The ChamberPost

UFT, Green Dot Schools Reach Labor Agreement

by Domenic Giandomenico
 
Earlier this week, the United Federation of Teachers and the Green Dot Public Schools, one of the nation’s leading charter school organizations, reached a labor agreement. Terms of the agreement include an untimed "professional day", which requires that teachers be on-site during the student day, staff meetings, professional development, and preparation time.  In return, teachers receive a 14% pay premium over other public schools in New York City.

The agreement is notable for how it places value on the voice of the teacher. It has long been argued that charter schools are nothing more than a "union breaker" or a way to get around existing teacher contracts. This agreement should send a signal across the nation that charter schools and unions can co-exist. Simply by starting from scratch without an antiquated labor agreement, Green Dot Public Schools and UFT were able to reach an agreement that met the needs of each side while still giving Green Dot Public Schools the ability to recruit and maintain a high quality team of educators. 

Higher Taxes for Business Mean We All Pay

by Caroline Harris

Today’s Washington Post op-ed by Geoff Colvin does a great job of highlighting some of the flaws with the Administration’s tax proposals. And, rightfully, wonders aloud how levying billions of new taxes on worldwide American businesses helps achieve the President’s objective of creating millions of jobs…

The reality is that the administration is lashing out against perfectly legal behavior. A U.S. company that makes money in Country X pays Country X's taxes on that money. If the company ever brings the money back to the United States, it must also pay the tax that would be due under America's higher rate. The administration argues that because the United States has almost the world's highest corporate tax rate (and even Japan's is only a fraction of a point higher), current rules create incentives for U.S. companies to operate anywhere but here, at the cost of U.S. jobs. The White House therefore proposes charging all American companies full freight -- the whole difference between their overseas taxes and the U.S. corporate rate -- on all their profits as soon as they're earned, no matter where. This measure, in their minds, would bring jobs home. If the logic eludes you, you're not alone. The bottom-line effect of the change would be a steep tax hike -- more money vacuumed out of corporate coffers. Would that make U.S. companies competing in a global economy more inclined to hire additional workers in the highly expensive United States?

Quite simply, the answer is no. A tax hike would make worldwide American companies less competitive and, thus, less likely to hire additional workers. Heck, it makes even retaining existing workers challenging. And who will ultimately bear the increased costs of doing business? Consumers. So, if we are looking to make U.S. companies less competitive, cost American workers their jobs, and drive up consumer prices during a recession, this certainly seems to be the plan to follow.

And don't celebrate domestic-only businesses; there are plenty of tax proposals for everyone, not just American companies doing business on a worldwide basis:

Another [proposal] would require companies to account for their inventories on a first-in-first-out (FIFO) basis rather than a last-in-first-out (LIFO) one -- an eye-glazing change that's highly significant. In an era of rising costs, to assume that you're selling your oldest inventory rather than your newest increases reported profits and thus taxes, even though nothing real has changed. If inflation turns worse, as many analysts predict, FIFO would force companies to pay real taxes on phantom profits as the value of goods gets inflated while they sit in inventory.

Again, for an Administration whose stated goal is to create jobs the suggestion of repealing LIFO is a baffling one. The repeal of LIFO and subsequent increased tax liability could have a devastating impact on businesses that rely on this accounting method. This repeal could significantly limit business’ cash flows, forcing those companies to curtail investment in machinery and equipment and to cut jobs. And it isn't just employers who pay, as the op/ed concludes:

Tax-wise, a company is just a bunch of incorporation papers; all taxes are paid by people -- customers, shareholders and employees. And guess who would bear most of the burden of these tax increases? It's the U.S. employees of the companies being taxed. Research has shown that when business taxes are raised by a dollar, 70 to 92 cents comes out of employees' pay. When workers wake up to that fact, they may decide this is one time they don't want the White House beating up on business.

Big Labor Meets - Profanity Ensues

by Brad Peck

There are three provisions in the Employee Free Choice Act. First is card check, which would allow rapid organizing by publically gathered signatures of support. Justin Wilson reports how the SEIU, a card-check backer, feels about that:

The SEIU is asking for the federal government to intervene against the NUHW, charging that signing a petition is not a good indication of what workers actually want.

The second provision would force employers and employees to accept government mandated contracts if a negotiated agreement is not achieved within a certain time frame. How do unions feel about that?

...Laborers President Terrence O'Sullivan had this to say in response to the SEIU's call for binding arbitration: "There is no goddamm way I'd ever agree to binding arbitration when it comes to the future of my core jurisdiction"

Now that Big Labor has recognized that two out of the three provisions in the EFCA are not good business practices can we please just kill it?

Health Care and Other Crazy Stuff

by Brad Peck

I have no words, and it wasn't just these two.

Old Problems for New Energy

by Brad Peck

The Sun newspaper, serving Inland Empire in California (unemployment 13% and rising) identifies, then for some bizarro reason endorses, the "green tape" phenomena haunting the creation of "green jobs":

Western governors, animated by President Obama's goal of doubling renewable energy production in the U.S. within three years, have identified dozens of areas rich in "new energy" sources. However, they're now facing some of the same "old energy" obstacles to getting the projects moving. Their challenge risks creating a contradiction in which building environmentally friendly new-energy plants tramples sensitive natural areas...

