My Take

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.



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

November 15, 2004

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 

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






  

November 11, 2004

 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 
------------------------------------------ 
our mission:

   " SSAM'S CLUBS
            are 
dedicated to the formation 
of effective 
    collective bargaining units 
 for all 
 current and former
   rank and file 
     members 
        of 
      the  united states 
              armed forces  "
------------------------------------------------------
also at this  same time 

  we proudly except
our designation

        as 
the  official authorized 
      armed services organizing department  
                 of
 the general union of  service employees USA 

                   GUSE 


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

November 10, 2004

you've heard me 
 say thiz countles times:

set ups like 
 andy's 
     purple waste  machine 
and el sweenyo's sink pig 
   are strictly  for 
producing hot piles of  shit

no matter
 how much 
ranker's throw in the hopper
no matter how many hours
no matter how many  dues dollars
you send 
 down the pie cards  gullet   

whatever  wherever however 
 
 all that comes out 
 the far end 
        iz 
     pure shit 

 so the answer to todays question 

what iz to be dung?

iz:

well obviously  

 "anything that goes into A Stern's  mouth"


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

  but  here's another take...


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

OAKLAND, CA (11/9/04)

 -- There's no question 
that labor
pulled out all the stops 
to defeat George Bush.  

------- really ?
shit gays turned out 
at a higher rate  
and voted agin the bush
 at a far higher rate -----------

Over
2000 members of the country's largest union, 
the Service Employees (SEIU), 
left their jobs to go
campaign in battleground states, 
and the organization
budgeted $65 million for the campaign. 

 The AFL-CIO
itself fielded 
5000 fulltime staffers 
and 225,000
volunteers.
--------- wonderfull 
cadre and resources but guyz 
as to carrying water
you got holes in yer buckets ---------


That made Bush's victory 
a hard one to swallow. 
   ----------- ya since the memberships 
in-action and re -action
won george the lesser  
 four more years 
 to kick their asses thru  -----------


 For many of the most progressive leaders 
of US labor,
however, it was more than just bitter
 - it was threatening. 

 "We have no alternative now 
but to resist
at every level," 
said Stuart Acuff, 
the AFL-CIO's
organizing director.


------and a wild wind bag -------------

 
 "And one of the things 
we have to anticipate 
is the repression 
of political enemies.
We're all going 
to have to stand up 
for each other."

---------  what ?  --------------


Dolores Huerta, legendary co-founder 
of the United Farm Workers,
 was even more blunt. 

"We might as well start
organizing now, 
if we don't want to run 
for cover after this one," 
she warned.

Unions were motivated 
by the same track record 
that now concerns them. 

 The first Bush administration 
compiled a four-year history 
of orders prohibiting unions 
in government departments,
 federal injunctions 
during
lockouts and strikes,
 rollbacks of overtime 
and worker protection legislation,
 and job losses 
greater than any administration
 since Herbert Hoover.

  This was the record
 unions sought to put
 in front of their own members,
 and to carry 
to the nation's workers
 in general.
  ------- okay ------------

In many ways, 
union members heeded the call. 
  ----------- well 
no your right herb
not everyone got out
   but alot did
well not alot
but at least as many as in 2002...
and 
only 40% burnt themselves
 to death this time
the rest were burnt
 by other hands -------------------

 Eliseo Medina, SEIU executive vice-president,
 called the mobilization unprecedented,
 and said that despite Bush's victory, 

"thousands and thousands of members
participated in this effort."  

------- my god 
and with all that 
  the union household vote 
   barely" budged "
     what would  " failure"look like 
                to these pikers ?  ----------

That, he said,
 gives labor a base 
to resist the attacks 
it now expects 
from a second Bush administration. 

 "We've got our work cut
out for us," he cautioned. 

"We still have a battle for
health insurance,


----- mother of might
will you get off the health thing
this is not a klass issue you nerds ----------
 
for decent wages, 

----------why not a minimum wage referendum in cal then ?--------

and for immigrant
worker rights. 
--------- head on this is union suicide 
might as well endorse nafta ----------

 If we're going to succeed, 
not just in
making positive changes,
 but in making sure things
don't get worse,
 we're going to need an engaged
membership 
and engaged communities. 
If we don't speak
up, nobody else is going to."
 -------- fart fart fart fart fart ------------

As is the case 
in every national election,
 unions
contributed votes 
to the Democratic side of the ticket

  ------- imagine
 this has to be mentioned explicitly ---------

in larger proportions 
than their share of the
population. 



