when the union presidents
 next meet
 in February
in Los Angeles.

As the head 
of a voluntary federation 
with many strong-
willed, independent members,
 Sweeney is limited
 in his
ability 
to force radical change, 

but he said the AFL-CIO
 was already doing 
some things 
on Stern's list.

For instance, he said, 
it has a Wal-Mart task force
investigating ways
 to organize 
the adamantly nonunion
retailer.

 Sweeney also
 recently 
discussed possible
restructuring 
with the presidents 
of several large
unions,

 although Stern 
was not among them,


Stern, a fiery Ivy League-educated leader 
who has
steered his union 
through success in organizing
janitors, healthcare workers and others,
 said that if
the AFL-CIO didn't take action
 at its February meeting,
the SEIU might leave 
to 
"build something stronger."

He said an internal union committee
 was already
considering that option. 

"We are reviewing what are the
implications of our leaving,
 what kind of agreement
would we have [with the AFL-CIO],
 and who else would be
with us," Stern told reporters 
after the meeting.

Taking 1.7 million members 
out of the 13-million-member
AFL-CIO would have 
a deep financial effect, 
but the
larger hit 
could be psychological.

 As a fast-growing
union whose members 
are in occupations that can't
easily be shipped overseas,
 it is one of the brightest
lights in organized labor.

The SEIU wouldn't be alone 
in leaving the federation.

Three years ago,
 Doug McCarron, 
president
 of the International Brotherhood 
of Carpenters,
 pulled his
union out 
in a similar disagreement 
over direction
 and
structure.

Some speculate 
that Stern
 has already 
decided 
to leave 
and is
now merely laying
 the groundwork.

-------------------------------------

more more more 

the big teamster rip 

where wally showed
 the wise guyz 
how the creamery 
really works 

=============================

 

" The unionized trucking industry 
was more stable 
before deregulation in 1979, 
and so was the Central States pension fund.
 In the 1970's, the fund's assets
 grew by as much as 10 percent a year, 
according to some media reports
 from that period.
 Luck played a big part
 in that success,
 because the decade 
was a bad one for stocks and bonds
 Thus, the fund made better returns 
on its unorthodox real estate portfolio 
than it would have 
on a conventional mix of investments. 
The unionized trucking sector
 was younger, too.
 And it was growing,
 so there was more money available
 from employees 
and fewer pensions coming due.

Starting in the early 1960's,
 the fund loaned tens of millions of dollars 
for investments in Las Vegas casinos,
 including the Desert Inn, Caesars Palace, 
Stardust, Circus Circus, the Landmark Hotel
 and the Aladdin Hotel,
 according to a history by Edwin H. Stier,
 a former federal prosecutor 
hired by the union as part of its efforts 
to clean house.

The loans in those days
 typically involved a front man
 who signed the papers 
and a crime family raking off cash 
behind the scenes. 
The loan approval process
 involved kickbacks,
 threats and, in at least one case,
 a kidnapping.
 By the time Hoffa disappeared in 1975,
 the Central States pension fund
 had loaned an estimated $600 million
 to people connected 
with organized crime,
 according to Mr. Stier,
 who resigned his union appointment 
in April after questioning 
the union's ongoing commitment 
to rooting out corruption.

But many of the loans 
did serve their intended purpose,
 making money to pay for
 Teamsters' retirement benefits.
 The hotels, casinos and other real estate projects
, not all of which were connected 
to organized crime, 
were generally profitable,
 according to Mr. Stier,
 and before his disappearance
 Hoffa saw to it that his loans were repaid.

By 1977, after years of indictments,
 prosecutions, Congressional hearings and murders, 
federal regulators pressured 
the Central States trustees 
to resign and turn over the fund's assets 
to an independent money manager.
 The 1982 consent decree
 reduced the trustees' powers permanently,
 requiring the pension fund 
to choose an outside fiduciary 
from America's largest 20 banks,
 insurance companies
 and investment advisory firms.

The first to be named fiduciary
 was Morgan Stanley.
 Its duties were to pick money managers,
 to allocate the assets 
among them 
and to advise the new board of trustees 
on investment objectives and strategies.

As it happened, 
Morgan Stanley got the Central States mandate
 at a time of explosive growth 
in the money-management business.
 A landmark pension reform law
 had been passed in 1974,
requiring all companies
 to set aside enough money 
to make good on their pension promises
. With assets piling up 
in trust funds as a result,
 money managers were competing fiercely
 for a piece of the business.

