kshark  

  Thursday, April 10, 2008 11:02:33 PM

ST. HELENA – Nearly two years after being fired from Napa Valley’s Charles Krug-Mondavi winery, 24 employees have been reinstated with back-pay. In addition, the UFW has signed a four year contract between the company and the workers.

The previous contract had expired on Dec. 31, 2005 and employees had been working without a contract until July 7, 2006 when they were fired after being told they would be replaced by a land management company.

UFW Regional Director Casimiro Alvarez said, "This is a tremendous victory for the farm workers at Charles Krug-Mondavi. This just proves that when farm workers stand up to demand their rights, they will be heard."

"I, along with my co-workers, am very happy because after having been fired unjustly by Charles Krug-Mondavi, we will be returning to our former jobs. And all because we remained organized and united in our struggle for farm worker justice," said Jorge de Haro, who has worked at CK Mondavi 34 years.

In addition to back-pay, under the new contract the workers will receive an 18 percent pay increase over the four-year contract and the workers will have the same seniority and classifications they did at the time they were discharged.

The contract also covers sub-contracted employees who will be paid wage rates equal to those a UFW employee. Sub-contracted employees will also be entitled to the grievance and arbitration procedure for disputes which arise.

Working Families Vote 2008 > Issues

America has an important decision to make. Our next president will shape the future for working families. Find out where the 2008 presidential candidates stand on the most important issues for working families.

posted by Aaron Deslatte on Apr 7, 2008 3:37:08 PM Orlando Sentinel

Add U.S. Rep. Tom Feeney of Oviedo to the list of conservative Republican politicians lobbying Florida's tax commission to approve a rigid revenue cap for local and state government.

The former state House speaker sent a letter to the commission last month praising the concept of capping government growth to the rate of inflation and population, and bemoaning Congress's "addiction" to earmarks -- "many of which are embarrassingly useless,wasteful, and not a legitimate national or regional need."

Feeney wrote to the panel that "the only way to stop unfettered growth of government at all levels, and protect the private sector and free markets, is to restrain taxing and spending with firm limitations."

Former Gov. Jeb Bush and current House Speaker Marco Rubio had been lobbyng for the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission to pass a so-called taxpayers bill of rights, but the panel stalled at its last scheduled meeting Friday. Another vote is scheduled for April 14.

On the other side of the issue: the Orlando Aviation Authority, local governments from Leon and Volusia counties to Miami-Dade and Monroe, Democratic Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, and managers of the state's Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, among many others.

posted by Aaron Deslatte on Apr 9, 2008 11:21:55 AM

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The Senate narrowly defeated an amendment to steer millions of dollars away from Central Florida’s commuter rail project Wednesday as the Legislature opened debate on the state's $65 billion proposed budget.

A bipartisan group of senators opposing the state’s $650 million-plus deal to buy the 61-mile rail line from CSX Corp. for commuter rail tried to divert $20 million of that pot to make up spending reductions to courts – arguing the rail deal was less important than courts.

The Senate voted down the amendment 16-22, but not before some vigorous debate over the merits of the commuter rail deal.

Republican Sens. Alex Villalobos of Miami, Charlie Dean of Inverness, and Paula Dockery of Lakeland joined in with Democrats trying to transfer rail dollars from the Department of Transportation budget to other priorities like courts and elderly care.

Six Republicans ended up voting for the amendment, while three Democrats voted against it. The headline from the vote was that Orlando Democrat Gary Siplin voted for the amendment to divert money from the rail project.

Support has mounted in a bleak budget year to scrap funding for the deal since the Department of Transportation announced last month that part of the built-in cost for upgrading another freight line owned by CSX had quadrupled.

Only $150 million of the deal is designated for purchasing the rail line through Orlando that would accommodate commuter trains. The rest would go mostly to upgrade CSX’s freight rail operations.

"When times are tough, how can we say that taxpayers’ money ought to go to improve the tracks of a for-profit company instead of funding our courts system," Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, argued on the Senate floor.

Dockery said the diversion of cash would only have a minor impact to "a project that at this point has no federal match, does not have the liability language it needs, is imperiled anyway, and is not a top necessity of the state of Florida, whereas the court system most certainly is."

But Senate Republican leaders blasted the push as an irresponsible cash grab that took one-time money and paid for ongoing expenses.

Senate Majority Leader Dan Webster, R-Winter Garden, said the CSX deal was no different than when taxpayers pay for roads that truckers use or ports that harbor the movement of good from private barges.

"I will tell you some people have said ‘That’s a private company, and we’re paying for their railroad tracks. You’re kidding me?’" Webster said.

"When a private aircraft lands at an airport, who paid for the airstrip? we did as taxpayers," Webster added. "Our economy is run on two engines: one is moving people, and one is moving product."

After more than an hour of debate, the Senate also shot down a Democratic amendment to take $70 million from the CSX deal for other programs.

posted by Aaron Deslatte on Apr 9, 2008 6:58:27 PM

House Republicans just quickly dispensed with two budget amendments that Democrats had offered to shame them on moves they’ve made to privately lease toll roads and aid a political ally of House Speaker Marco Rubio.

Newly elected Democratic Rep. Tony Sasso, D-Cocoa Beach, offered – and then quickly withdrew – an amendment that would have prohibited the Department of Transportation from leasing any existing toll roads.

The department is moving forward with plans to privatize Alligator Alley between Naples and Fort Lauderdale, and has looked as far north as the BeeLine Expressway for roads to lease to private companies.

But after Rep. Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, raised a point of order that his amendment wasn’t related to the budget, Sasso (in his first public remarks from the floor) "conceded the point" and dropped the amendment.

"Uncanny wisdom," Rubio remarked from the dais.

Rep Scott Randolph, D-Orlando, then offered another amendment that would have let DOT go ahead with plans to consolidate some Florida Turnpike contracts for fuel and food in its rest-area plazas. Rubio has taken heat this week for quietly inserting language in the budget that critics say was designed to help a political ally from Miami who wants to bid for a fuel contract. The language blocks the department from combining contracts to attract competition from larger vendors.

Cannon again stepped in, this time to offer a "substitute amendment" that doesn’t change the original language Rubio wanted, except to add that it "is not prohibited from awarding more than one individual contract to a single vendor so long as the vendor submits the most cost effective response."

With no debate (after a day full of it), the House adopted the amendment.

Republican dissatisfaction with the country's overall direction has risen significantly in recent months with a solid 56% majority of Republicans now saying they are dissatisfied with the nation's course, and only 40% expressing satisfaction. Republican opinion on this question has changed significantly in recent months. In late December of last year, Republicans were about equally likely to say they were satisfied (47%) with the country's direction as they were to say they were dissatisfied (48%). Overall, just 22% of Americans are satisfied with the way things are going in the country, the lowest percentage observed in any Pew Research Center survey since the fall of 1993.  Thursday, April 10, 2008