 Union members make up 13%
of the workforce,
 but their household represent 
24% of the electorate,
 or about 27 million votes. 
  -------------- ??????
      okay so 
   i get it 
     13x2=26 max
     most (over 80%)
of america's 
 unon members have non union mates  
            do we add in 
                         plus 18 kids ? ----------

 The Peter Hart
poll gave Kerry a 65-33%
 lead among those voters. 
  -------- a house bought 
          poll 
obvious 
  good news slant 
scotch it gang scotch it ------

 In the battleground states,
 where unions put most 
of their resources, 
the poll gave Kerry
 a slightly greater,
          68-31% edge. 

 A CNN poll was similar
 - 60-39% for
             Kerry.
 ------- slightly diff?
 
try the diff iz enough
that if the hart poll was on the mark
kerry would have won the electoral majority -------

 
While Kerry won a majority 
among voters of color,

------- ya if union households had voted black
kerry woulda won ina landslide
why do 40%
of  union members 
think their better off with bush 
twhen only 11% of  blacks  do?
or 22% of gays ?
is bush any less
 anti union 
then he is anti gay
 or anti black? ----------


 he lost among white voters 
- except union members.

  He lost white men 
by an 18% difference,
 but won white male unionists by 21%,

 and lost white women
 by 4% while
carrying white union women
 by 35%.

-------- whoops
more hart beats here 

side light on how shakey this all gets

bush 
 got 39% of the union
household  
guy vote
and 
33% of the union household
 lady vote
but only 33% over all

what be up here ? 
margin of error of course ....

face it cnn's 40 % prolly
has by far  the closer reality fit ------------------

 

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney 
told a post-election
news conference 
that in the future, 
"we have to do more."  

------- yes johnny
and job one
cut off your fucking fat fucking head -------------
----------------------
Acuff saw  problems 
campaigning in Wisconsin.

"In the upper Midwest,
 there was an alignment
 for many years between workers,
 union members and Catholics.
That alignment has been broken. 
 We saw a lot of
confused and conflicted 
working people in Wisconsin 
in
this election, 
particularly over 
the issue of
abortion."

 Acuff points to
 an important division, 
not just in the electorate in general,
 but among union members.

though compared to the national 22%
  Only 16% of union voters 
listed "moral
values" as their prime interest,

 Bush won 59%
as apposed to 75%
 of
their votes. 

 Unions concentrated 
their attack on the economy

 
 42% of union voters
as opposed to 19% overall  
listed the economy as their main concern. 

Kerry took 71% of those votes

------roughly the same %
 as he won  among 
other "economy iz tops" voters--------- .

 But while 40% of union members 
listed Iraq as their primary issue, 
 51% who went to Kerry 

----------- a wash issue 
cause the unions didn't hammer on this ?--------


Acuff called the war 
"not only unnecessary 
but unjust.

------ now thats breathing
fire baby !!!!----------------


 
"Waving the bloody shirt may work,
 but it doesn't mean
it's right. "

---- hey el limpo eat an rpg
you gas bag  ------------

It's certainly not about combating
terrorism 
or keeping this country safe. 
 It's about
Bush's political agenda."
   --------- nice call zcuff ---------------


While many labor activists
 foresee a long series 
of
defensive battles 
throughout a second Bush term,

------ losers !!!-----------------


 some
still see the opportunity 
to advance toward labor goals, 
healthcare in particular.

------ who little bo peep ?---------

  
In California, the
effort by unions and healthcare advocates 
to pass
Proposition 72, 
which would have required large
employers to provide health insurance 
for their
workers, failed narrowly.  
  --------- fail in cal where would you win
try the wage min max route dicks --------


"This is just another
example of how far 
large corporations will go
 to avoid
responsibility 
to their employees and the public,"
Pulaski fumed. 

  --- shit you old wet hen  -----------


"As a result,
 all of us will pay more
for our healthcare.

---------- and the profiteers less ---------------

  Many will lose their insurance

---------- precisely the point ------------


and taxpayers will subsidize 
Wal-Mart and MacDonald's.
This issue is not going away."
  ------- well nice going finally
madam hensky
 go to it bro
agit that shit  up 
i like it
 
 "its a  walmart subsidy'
       nice sour  bit --------


Medina even foresees 
the possibility 
of putting a similar measure 
on the California ballot 
in 2006.  

------ my god 
we lost
 so naturally 
   lets do it all again-----------


"The solution is going
 to have to begin 
at the state,
 not at the Federal level,"
 he asserted. 