As The Wall Street Journal reported, hundreds of applications to build solar plants in the arid West are being delayed by the regulatory process. The Bureau of Land Management, already busy reviewing traditional energy applications on public lands, has more than 200 solar proposals on its to-do list. The BLM is required to take into account environmental impacts and impacts on endangered species. Reviews are lengthy...

We're embarking on a promising new era. But our leaders must take every reasonable consideration to ensure that the harnessing of new energy is done properly.

No one objects to "reasonable considerations," it is the un-reasonable ones which are killing us. Unless we streamline the permitting process and set hard timelines for appeals by environmental activists our new energy future will always be just that, in the future.

Colombia, Trade and Courage

by Brad Peck

We posted yesterday on the factually-challenged protest against Colombian President Uribe's visit to the U.S. It is good to see that truth carried the day, here is President Obama:

The relationship between the United States and Colombia has been extremely strong. We've had great cooperation on a whole range of issues, and President Uribe's administration I think has, under very difficult circumstances, performed admirably on a whole range of fronts -- on security, on reducing the influence of the drug cartels, in improving the economic situation for his people, and stabilizing the country. He has performed with diligence and courage...We discussed, most prominently, the interests of both countries in moving forward on a free trade agreement. This is something that has been discussed for quite some time. I have instructed Ambassador Kirk, our United States Trade Representative, to begin working closely with President Uribe's team on how we can proceed on a free trade agreement...

I commended President Uribe on the progress that has been made in human rights in Colombia and dealing with the killings of labor leaders there, and obviously we've seen a downward trajectory in the deaths of labor unions and we've seen improvements when it comes to prosecution of those who are carrying out these blatant human rights offenses...Along those same lines, we obviously think that the steps that have already been made on issues like extrajudicial killings and illegal surveillance, that it is important that Colombia pursue a path of rule of law and transparency, and I know that that is something that President Uribe is committed to doing.

Mandating Union Subsidies

by Brad Peck

James Gelfand looks at health care employer mandates on the National Journal's Health Care Experts Blog:

Unfortunately, many in Congress have divorced themselves from reality and think that a mandate on employers to provide health insurance coverage or pay new taxes will help workers. This couldn’t be further from the truth...First of all, who is insisting on these policies? Unions and the front groups (“coalitions”) they fund and run. Keep in mind, these same unions, who are demanding that others pay, have managed to convince many lawmakers that unions should be exempt from a new tax on benefits – meaning that every non-union working American will be subsidizing unions. Remember that unions see the whole health reform debate as a money-making opportunity...

James breaks down all of the proposals in the piece, but I want to stop for a moment and adjust the large EFCA banner hanging outside the AFL-CIO:

That looks about right, and yet so, so wrong.

Colombia Protest is for the Birds

by Brad Peck

The email comes in, "...there is a protest on 16th and H and the DC Metro police have closed the area to vehicle traffic The group protesting and the issue under protest are not clear..."  I love a good protest, so with camera in hand I head out. Turns out they are protesting Colombian President Uribe's visit to the White House and urging President Obama to end all engagement with Colombia. One statement in particular, by the guy with the megaphone translating for the other guy with the megaphone, jumped out at me:  "My village was bombed in 1996, this is the type of paramilitary violence President Uribe represents." 

Certainly Colombia has suffered more that its share of horrific violence over the years and while the situation is far from perfect, as 35 former senior officials in Democratic Administrations and Democratic Members of Congress wrote last year:

...there has been substantial progress on all fronts since President Uribe took office. For example, the number of homicides of trade unionists in Colombia continues to be far lower than the overall homicide rate for the general population. These improvements coincided with a notable downturn in attacks by paramilitaries and the FARC beginning in 2002, underscoring the linkable between levels of violence and human rights abuses in Colombia and the activities of illegal armed groups.

Colombia in 2009 is a very different place than 13 years ago, my old best example was Medellin, once "a battlefield of drug lords, paramilitaries and leftist guerrillas" and now "one of the safest, most dynamic cities in Latin America."  Now I have another:

In March, government agents shot and killed a notorious guerrilla chief known as Comandante Mauricio. His unit, called the "Bolsheviks," had rampaged through the countryside for years, kidnapping, extorting and murdering. Last month, a new group moved into Mauricio's old turf. Its leader, Steven Hilty, wore a khaki shirt and a fedora. He signaled his cohorts for quiet, scanned a tree line and then zeroed in on a target with his binoculars.

"That's it -- a yellow-headed brush-finch," Mr. Hilty told his fellow American bird-watchers. The finch is one of the more unusual birds in Colombia, which has 1,871 bird species, more than any other country. As Colombia finally gains the upper hand in its decades-long struggle against Marxist guerrillas, bird lovers are marching back into parts of this avian paradise which were only recently no man's lands. Birding tours are proliferating, reserves are sprouting up in former combat zones, and ornithologists are discovering new species and reacquainting themselves with ones not seen in years...