Money managers promised pension funds
 big returns, 
and to get the big returns 
they began to add riskier assets
 to pension portfolios 
than pension funds had used before.
 Sleepy bond portfolios 
were livened up with stocks.
 Venture capital, junk bonds, 
securities of companies
 in developing countries 
and other exotica 
began to appear in pension funds. 

these investments could be risky, 
but the industry argued that losses,
 even big losses, 
in one year did not matter
 because a pension fund 
was a long-term proposition; 
over time, the losses would be recouped 
by even bigger gains.
 Buoyant markets reinforced 
this thinking in the 1990's,
 even though by then 
unionized trucking was in deep decline,
 and the Central States'
 ratio of active workers to pensioners 
was shifting perilously.
 
Records for the Central States pension fund 
are not complete,
 but they indicate 
that Morgan Stanley kept pace with industry trends,
 shifting the fund into stocks,
 particularly international stocks.

By 1997,
 more than one-third 
of the pension fund's assets
 were invested abroad, 
records show,
 far more than the norm
 for such funds.
 Greenwich Associates surveyed 
union pension funds in 2003
 and found that international equities 
made up less than 3 percent
 of their total assets.

A spokesman for Morgan Stanley
 declined to comment on the Central States investments,
 citing a policy of not discussing relationships
 with past clients. 
He pointed out, however, 
that international stocks 
did relatively well in the late 1990's.

Morgan Stanley was replaced as fiduciary 
by Goldman Sachs and J. P. Morgan in 1999 and 2000. 
(Bankers Trust served as fiduciary very briefly.) 
A spokesman for Goldman Sachs 
noted that his company inherited 
many of Morgan Stanley's investments 
and added, 
"Over the five years we have managed the fund,
 our performance has exceeded 
the relevant benchmarks." 
A spokeswoman for J. P. Morgan 
cited a policy 
of not discussing clients' business.

When the stock market crashed in 2000,
 the Central States pension fund 
had big bets on technology 
and telecommunication stocks,
 energy trading companies 
and foreign stocks. 
Some of these stocks
 became nearly worthless. 
But the resulting carnage 
was not apparent to many rank-and-file Teamsters
 until last winter, 
when plan officials announced 
that benefits would have to be curtailed. 

Meanwhile, drivers were making 
their retirement plans.

 the pension fund reduced benefit accruals, 
and  also began enforcing 
a rule that pensioners could not re-enter 
the work force, 
under penalty of having their pensions stopped.

In an annual report 
for the plan, there was a reference 
to a $77 million uncollectible loan.

it wasn't a loan at all
It was shares of stock
 in a bank in Russia,
 and it went belly up.
 the Labor Department and federal court officials 
were monitoring the pension fund.

The Labor Department does not generally 
regulate investment strategy,
 however. It was watching for signs 
of self-dealing,
 racketeering or other flagrant abuse.
 From that perspective,
 the fund was progressing well. 

Some Teamsters say more complete answers lie 
in the official progress reports 
for the pension fund, 
maintained for the federal courts 
as required by the consent decree.
 But those are secret.



The International Brotherhood of Teamsters,
 which is legally separate
 from the pension fund,
 commissioned independent investment 
and actuarial analyses 
of the pension fund in November 2002.

But the study's findings
 have not been released
 to the membership.

Many rank-and-file Teamsters 
complain that their questions 
about the pension fund
 have been met with bromides 
about unforeseeable market forces, 
and about an unusual convergence 
of stock market losses
 and low interest rates 
that is always described 
as "the perfect storm."

 They are unconvinced.

why weren't all these funds affected the same way?

The best clues may lie 
in the Western Conference of Teamsters pension fund. 
In the 1980's, 
when the Central States plan 
was shifting from real estate into stocks, 
the Western Conference trustees, 
acting on actuarial projections 

of future pension benefits, 
put together its conservative portfolio
 of high-quality bonds 
and other fixed-income securities. 
The bonds were held until they matured. 

Such an investment portfolio requires 
little stock research 
or trading
 and consequently generates 

little fee revenue for money managers,
 but it has served
 the Western Conference of Teamsters well. 
From 2000 to the end of 2002, 
when the Central States fund lost $2.8 billion,
 the Western Conference fund gained $834 million.

 in this country,
 The corporation wants to
 put the minimum aside today,
 and invest the rest
for  maximum risk 
hoping for maxiumum yield 
 That's the trouble "

==============================

 

  read this jolly 
tale of two fundz 

   rip a dip dip dip 


its all here fanz 
the r4olling of america's most powerful union


long live jimmy H !

thank got the feds 
 shot em before all this shit 
went down 


======================

 November 15, 2004


 "in the 1960's and 1970's, 
the Teamsters' huge Central States pension fund 
was a wellspring of union corruption.
 Tens of millions of dollars 
were loaned to racketeers 
who used the money to gain control
 of Las Vegas casinos. 
Administrative jobs 
were awarded to favored insiders 
who paid themselves big fees. 
A former Teamster president 
and pension trustee was convicted 
of trying to bribe a United States senator.