"This is a marathon,
not a sprint."
 ------- ya and you and your crew 
    are 
   a  fucking bunch of one legged ginks  ----------


Acuff, who won notoriety 
in 1994
 by leading sit-ins
 in the office
 of then-House Speaker 
Newt Gingrich,
protesting 
the "Contract on America," 

------- i hear tell
 ole zcuff's  
 
real golden moment 
came when  his lunch time 
cheez fries 
    reached 
lower limit 
  escape velocity
 and he's monstrous   
     blue kaboom
    kleared the speakers office entirely 
of all things republican for 3 hours  -----------


acuff
warns
" new campaigns 
of resistance 
and civil disobedience
 might be
in the works." 

------- now who better be afraid ?---------


 He concluded
 that unions
 have to go beyond 
just talking about
 bread and butter issues.

Over the long haul, 
he said,
 the key problem for labor
was "the vision thing" 

- unions need to present an
alternative 
to the moral and social values 
trumpeted by
the religious right.
 ------- trumpeted values
as in what ?---------------
           
"We need to define 
an agenda 
that has the potential
 to
change peoples' lives,"
 he explained, 

"that's more than
just tinkering around the edges.
  We don't need to
            retreat 
on an agenda 
of fundamental change,


 including 
immigration, 
healthcare 
and the right to organize

------ whow what an onslaught --------------- 

 That would be a huge mistake. 
But we need to talk about our
                   values
that provide the foundation 
for that agenda -

------------------------
greater liberation 
for human beings, 
 --- from what to what with what
gas bag -------------------------


greater freedom,
  --------- would that be 
the kinda freedom
ya get 
by freeing  up
 freedom freely 
 or just freed up freedom
 by freely  freedomizing ? ------------------


greater opportunity

---- oh -poor-toon -ity 
now dats for me bro --------------

 more justice in the country
 and 
    in the world."
  ------------ sounds kool bro
we all be for justice

but your farts 
no matter 
how bad they get
won't move uz a fleas hop closer
we need to see
a thousand and one 
pie card heads roll off 
around here first  -----------


[David Bacon is a reporter and photographer
specializing in labor issues. He can be reached at:
dbacon@igc.org]

  
  here's a (5) point platform 

 
           you    wagery types
need to  gander


-------------------------------------
red ballers 
meeting over
 the last week 
in kansas city
 drew em up 

 brother  frank hagerty 
the one man
   " Pecos  DUST STORM" 
represented us tuters there 
=============================

  1)
creation of a general union



2)       full recognition 
   of the  class struggle 
as the foundation  of our strategy

       "  the irrepessible 
             conflict
         between capital and labor "
 
3)
     all power to the ranks 

4)
   universal membership rights 
   transferable  
to every job site  everywhere 

5)
   a call 
to a national 
   founding convention
                 for summer '05 
 

---------------------------------------
i know 
we'll be there
 brothers and sisters
 and 
with red jingle  bells on 
=======================================
  

November 08, 2004

 hey guyz set up your own league

but watch out
for flyin elbows in the corners 

and 

keep your sticks on the ice 

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

 typical coverage ....

notice its flat and doomy
no fire here

probably the league's
not worth shit 
like united airline
as is but ....

imagine 33% pay cuts
across the board 

and yet 
these "labor" stars 
all 700 plus of em 
are without 
signifigant
     popular support 
 
in fact 
the best one gets out of the fucking  
 "fan" press 
is 
         "a plague on both houses" 
                     type of shit

hey 
my ears are open
but this is anecdotal

are most side walk re-actions
really so  
    mulish and spiteful
towards these extra -ordinary guyz?


     in their  darkest heart of hearts
     does a vicious envy dwell
       a grotesquely
             anti player menace ?

or is this the usual press gang lean ?


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

at any rate


where's the proper

 fuck the owners spirit?

 i wanna hear some celeb 
 besides dave letterman 
shout this out for once 

------------------------------
back to the target :

the sole relevant question :

who gets 
what share of the net revenue 

 
players vs  owners ?




ok  you fucking
life long
fanatics 
ask yourself thiz

who do i  want 
 it to go to  here?

