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A New Year Filled With New Challenges Awaits Us
By Ronald Honse
I hope you all had a wonderful and peaceful holiday season. While we don’t know what surprises await us in 2002, some issues are taking shape very early. In the Library unit, state budgetary cutbacks have created uncertainty as to funding levels for libraries throughout the state. Local news reported serious losses that would befall TLCPL. These, however, turned out to be prematurely reported. At the time of this writing, no final decision on funding has been reached. Unit Director Brenda Nelson continues to monitor the situation and I will work with her to assure our members are protected. At Ameritech, the number of surplus employees in our local remains at two. These members were recently given more time to be placed in a new job due to incorrect surplus procedures implemented by management for the original declaration of surplus. This means their 90-day clock was reset on January 7th. The executive board will continue to aggressively pursue opportunities for placement of these individuals. The first half of the year will be filled with changes as major budget cuts are dealt with. There will be extensive loaning of employees from one job or department to another. This is similar to the situation we encountered in the mid 70’s when a similar recession was encountered. While there may be more loaning than we might like, we will work hard to assure that the rights of our members are protected. A new contract was ratified at Allen County Children’s Services. Vice President Bob Hull chaired the negotiations and was able to negotiate a good agreement. This year will bring more negotiations as the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library contract expires in September. I want to call your attention to one more issue that is becoming increasingly apparent early in this New Year. President George W. Bush is succeeding in getting very damaging legislation passed by cloaking it in patriotism and the war effort. Most Americans support the war on terrorism. However, it is not unpatriotic to disagree with the political manipulation that is occurring in Washington, D.C. The social security surplus has been completely erased, tax cuts aimed at the rich have been passed and President Bush and the Republicans have even proposed a multi billion dollar gift to corporations by eliminating the Alternative Minimum Tax paid by corporations that otherwise would pay no income tax. But that’s not all. The proposal would also make the elimination of the tax retroactive for fifteen years, refunding billion of dollars (that we presently do not have) to corporations that do not need it. There is no money left to pay down the debt, provide prescription care for seniors, improve education or shore up social security. Ask the former employees of Enron how their pensions were protected. Their 401k’s and pensions were erased when Enron went belly up. Amazingly, Enron top management sold billions of dollars of their own stock while not allowing employees to sell any of theirs. Coincidentally, these same corporate robber barons were BIG contributors to George W Bush’s campaign. Keep your eyes on this investigation. Last but not least, the U.S. Supreme Court all but eliminated protection for repetitive motion injuries from the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). Their recent ruling changed the definition of a disability. It no longer matters that a repetitive motion injury sustained at work prohibits you from doing your job. Now you will not be protected unless you are unable to perform at least some of the chores of daily living i.e., bathing, dressing, feeding yourself. This is just the beginning of the disassembly of a system that we fought so hard to build. A system where employers were beginning to be held accountable for injuries sustained by their employees. Will 2002 be a good year? It’s too early to tell. But if the events mentioned above are any indication, I have my doubts. Fraternally,
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