Steve Dondley's blog

[image:716]After the control board's meeting on Monday, I had an opportunity to ask a few questions to the chair of Springfield's control board, Alan LeBovidge, and hear what he told other reporters.

Unlike Mayor Charlie Ryan, who opened the meeting by saying the public speak-out was part of a dialogue, LeBovidge told Ray Hershel that "Today was a venting." He said that the primary mission for the meeting was to collect ideas from the public about how to save money. "We are looking for constructive solutions," he said.

When asked about the level of frustration in the room, he made an effort to sound not too dismissive, saying "I can understand their anger and frustration." He also insinuated that Springfield's citizens must share responsibility because they did not hold their public officials more accountable for digging them into a budget hole. Interestingly, when I asked him how the citizens can hold the control board accountable, he said, "They can't hold the control board accountable. That's not how it works." I guess if one good thing can be said for not being held accountable is that it allows you to make arrogant statements without worrying about any consequences.

And when Hershel inquired about the lack of presence from the other control board members, LeBovidge openly admitted that the other members never intended to show up. "We take good notes," he said.

The last interesting comment he made came when I pressed him on the matter of the cutting of benefits to workers. I asked, "Is it a top priority for the control board to try to find ways of saving money without cutting health benefits to Springfield's workers?" After dancing around the question a bit, I pressed him a little and he finally said, "It's a priority, not a top priority." You don't have to do much reading between the lines to know what that means.

The New York Times did a piece on the struggle going on right now to change the shape of the AFL-CIO, America's largest labor federation with over 13 million workers. It focuses on the personalities of Andrew Stern, the president of the Service Employees Industrial Union (SEIU) who is spearheading the charge for radical change, and John Sweeney, the president of the AFL-CIO.

From the article: "Eager to reverse labor's decline, Mr. Stern has called for a sweeping overhaul of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., proposing to cut its budget by more than 50 percent and to use the savings to vastly increase organizing by its member unions. And he has warned that the service employees, the largest union in the A.F.L.-C.I.O., may quit the labor federation unless it embraces far-reaching changes - changes that would have to be pushed through by the man who was his mentor, Mr. Sweeney, the president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O."

Registered delegates with the Union News can read a communication the Pioneer Valley AFL-CIO received from Mr. Stern at http://www.pvaflcio.org/node/523.

There's a lot of finger pointing going on right now about who is to blame for the city's fiscal crisis. Some blame former Mayor Mike Albano, some blame the city's unions, and some blame years of financial waste. But no one seems to want to acknowledge the 800 pound gorillas in the room with the million dollar smiles, Governor Mitt Romney and his Republican predecessors. Over the past decade, they have wrecklessly cut taxes to win the public's approval. In the meantime, they are selling the public's welfare down the river.

If you read Republican newspaper's account of layoffs at Atlas Copco, you probably missed the fact that all the jobs getting moved to South Carolina were good paying union jobs and will now become low wage, no benefit jobs. That's because the Republican didn't report on this crucial angle. In fact, they didn't even mention the union in their story at all.

Well, the Union News is here to set the record straight. And we're very sad to have to report that the members of UE Local 259 are the latest group of workers to get trampled in the fast-paced race to the bottom of wages and benefits. You can be sure we'll soon be in touch with some of the workers and leadership of the union there and help deliver the whole story to the community.

The Washington Post (registration required) has an article about a new web site, www.fundrace.org, that allows you to track which candidate your neighbors have been giving to.