----------------------------------------
 of course
the goosey goo goo 
sporting  press
 
can't ever 
seem to get this down
in black and white 

they never
lay it out here for uz


fuck who knows
what the  union hacks 
are telling them 

the fucking whiskey soaked deaf adders


but they'll let 
these owners numbers stand

despite 
 the most elementary
and  obvious jabber wokey 

like the claim 

" the league had
250 million dollar seasonal
aggregate
 operating losses 
the last two years running "

 okay for the sake of argument i'll buy that
but you're demanding
to the point of a lock out
 give backs 
 in excess of 360 million dollars annually 

(average of  500k per player 
times  720 players
gives you  360 million 
in 
annual give backs )

why  so big ?

what u  got cokin here?

maybe 
a little double back 
  double deal double cross ?

then
before you've 
fully  swallowed
 that turd
there's  another
steamin'
owner's   number 
on the plate
 
this one 
projects 
 a loss  
"if the league re-ups 
as under 
the expired  contract" 
 of around 
  1.8 billion 
over the next  ten years

 now i think that's 
an  average of 180 million
per year 

and this  phoney figure
 doesn't  cut
any super losing  teams out even

and fuck 
at least 6 are 
 bound to be gone soon 
 anyway you cut thiz 

their losses obviously 
  up this  aggregate considerably right?

so now the give backs look even worse...
now the leagues planning on big profits 
not break even

and hey
this is a serious social utility here
--------------------------------------
keep your sticks on the ice boys

 sounds like zero hour 
is a fuckle buck 

 you alreadfy offered give backs worth 80 million 
don't budge 

this all implies 

what else 
fishy 
cartoon accounting 
 numbers 
the fucking press is acting like these are solid

and this after enron 

open the books 
to the public you bastards 

open em 
all the fuckin way 

all 30 teams
           one by one 

and 
players 
in stead of pissing away the moment

start organizing 
your own league for the 05-06 season 

why not?

what you got to lose here ?


plans are just that 
plans

but it puts pressure 
on the gold pricks 

set up your own league 
        and 
go skate for euros this winter

(250 players are already doing just that)

oh and skate for charities
skate like you never skated before
and sign autographs too 
donate donate donate 
time and money

to
cancer 
ms-cp 
 retardation
run aways 
land mines
 river blindness
  books for crooks 
etc etc 

give alot back 
that way
and you'll need to give less back
to the owners 

nothing like slobbering male fans
 to fall for that sucker
golden heart  move 

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


NEW YORK (AP) -- The National Hockey League
 locked out its players Thursday
 threatening to keep the sport
 off the ice for the entire 2004-05 season 
and perhaps beyond
 in an effort by management
 to gain massive economic change



After the long-expected decision 
was approved unanimously Wednesday 
by NHL owners
 commissioner Gary Bettman 
repeatedly belittled 
the union's bargaining position
 talked about the possibility
 that the confrontation could extend 
into the 2005-06 season 
and said the conflict
 has jeopardized the NHL's
 participation in the 2006 Winter Olympics.

"If there's enough time 
to play some games, we'll do it,"
 he said of this season,
 "and if there's not, we won't."

Bettman called it a "bleak day,"
 claimed teams had combined 
to lose more than $1.8 billion
 over 10 years
 and cited bankruptcy filings 
by teams 
in Buffalo, Los Angeles, Ottawa and Pittsburgh

. He said management 
will not agree 
to a labor deal 
that doesn't include 
a defined relationship
 between revenue and salaries.

"Until he gets off the salary-cap issue,
 there's not a chance 
for us to get an agreement,"
 union head Bob Goodenow 
said in Toronto,
 adding that players
 "are not prepared to entertain 
a salary cap in any way, shape, measure or form."

Far apart on both philosophy and finances,
 the sides haven't bargained
 since last Thursday 
and say they are entrenched 
for the long run,
 echoing words 
of baseball players and owners 
at the start of their disastrous 
7 1/2-month labor war of 1994-95.

There is almost no chance 
the season will start 
as scheduled on Oct. 13,
 and Bettman told teams 
to release their arenas 
for other events 
for the next 30 days.
 Bettman said the season 
can't extend past June,
 and the lockout threatens 
to wipe out the Stanley Cup finals
 for the first time since 1919, 
when the series 
between Montreal and Seattle 
was stopped after five games
 due a Spanish influenza epidemic.

"The union is trying to win a fight,
 hoping that the owners will give up.
 That will turn out to be
 a terrible error in judgment," 
Bettman said.
 "They are apparently convinced
 that come some point in the season,
 the owners' resolve will waver, 
and I'm telling you that is wrong, wrong, wrong."

NHL management claims 
teams combined to lose
 $273 million in 2002-03
 and $224 million last season.

 Bettman said the union's proposals 
would do little for owners,
 and said the six offers 
rejected by the union 
would lower the average player salary
 from $1.8 million to $1.3 million.