 
Yet for nearly half a million union members
 who are expecting the fund 
to pay for their retirement,
 those may have been the good old days.

Since 1982, 
under a consent decree
 with the federal government,
 the fund has been run 
by prominent Wall Street firms
 and monitored by a federal court
 and the Labor Department.

 There have been 
no more shadowy investments,
 no more loans to crime bosses. 
Yet in these expert hands,
 the aging fund has fallen 
into greater financial peril
 than when James R. Hoffa,
 who built the Teamsters 
into a national power,
 used it as a slush fund.

The unfolding situation 
holds a hard lesson 
for others with responsibility
 for retirement money.
 What may appear as a sensible,
 conventional approach to investing
 - seeking a diversified mix 
of growth and income investments 
for the long term 
- can wreak havoc 
hen applied to a pension fund,
 especially one in a dying industry
 with older members 
who are about to make demands of it. 

But the kinds of investments 
that make sense for such a fund 
- like long-term bonds 
that will mature 
as members enter retirement 
- are not attractive 
to most money managers,
 because they generate few fees.
 Consequently,
 very few pension funds
 use such strategies today.

At the end of 2002,
 the pension fund 
had 60 cents for every dollar
 owed to present and future retirees 
- a dangerous level.
 In a rough comparison, 
the pension fund for US Airways' pilots
 had 74 cents for every dollar 
it owed in December 2002,
 just before it defaulted.
 During the bear market
 after the technology bubble burst,
 Central States' assets
 lost value as its obligations 
to retirees ballooned, 
causing a mismatch so severe 
that the fund 
had to reduce benefits 
last winter 
for the first time 
in its 49-year history.

"There never were benefit cuts 
in the 1970's," said Wayne Seale,
 52, a long-haul driver 
from Houston 
and one of about 460,000 Teamsters
 participating in the fund.

 "We were happy. We were being taken care of."

If the pension fund fails,
 it will be taken over
 by a government insurance program. 
In that case, some Teamsters 
would lose benefits.

Hoffa and his successors 
had put an extraordinary 80 percent
 of Central States' money 
into real estate.
 Instead of hotels, 
casinos and resorts,
 its new managers -
 first Morgan Stanley and later Bankers Trust,
 Goldman Sachs and J. P. Morgan 
- invested the money mostly in stocks,
 and to a lesser extent, in bonds.
 At the end of 2002, 
about 54 percent 
of the fund's assets 
were in stocks,
 somewhat less than the average corporate pension fund,
 which had about 74 percent
 of assets in stocks that year,
 according to Greenwich Associates,
 a research and consulting firm. 

Federal law 
calls for fiduciaries 
to invest pension assets 
the way a "prudent man" would,
 and the strategy used 
for Central States 
would certainly be familiar
 to wealthy individuals,
 philanthropic trusts,
 university endowments 
and other pension funds. 
The fund's investment 
results in recent years 
closely track median annual returns
 for corporate pension funds,
 according to Mercer Investment Consulting. 

The assets lost 4.5 percent
 of their value in 2001 
and 10.9 percent in 2002,
 but gained 25.5 percent in 2003,
 according to the fund's executive director 
and general counsel, Thomas C. Nyhan.

Morgan Stanley and J. P. Morgan 
declined to comment. 
Goldman Sachs defended its record,
 pointing out that it had exceeded 
its benchmarks in a very tough market. 

But the Central States situation 
shows that using stocks or other volatile assets
 to secure the obligations
 of a mature pension fund 
greatly increases the risk
 of getting caught short-handed 
in a down market. 
If that happens it can be nearly impossible
 to bring the ailing pension fund back.
 This is what has happened recently
 to pension funds at 
United Airlines and US Airways.

"Stocks are not a hedge
 against long-term fixed liabilities," 
said Zvi Bodie,
 a finance professor at Boston University
 who has long challenged 
conventional pension investment strategies.
 "For many, many years,
 right down to the present day,
 the dominant belief among pension investment people
 is fundamentally wrong. Now that's a big problem."

