The centerpiece of the so-called economic recovery plan President George W. Bush announced in early January is the complete elimination of the tax on stock dividends. With an estimated cost of $364 billion-out of the $925 billion price tag (which includes interest on the national debt) for Bush's stimulus package-- the elimination of the dividend tax also could send the nation's deficit to record levels according to economists.

Bush's package also includes accelerating the tax cuts passed last year as part of a $1.3 trillion package aimed mainly at the wealthy. Bush's plan is "remarkably inefficient as stimulus, costing $925 billion to inject about $100 billion into the economy in 2003, when the economy is weak; remarkable in its fiscal profligacy, swelling budget deficits for years to come; and remarkably towards those at the pinnacle of the income scale, the very group that gains the most from last year's tax cut," said Robert Greenstein, executive director for nonpartisan Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.

The AFL-CIO unveiled its own Agenda to Create Jobs and Lift the Economy that combines more investment in schools, roads and bridges and financial aid to states with tax rebates targeted to low- and middle-income families, extended unemployment compensation and an increase in the minimum wage. The estimated price tag of the federation's plan is $260 billion, less than a third of Bush's plan, and it "puts money into the hands and pockets of families who need it and will spend it now," said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney.

Go to www.aflcio.org to download a copy of the plan. There are many more things to interest you at this very fine website.

Buyout and early retirement rules will change dramatically next month making it easier, maybe much easier, for agencies that are reinventing themselves to offer incentives to selected workers. Some of the big changes for executive branch agencies include:

Individual departments and agencies will no longer have to get approval from Congress to offer workers buyouts of up to $25,000, before deductions. Under current rules, Congress must approve buyouts on an agency-by-agency, case-by-case basis. Currently only five agencies and departments have authority to offer buyouts.

The need to "reshape" the workforce or correct so-called "skills imbalances" will be considered when agencies ask for authority to offer buyouts, early retirements, or more likely, both. Under current rules agencies must be facing (or undergoing) a major reorganization or downsizing that could result in significant layoffs.

Buyouts and early-retirements are likely to be offered in the same package under the new plan, but to a limited number of workers chosen by each agency. Now the two actions are separate. In practice, few employees take early retirement unless they also get a buyout. Early outs are possible at any age with 25 years service, or if the worker is at least 50 with at least 20 years of federal service.

The Office of Personnel Management and the Office of Management and Budget will now decide who gets "buyout/early out" authority. Currently, OPM controls the early outs, while Congress has the last word on buyouts. Under the new system, agencies will make their case to OPM/OMB and if they sign off, the buyouts/early outs will be authorized.

Congress took itself out of the buyout-approval business when it passed, and the President signed, the Homeland Security bill. Among other things, it sets the stage for the "reshaping" buyouts. The authority is contained in section 13-13 (A and B) of the new law.

So what does this mean for you? Well, if your agency couldn't get buyout authority from Congress before, it will have an easier time now. What it must do is convince OPM/OMB that it needs to be able to offer "X" number of buyouts in "X" number of offices or geographic locations either to "reshape" the operations, or, to correct "skills imbalances". A typical case would be an office or operation that had too many clerical and administrative employees and not enough professionals. Or vice versa.

New regulations, spelling out how the new buyout/early out program is supposed to work will probably be issued in mid-February.

The changes have given rise to lots of rumors that agencies have already been given secret approval for buyouts, or that the buyout pot is being sweetened beyond the current $25,000 limit. Equally important is what is NOT changing:

Buyouts and early outs must still be approved by someone other than the agency requesting them.

Agencies will continue to have the option to decide who does and doesn't get an offer.

The maximum amount of the buyout, internet rumors notwithstanding, will still be $25,000.

Some 57,000 airport security screeners were stripped of their collective bargaining rights January 9, 2003 when Admiral James Loy, Undersecretary of Transportation for security, signed an order precluding workers' rights to bargain, saying that such rights are not compatible with the nation's war against terrorism.

AFGE activists had been helping screeners at LaGuardia Airport in New York and at Baltimore-Washington Airport form a union.

"The statement by Admiral Loy is akin to saying that being a union member gives aid and comfort to the enemy," said Sonny Hall, president of the AFL-CIO's Transportation Trades Department. "It is time for this administration to stop hiding behind the war on terrorism to mask a brazen assault on the basic rights of working men and women in this country," he said.

AFGE filed a lawsuit in federal court the following day, challenging the decision.

IUE-CWA and the Electrical Workers, General Electric's two largest unions, staged a nationwide two-day strike involving approximately 19,000 GE workers January 14-15 to protest health coverage cost increases that went into effect mid-contract on January 1. GE plans to seek further increases when national bargaining begins in May, the unions said.

GE's 2002 profits were approximately $16 billion. "GE is making workers pay so it can meet Wall Street profit goals while the company pays excessive compensation and perks to current and former senior executives," says IUE-CWA President Edward Fire.

Employers' attempts to shift more health care costs to workers are expected to be a major issue in contract bargaining this year.

In early January, President Bush renominated two candidates for federal appeals court seats whom the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee rejected last year because of their troubling records on American's rights. Along with nominees Mississippi federal judge Charles H. Pickering and Texas Supreme Court justice Priscilla Owen, Bush nominated 29 others to various federal benches.