Goodenow said players 
had offered more than $100 million
 in annual concessions.

"The notion that 
we don't have competitive balance 
is absurd," 
said Vancouver center Trevor Linden,
 the union's president.

Bettman made clear 
that declaring an impasse 
under U.S. labor law 
and imposing new work rules 
unilaterally was an option,
 but said it had not yet
 been considered.

"I think it's pretty fair to say 
that we're at an impasse right now,
 and my guess is that 
we've probably been at impasse for months,
 if not a year," he said.
 "At some point when we're at impasse,
 we could simply say,
 `We're going to open,
 and here are the terms and conditions.
 Let's go.' It's that simple."

Goodenow said 
attempting to impose terms 
would be a "very, very ill-advised strategy" 
and predicted 
"the results of it could be catastrophic." 
Bettman said the use of replacement players
 is not under consideration.

Owners have contributed $300 million 
to a league fund 
to help get them through a lockout,
 and the union has retained 
licensing money to help its members.
 Bettman said about 20 teams 
would lose less money 
during a lockout 
than they would if play continued.

"It is a sad day for all of us," 
Montreal owner George Gillett said.

The 30 teams 
-- 24 in the United States and six in Canada --
 had been set to start opening
 training camps on Thursday,
 the day after the expiration 
of the current labor contract.
 The deal was first agreed to 
in 1995 and extended two years later 
through Sept. 15, 2004. 
Bettman termed the extension
 "a mistake, in hindsight."

"It  kinda stinks,
 packing up and moving out of here," 
Philadelphia right wing Tony Amonte said
 at his team's practice rink.
 "I can't say they weren't preparing us for it."

Some players are expected 
to sign with European leagues,
 and others could join a six-team,
 four-on-four circuit 
called the Original Stars Hockey League,
 which is set to start play 
Friday in Barrie, Ontario. 
Others could go to 
a revived World Hockey Association,
 which plans to open Oct. 29 
with eight teams playing 76 games apiece.

Bettman said more than 100 employees 
from the NHL's central staff 
of about 225 will be terminated,
 most on Sept. 20.

The stoppage is the first 
for a North American major league
 since the 1998-99 NBA lockout 
canceled 464 games,
 cutting each club's regular-season schedule
 from 82 games to 50.

It is the third stoppage
 for the NHL following 
a 10-day strike in 1992 
that caused the postponement
 of 30 games
 and a 103-day lockout
 in 1994-95 that eliminated 468 games,
 cutting each team's regular-season schedule
 from 84 games to 48. 
That lockout ended on Jan. 11,
 five days before the deadline set 
by Bettman to scuttle the season.

Baseball has had eight work stoppages,
 the last causing 
the cancellation of 921 regular-season games 
over two years 
and canceling the World Series 
for the first time since 1904
. The NFL has had four strikes,
 including two during the regular season,
 but has enjoyed labor peace since 1987.

November 06, 2004

  
to be fair 

here's swine herds numbers 
on the results
 of the official 
        union poll vault 


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

WASHINGTON 


--Labor-backed Democratic presidential
nominee John F. Kerry's loss to GOP nominee George W.
Bush on Nov. 2 means "we have to do more" in mobilizing
and organizing, AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney says.

In a post-election press conference Nov. 3, Sweeney
lauded labor's efforts at the polls, thanking union
members for campaigning and turning out in record
numbers.

Exit polls commissioned by the AFL-CIO 
show union
households 
were 24 percent of the electorate

 almost double the 13 percent 
of union members in the U.S.workforce

  And they backed Kerry
 by a 5.8-million vote margin
 or 
65 percent-33 percent
 Sweeney 
and pollster
Geoff Garin said.



Nearly complete unofficial returns 
showed Bush with 59.096 million votes
 (51 percent)  
to Kerry's 55.53 million votes 
(48 percent)

  Ralph Nader and
others got 1 percent.

"Union households
 accounted for one 
of every four voters
--27 million voters," 
Sweeney said.

  "Union
members voted
 two to one for Kerry
 and the margin 
was a little bigger 
in battleground states"
 he stated.

Not counting unionists 
who volunteered 
or worked for independent friendly groups

 the AFL-CIO 
and its member unions mobilized 
5,000 paid staffers
 more than 225,000
volunteers
 staffed hundreds 
of phone banks
 knocked on
6 million doors
 and distributed 32 million fliers
  The phone bank 
at AFL-CIO headquarters
 finally ended at 9 p.m. 
     Eastern Time Election Day.