Birdquest, a Lancashire, England-based tour operator, started coming back to Colombia in 2007, after a seven-year hiatus. Pete Morris, who has guided three Birdquest tours to Colombia in the past two years, says he now often feels safer in Colombia than in some of the more established destinations such as Venezuela or Peru, where petty crime can be a problem...

In hindsight, say birders, the best thing to happen to Colombian birding was the ascension in 2002 of conservative President Álvaro Uribe. With U.S. backing, Mr. Uribe took the offensive against the guerrillas by increasing the size of security forces by about 30%. Last year three top guerrilla leaders perished, while surviving rebels were driven deep into the jungle.

Turning our back on Colombia will only turn back the clock – the protestors today might want to be careful what they are wishing upon the people of Colombia.

Enthusiasm for U.S.-India Relationship at "All-Time High"

by Akbar Khalid

The U.S.-India Business Council's 34th Anniversary Summit in Washington D.C. attracted record attention from industry, senior government officials and members of the press. In the midst of a global economic downturn, attendance for the Gala Reception on June 16th as well as for the main Summit on June 17th was in excess of 500 persons for each event. The numbers exceeded not only all expectations but also the capacity of the respective venues.

The Gala Reception featuring Slumdog Millionaire author, Vikas Swarup, and Sarod Maestro Aashish Khan was held at Washington's newest building – The Newseum – with more than 520 business leaders and friends of India attending.

The following day, at USIBC's Synergies Summit, held at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, an overflow crowd of more than 510 executives registered to hear USIBC Chairperson and CEO of PepsiCo. Indra K. Nooyi; India's Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, Shri Anand Sharma, together with three high-level U.S. Cabinet Secretaries, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke, and the new U.S. Trade Representative, Ambassador Ron Kirk speak about deepening U.S.-India commercial and trade ties. Private sector icons Azim Premji and Sy Sternberg were awarded USIBC's Global Vision and Business Excellence Awards respectively. Past recipients of these awards include Ratan Tata, Mukesh Ambani and Kenneth Chenault.

In addition to the overwhelming attendance, the enthusiasm shown by companies in sponsoring the event was indicative of the important work the Council engages in, as well as the value of India as a destination for business. In line with the significance of India for many of the companies in the room, the two-day "Synergies Summit", focused on the commercial opportunities that will flow from inherent synergies bolstering the world's two largest free-market democracies.  In addition to the commercial relationship, USIBC's Annual Meeting also highlighted the increasing cooperation and partnership between the United States and India on broader issues such as security, climate change and human development.
 
About USIBC: The U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC), formed in 1975 at the request of the Government of India and the U.S. Government to deepen trade and strengthen commercial ties is hosted under the aegis of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Image 1: USIBC's Gala Night at the Newseum in Washington D.C., June 16th 2009
Image 2: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaking at USIBC's Summit at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, June 17th 2009

The Climate Change Crowd

by Brad Peck

The "most important environmental and energy legislation in our nation's history," passed Friday by a margin of point zero zero nine percent -- no one's definition of consensus (see the 'Yeas'). Despite the best intentions of its sponsors and backers, it is a seriously flawed piece of legislation.  Some quotes:

"The Waxman-Markey bill is undeniably less than perfect, but it's still necessary." (ENN)

"Few aspects of the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill matter more than the insufficient degree to which it applies future revenue to clean energy innovation." (Brookings)

"However, key provisions of Waxman-Markey resemble earlier European efforts, and Europe's experience raises serious questions about the ability of this legislation to adequately cut emissions or fund green solutions." (LA Times)

"At a time when the economy worldwide is still deep in recession and we've seen a significant drop in global trade, I think we have to be very careful about sending any protectionist signals out there...I think there may be other ways of doing it than with a tariff approach. (President Obama)

"Symbolically, today's vote is a breakthrough victory. Substantively, if implemented as written, it could delay real climate protection for more than a decade"  (Bill Shireman)

A little on symbolism and identity, from Elias Canetti's description of his theory of "national crowd symbols":

Its components are an unshakeable belief in the superiority of this one nation; prophetic visions of unique greatness, and a peculiar mixture of moral and feral pretensions...

Replace "nation" with "movement" and I believe we have an accurate description of the hard-core climate crowd. Which isn't to say that the issue doesn't need to be addressed; far from the cementing the status quo we strongly support comprehensive legislation to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. But we are not interested in symbolic and Pyrrhic victories; we are interested in long-term, economically sustainable solutions. Solutions which

...must balance environmental objectives with the need for economic growth and job creation; promote technology development and deployment; reduce barriers to the development of climate-friendly energy sources; promote energy efficiency; and implement appropriate steps to address the international nature of global emissions.

Time marches on, so today we are farther down the road to the future than on Friday, but we are still without a guidepost. And the brand new public art at the side of the road, two vast and trunkless legs of stone, is expensive and gaudy.