The record of a second big Teamsters' pension fund, 
covering members in the West,
 bolsters Mr. Bodie's arguments.
 The Western Conference of Teamsters fund
 has long shunned stocks 
and uses a totally different investment approach,
 a portfolio of 20- and 30-year Treasury bonds
 and other high-grade fixed-income securities 
that are scheduled to make payments 
when its retirees will be claiming their money. 
The Western Conference pension fund 
was not perceptibly hurt by the bear market. 
 
If the Central States 
were a younger pension fund,
 it could wait for the stock market 
to improve and bolster its value. 
But it already has more than 200,000 retirees 
collecting benefits 
of more than $2 billion a year. 

The companies that employ its members 
currently put in about $1 billion a year.
 Its trustees, 
made up of union officials 
and company representatives 
in equal numbers, 
have contemplated raising employer contributions,
 but the unionized trucking sector
 has financial problems, 
and for many companies 
a higher contribution 
would be a hardship. 
The biggest and wealthiest participating company,
 United Parcel Service,
 has been trying to leave 
the pension fund altogether.

The unionized trucking industry 
was more stable 
before deregulation in 1979, 
and so was the Central States pension fund.
 In the 1970's, the fund's assets
 grew by as much as 10 percent a year, 
according to some media reports
 from that period.
 Luck played a big part
 in that success,
 because the decade 
was a bad one for stocks and bonds
 Thus, the fund made better returns 
on its unorthodox real estate portfolio 
than it would have 
on a conventional mix of investments. 
The unionized trucking sector
 was younger, too.
 And it was growing,
 so there was more money available
 from employees 
and fewer pensions coming due.

Starting in the early 1960's,
 the fund loaned tens of millions of dollars 
for investments in Las Vegas casinos,
 including the Desert Inn, Caesars Palace, 
Stardust, Circus Circus, the Landmark Hotel
 and the Aladdin Hotel,
 according to a history by Edwin H. Stier,
 a former federal prosecutor 
hired by the union as part of its efforts 
to clean house.

The loans in those days
 typically involved a front man
 who signed the papers 
and a crime family raking off cash 
behind the scenes. 
The loan approval process
 involved kickbacks,
 threats and, in at least one case,
 a kidnapping.
 By the time Hoffa disappeared in 1975,
 the Central States pension fund
 had loaned an estimated $600 million
 to people connected 
with organized crime,
 according to Mr. Stier,
 who resigned his union appointment 
in April after questioning 
the union's ongoing commitment 
to rooting out corruption.

But many of the loans 
did serve their intended purpose,
 making money to pay for
 Teamsters' retirement benefits.
 The hotels, casinos and other real estate projects
, not all of which were connected 
to organized crime, 
were generally profitable,
 according to Mr. Stier,
 and before his disappearance
 Hoffa saw to it that his loans were repaid.

By 1977, after years of indictments,
 prosecutions, Congressional hearings and murders, 
federal regulators pressured 
the Central States trustees 
to resign and turn over the fund's assets 
to an independent money manager.
 The 1982 consent decree
 reduced the trustees' powers permanently,
 requiring the pension fund 
to choose an outside fiduciary 
from America's largest 20 banks,
 insurance companies
 and investment advisory firms.

The first to be named fiduciary
 was Morgan Stanley.
 Its duties were to pick money managers,
 to allocate the assets 
among them 
and to advise the new board of trustees 
on investment objectives and strategies.

As it happened, 
Morgan Stanley got the Central States mandate
 at a time of explosive growth 
in the money-management business.
 A landmark pension reform law
 had been passed in 1974,
requiring all companies
 to set aside enough money 
to make good on their pension promises
. With assets piling up 
in trust funds as a result,
 money managers were competing fiercely
 for a piece of the business.

Money managers promised pension funds
 big returns, 
and to get the big returns 
they began to add riskier assets
 to pension portfolios 
than pension funds had used before.
 Sleepy bond portfolios 
were livened up with stocks.
 Venture capital, junk bonds, 
securities of companies
 in developing countries 
and other exotica 
began to appear in pension funds. "


 read part two 

==============================






  

 from his 
county jail cell
 in the piney wastes 
of darkest   carolina ...........

  this from  e-4 SOS 



================================= 

   today 
we enthusiastically
   announce
 the  launch 
            of 

  SSAM'S CLUBS  USA  


with the simultaneous 
openning of
 our ft bragg 
and 
     ft drum clubs


 both are now 
open to enrollment

 by any and all
 enlisted rank

soldiers
 sailors 
airmen
 and marines

whether you are currently
 on   active duty 
in the reserves  
             or  
               retired 
  
we welcome you to join us 
-------------------------------