The AFL-CIO spent $45 million

----------------------------------------
 
 SEIU spent $65 million 
and its members
 gave another $28 million 
to independent "527" progressive groups
 union President Andy Stern 
said in a "blog." 
-------------------------------------------- 
Other unions spent
millions more 
and sent hundreds
 and thousands of workers
into the field.
---------------------------------------------
Sweeney said the federation
 also sent monitors
 to 850 "high risk polling places" 
in swing states such as Ohio
and Florida
 and met with local election officials
putting them on notice 
that a repeat of 2000's Florida
fiasco would be challenged.

The results of all that effort
 appeared in Garin's exit
poll survey 
of 1,135 active and retired unionists
 with 653 in battleground states
 and an extra 400-unionist
             survey in Ohio.
----------------------------------------
Garin's poll
 put
the Kerry-Bush spread 
at 65 percent-33 percent,
 and
68-31 in the battlegrounds.
  
CNN's exit poll, of 13,531
respondents, 
showed the same union household 
share of 24
percent of all voters.

  But it had a 60-39 Kerry lead.


-------------------------------------
 the 24 percent figure 
for union households 
is
slightly below the 26 percent
 labor mustered
 among the overall electorate 
in both 2000 and 2002

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

the turn out 
was also  below 
the AFL-CIO's private goal 
of a 31 percent union household 
share of overall voters
 
----------------------------------------

Garin said Kerry carried 
union white men 
by 21 percent
but lost white men overall
 by 18 percent

  Kerry carried
union white women
 by 35 percent
 but lost white women overall
 by 4 percent

CNN's exit poll said Kerry 
lost white men
--38 percent of
all voters--
by 61-38
 and lost white women
 who were 41
percent of all voters
 by 54-45

 Both Garin and CNN
showed majorities 
of non-white voters for Kerry


Union voters who backed Kerry 
did so based on economic
issues, Garin said

 "But Bush's vote" 
among unionists
surveyed 
"was driven very much 
by two things: Terrorism
and moral values."

Garin's data said 42 percent 
of union voters 
named the economy and jobs 
as one of their top issues 
and Kerry had a 71-point 
margin among them
  The war in Iraq was
second among the top issues
 at 40 percent

  There Kerry had a 51-point lead.

But terrorism/national security
 tied for third among
unionists
 with 24 percent naming 
it a key issue
--and those union voters backed Bush 
by 47 points

  "Moral values" drew 16 percent
 of unionists 
and they backed
Bush by a 59-point margin

And Garin said
 that unionists 
who named "character" 
as a key to their vote
 split for Bush
 50 percent-48 percent

A key Bush campaign theme 
was to question Kerry's character
 in Congress 
and during the Vietnam War

Those who decided
 on issues backed Kerry 
by a 69-29
margin, 
Garin's poll added.

"We focused on issues 
of overtime, health care,
outsourcing, job creation
 and economic security,"
Ackerman responded 
to a question on impact 
of social issues, 
like gay marriage referenda.

"There was no mandate 
given on domestic issues" 
by union voters who backed Bush
 Garin said. 

 "They were not saying 
'I'm signing up 
with the Bush campaign 
because I agree 
with his domestic agenda 
or policies here at home.'"

Garin added data show 
even pro-Bush unionists
 oppose the Republican nominee's
 domestic agenda
 including his labor agenda

Sweeney was not specific
 about what "more" would be
after the Kerry loss
 but he made several points about
the future:

* Labor "will focus on the role of the Democratic Party
and advise them where they can be structured," as well.


"Mobilization and focus on issues important to working
families is something" the party could emphasize, he
added.

* Unions would put a further stress on 
the "unity and
solidarity" 
they discovered during the campaign,
 as part
of the "more" Sweeney said
 they must undertake.

"We have an excellent program,
 and we'll keep our grass-
roots activists going. 
 We've got to keep 
on track and
keep our members active.
  That's our greatest strength,"
he declared.

* Focus more on economic issues.
  "We have to aim higher
and that's what we'll be doing. 
 We'll be involving them
more and more on issues important 
  to working families,"
      he added.