"This administration cares less about nominating moderate consensus judges and is intent on packing the courts with extremist judges who threaten to roll back worker's rights and civil rights and whose views are outside the mainstream on issues of importance to working families," said AFL-CIO President John Sweeny.

Please take action and tell your senators to stop the Bush administration's court-packing plan. Write to Senators Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum and let them know how you feel. Though you may not sway their vote, your voice in the form of a letter will be counted by their staffers. It's important to be heard, even if they won't vote the way we'd like them to. If you don't speak up, it only strengthens their belief that no one cares what they do!

The Air Transport Association, the airlines' largest lobbying organization, is asking Congress to rewrite the Railway Labor Act, which applies to the airline industry as well, to make it harder for workers to strike. (To read more about the Railway Labor Act, visit the NMBFacts.com website.

"It's about getting the upper hand on workers," said AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department Executive director Edward Wytkind, who also said airlines are spending big sums on lobbyists while pleading poverty to workers. Some carriers, including Delta and American, are aggressively involved in the effort, while a few, including Southwest, are not.

And to make matters worse, a judge has backed United Airlines to force union worker's pay cuts:

A federal bankruptcy judge January 10 ordered the 37,000 machinists at United Airlines to take a 14 percent pay cut as part of United's bankruptcy reorganization. In earlier filing with the court, IAM said the airline had not provided the financial information needed to justify the cut. Last week, Air Line Pilots, Flight Attendants and Transport Workers voted to accept pay cuts.

DC Hotel workers win new law:
After a mobilization spearheaded by Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees Local 25 and the Metropolitan Washington (D.C.) Council, District of Columbia Mayor Anthony Williams signed a bill Jan. 8 requiring hotel developers who receive city financing to negotiate with workers seeking to form a union instead of provoking strikes or boycotts.

And a win for the AFT family:
A majority of the 57 teachers and other professional workers at Christian Brothers Academy in Syracuse, N.Y., voted Jan. 8 to join New York State United Teachers, an AFT affiliate.

Eugene Scalia, the controversial Department of Labor acting solicitor who could not win Senate approval last year, announced his resignation last week. Last January, President Bush used a recess appointment, which requires no Senate approval, to give Scalia the solicitor's post. That appointment expired in November, and Bush then named Scalia acting solicitor.

Scalia, who once called ergonomics "junk science", was a leading corporate voice in the fight against an ergonomics standard and other workplace safety rules.

On December 20, 2002, the AFL-CIO filed a lawsuit against the Bush Administration, demanding that the Administration comply with legal requirements to include appropriate non-business representation on the Advisory Committee on Trade Policy to the President (ACTPN).

In the previous week, the Bush Administration announced the nominations of 32 individuals to serve on the ACTPN. For the first time in history of the committee (established by Congress in 1974) and in clear violation of the law, the current committee nominees include no representatives of labor, environmental, or consumer organizations.

"With these nominations," said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, "the Bush White House has demonstrated a remarkable indifference to views of anyone outside the corporate world on the future of the U.S. trade policy."

Former ACTPN members representing a diverse array of civil society interest sent a letter to President Bush protesting the narrow corporate representation on the committee. "This defeats the entire purpose of the advisory committee system, which-- at its best-- could help shape U.S. trade policy so that it would serve the broad public interest, rather than simply forward an exclusively corporate agenda," wrote the five former ACTPN members, including: John Sweeney, President of the AFL-CIO; George Becker, President Emeritus of UNTIE!, the clothing and textile workers' union; Rhoda Karpatkin, President Emeritus of Consumers Union; and Linda Tarr-Whelan, former President and Chair of Center for Policy Alternatives.

Congress established the committee in 1974 in order to provide broadly representative private sector advice to the president on trade policy. The law explicitly states that the membership of the committee "shall include representatives of labor, environmental, and consumer interests and that the committee membership shall be broadly representative of the key sectors and groups of the economy, particularly with respect to those sectors and groups which are affected by trade." The law also states that appointments to the committee "shall be made without regard to political affiliation." Past administrations, both Republican and Democratic, have respected these legal obligations.

The current White House nominees, in contrast, are drawn almost entirely from the corporate sector, plus two non-Federal government officials (the governor of Connecticut and the mayor of Warrenton, Virginia) and two academics. According to Inside U.S. Trade, the nominees include "major Republican campaign donors, free trade theologians, and a few people with close ties to USTR Robert Zoellick" (December 13, 2002)

The failure of the Bush White House to comply with its legal obligations could slow down the Administration's ambitious trade agenda. Fast track authority requires the ACTPN to issue a report on any new trade agreements not later that thirty days after the President notifies Congress of his intent to enter into an agreement. If the ACTPN is not legally constituted, then such a report would not fulfill the fast track requirement.

Under the theme "We Come to Remember, to Serve and to Act," hundreds of union members participated in the 2003 AFL-CIO Martin Luther King Jr. Day observances in Jackson, Miss., Jan. 16-20. Events included a town hall meeting, youth forum, distribution of foods and other products to relief agencies, plus the city's annual parade.

"The union movement and the civil rights movement share the same goal: to guarantee that every American is treated fairly and has an equal opportunity to reach his or her full potential. The King Day celebration and community service activities provide an opportunity to highlight our commitment," said AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson.

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