PRESS ASSOCIATES UNION NEWS SERVICE 
 
Mark Gruenberg, Editor 

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

   to be carved 

 imagine the union pie faces
managed to "whip'
a full flushed  60%
  of their  membership 
    into
voting for
             the  Kerry Nation 


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

----------------------
feature thiz rankers 

if union  geepz 
voted black
ie gave 88%of their votes 
      to kerry kerry 

the lt jg's  flotilla
 would be swiftin 
  its way to the white house 
---------------------------------------


your " fearless leadership "
blew
millions apon  millions apon millions
(150 million + )
of your dues dollars
around 10 bucks per member 

 pimpin for 
 these  liberal dem  harlotz 

  
while lettin 40%
of u glimmer glams

dance right out to the booths
and  buy  this nation
  a pre punched  ticket 
          given 
         four more 
                  for little george 
   -------------------------------

welcome to    
"the  frat house  years"
                     part II
                          "privatize this "         
-----------------------------------

 
el sweeno 
is thiz what you call 
mobilization the base ?

if so 
congratulations 
swine man 

u and yours

put in with 
 the stern siders

get my hearty

 "eat me fuck balls" 

all of ya 

what a fine fuckin performance 

you fuckin re-animated road kill 

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

every fuckin last one 
of 
you bunged up  drip tanks 
on the executive  soviet
need to go go go 
                       immediately 
and you fuckin know it

so why notdo the sportin thing
and  
step down now

in fact 
why don't ya 
face the future 

call next years
national  convention off 

go into emergency 
"executive "session 

and fuckin 
 dissolve the afl xxx
            completely 

 liquidate everything 
 return to us the proceeds 

and go away 
far far far away  

before we're forced 
         to knock yer 
                 fat fucking cans
                                 thru the sidewalk 
----------------------------------------------------



-----------------------------------------
foot notations :

 bush vote share  '00/'04

African-Americans: 8% / 11%

Whites: 54% / 58%

Hispanic: 41% / 44%

Union Members: 37% / 40% ( it fuckin went up !!!!!)

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

Gays: 25% / 23%

Gun Owners: 61% / 67%
-----------------------------
Protestants: 63% / 59%

Jewish: 19% / 25%

Catholics: 45% / 52%
----------------------------
Republicans: 91% / 93%
Democrats: 10% / 11%

Men: 51% / 55%
Women: 43% / 48%

18-29 year olds: 46% / 45%

30-44 year olds: 49% / 53%

45-59 year olds: 49% / 51%

60+ 47% / 54%

--------------------------------------
post script:

hey how 'bout thiz  NHL thing!

monday i'll comment 

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

November 03, 2004

  see now 
   why this blog
 sticks to job site shit


 shit 
the stern gang alone
  blew xx million 
 duezzz dollars 
and countless cadre hours 
    to help  kerry 
   lose the first frame 
in this 
 best out  of one series 

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

	Posted by herb jr. jr. at 01:52 PM
		| Comments (0)
	
		| TrackBack
	

 the pathetic
 but ever so  well heeled
remnants 
of about
50 textile and garment unions

 are 
not exactly up to 
  the challenge 
     of their industries last stand 

as 
the WTO quota drops 
coming thiz january 

 
at long last 
IZ IT 
white flag time gang  ?


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

 
the sons and daughters 
of dubinsky
hillman gorman and gold 
unite!

the chink hordes are comin 
over 
        with the new year!

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

 why aren't 
 these  pie-karded
               manhattan based
          geniuses 
             more steamed up ?

 the temp stop gaps
 are set to blow open 
 
brothers and sisters
             head for 
                 the life boats


  oh no 
lord jim
what about the members?
what about the unorged?

  wheres the comp for job loss program?
 

 "sorry good people
where there's 
no dues 
we got no clues "


be-suicides 
    
 our brilliant 
 last minute
moige with 
           the hotel 
                   truck stop
                            fly shop
                             rest room and public toilet  union
gives all uz staff infections
 room to move over 

 we can set ourselves up 
right there  on top 
  of  all them low riden
                   hospitality types 
-------------------------------------------------------


PRETTY 
   smart life boatin
  don't ya think gang 


don't tell meat  
pie kard's can't hustle

listen  skinks 
they know
 a feathered nest 
when they move one 

-------------------------------------
 i see
  u even got a few 
           anti-climactic 
   scraps underway 
      inside the new biz wizzery 

" yup 
you got that right herb...

 fuck think about it...
    with our brains
   and financial  assets
  and their 
   coop after coop after coop
   full a cluckin quail 
      shit baby 
           do i hear
          music music music "

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

 butttttttttttttt
what about dem rag  rankers
the geeps
in the mills 
down hill- dixie way
and along the pecos ??????????


" sorry ladies
 maybe you oughta
try waitin' tables  "

hey 
u can re-org em 
there at the cafe
now u got the moiged
               jurisdiction ...


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

 
 now there's 
 way too much 
motion and changing
 structure 
 inside  job-america   

  levels on levels
  areas tucked away under cover of 
other  areas 
 
    trends criss-crossing 
  each other
 up to the point
           of seeming  incoherence 
  ----------------------------------------------
shit what else 
needs so many 
independently moving parts
                    to function properly 

and all it does
   iz 
 confuse 
the actions 
of those
with good intentions 
               and honest minds

simple questions like
whither wagery
get 10 different straight answers 


 take wage klass internal conflicts

          no lets not 
cause who the fuck knows whats up .......

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

 
  today as yesterday 
and the day before that 
  i'm supposed to be cookin up something 
on the national master freight agreement 
past present and future

but shit I've 
been  too restless 


all these nasty  disturbences
in  the klass forces

i feel em all you know

and times are more  vortical now
 then in
any time since seattle 
 
shit its biblical almost

and it's 
    makin my ass  bone ache 


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

back to todays miscellany 



so why ain't there a good handle on these
job structure  questions ?


  these wage rate and hour trends
 by sector


you know 
it sucks 
 
 viewed thru
the fuckin all-slighty 
  news media  

you get a take 
 more  bogus 
then  a florida land deal 
 
course
it all starts
with  the data  
the department of labor 
creates


 totally fucked up 

 you'd think some 
state university 
some where with a 3 million dollar 
annual  grant 
from uncle sap 
after 5 years or so 
could pull things together here 

give us wranglers 
 a fairly decent model 
          of the  motions 
       goin on out there 
                   in the job force


sorry no dice compadre 

and shit
   
asking for one
ain't exactly like 
demanding 
 a toy train replica
 of the   entire 
 conrail
system for christmas 

hell 
 80%
active citizenry 
live breath
 prosper 
 falter and fall
as part of that fucking 
sold time  structure 

hence
is it  
" really too fuckin'  much"
to want 
a decent answer 
to the question

"where's the wage force going ?"
------------------------
fuck 
wheres  it going

i'd settle for
                 where its at 
                          and 
                      where its  been 
-----------------------------------------------------------
sure the labor department
is constantly
belching out stuff like 

" we'll need 3 zilion more cashiers by 2020"

 but no one listens 
to those boobs
so 
nobody checks
 to see 
what their  track record iz

well i have 

and 
in a word it's 

" STINKO "


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

OKAY 
THERE IZ NO  
  dynamic model

at least not one
anybody dares 
 talk  about

no apples to apples 
string of numbers  

in fact

when you dig in 
you
find way too many instances
where 
dull looking 
 macro averages 

obscure a micro-world 
        of 
     ice and fire 

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

 okay i know
asking for an answer 
to the whys
           is to much

asking
 why
 ratios of wage comp 
between different job
categories 
are what they are 
 or 
why 
wage/profit  shares
are  what they are 
or
why
higher ed requiring 
job pay premia are what they are

asking now for answers 
to all these whys 
 
thats plain silly

we gotta  see 
wherev we are 
and whats around uz
before we can crawl
after something 

 right?



but but but but but  


what those damn numbers 
actually  are 

askin for them
now

 for  sure
 ain't 
too much to ask  

----------------------------------------------
then again 
of course 
there's 
 the ultra top  secret model 
the big boys 
on wall street use

 "project mega view  " 

they keep quiet about that 

i only know about it 
because
my pal 
  eve abel 
spilled 
the beans to me 
 
and  
she'd know

fuck 
two years ago
in a huge goof up
one of their 
top flight 
    gizzmo heads
 tried recruiting  her
 

imagine the daughter 
           of  max the red  
working for the wall street titans

she'll refuse to confirm it 
to the press


  " what?...
come on.. 
 who said that ...?
herb
herb sorrell ...
hey you  tell herb
he'd better stop  
  smokin that bad ass shit "
-------------------------------
eve's dad 
red max
was at 
Bretton woods 
IN '44 
 by the way

" a  math wunderkind  "

then MIT 

and finally 
      piggly wiggly 
                junior college
AFTER
 the  RAT  hunters 
caught up with him in '51

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

  by the way 

do ya 'all
know about Bretton Woods  hoss?

 the  dollar's  
solid gold  peg

what a grace note
   that was

 for 25 years 
it kept 
the entire  first  world 
safe for social democracy
 
then 
"san clemente" dick 
           pulled the peg out 
                            in '71 
 the  first shot
fired
in the 30 years war on wagery 
    

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