New House Speaker has troubling track record for governing, votes on labor issues

On the fourth try in more than three weeks, the House’s ruling Republicans elected a new Speaker: Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) who not only denied Joe Biden’s election as president in 2020, but rounded up other Republicans to support a lawsuit to toss out the 2020 election.

The 220-209 party-line vote gave the gavel to a 51-year-old constitutional lawyer who tried to nationalize Florida’s infamous “Don’t say gay” law, on top of prior anti-gay hate stretching back to his days as a state legislator and before. And it cemented the MAGA Donald Trump cult’s control of the GOP, which has a 221-212 majority in the House (with 2 vacancies).

“He is a self-described evangelical Christian who is staunchly anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ rights, anti-union, and anti-immigration,” said historian and author Heather Cox Richardson. “He has close ties to the Israeli Right wing, and he opposes further aid to Ukraine, saying such money would be better spent at home, but he has also called for extensive cuts to domestic spending programs.”

Illinois’ three House Republicans are OK with Johnson for the moment.

“Mike is a family man who understands the importance of advancing conservative policies that promote individual liberty, rein in spending, and secure the border, while also conducting needed oversight of the Biden Administration,” said U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood (16^th Dist.), who refrained from voting against certifying the 2022 Electoral College votes.

Mike Bost (12^th) and Mary Miller (15^th) – both of whom DID vote to deny Biden the votes he won – also celebrated Johnson.

 

Johnson’s record

Johnson has advocated outlawing abortions nationally and has said same-sex relationships should be criminalized. He dismissed climate change and COVID as hoaxes and said vaccines are dangerous, supported expunging the record of Trump’s impeachments, and called for getting rid of no-fault divorces.

The one-time chair of the Republican Study Committee (made up of three-quarters of House Republicans), Johnson has called for trillions of dollars in cuts to Social Security and Medicare

Oct. 26, Johnson told Fox’s Sean Hannity that Biden’s administration is a “failed presidency,” that Biden is “very likely impeachable,” and that he’s skeptical of the need for humanitarian aid to people in Gaza.

Johnson is no friend of workers and unions, either. His lifetime AFL-CIO voting record shows he agrees with the labor federation 10% of the time. Last year, he tallied a zero. (See sidebar.)

Johnson’s attacks on gay Americans, included endorsing Florida’s ban on teachers discussing gays in class, which provoked mass demonstrations and lobbying by the Florida Education Association union.

“Johnson sponsored a national ‘Don’t Say LGBTQ+’ bill in the last session of Congress, legislation that would have defined ‘sexually oriented material’ to include ‘any topic involving gender identity, gender dysphoria, transgenderism, sexual orientation, or related subjects’ and banned discussion of those topics in schools,” the Human Rights Campaign reported. The bill failed. Johnson also tried to push a ban on gender-affirming surgery through the House Judiciary Committee last year, but lost.

Besides his anti-labor record, Johnson’s benefited from several corporations’ contributions despite pledges after January 6 to withhold money from politicians who supported the insurrection, according to investigative reporter Judd Legum of Popular Information, including AT&T, Boeing, Capital One, Chevron, Koch Industries, Verizon and Walmart.

Of course, differences in supporters or political preferences are distinct from threatening the Constitution and the Republic itself, and Johnson is an election denier who led the attempt to overturn the 2020 election as one of more than 100 House Republicans who signed a brief seeking to nullify results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. He also downplayed the Jan. 6 insurrection as a legitimate protest.

Meanwhile, Congress’ stopgap funding of government expires this month, and the House needs to keep the government running, to keep Ukraine free and Israel safe, and keep tax cheats from doing so.

 

Two early measures Johnson pushed are revealing.

First, he’s leading Republicans to try to gut parts of the Inflation Reduction Act that the League of Conservation Voters said would eliminate “clean-energy programs, reverse drinking water protections, destroy sacred Native American sites, put wildlife in jeopardy and block environmental justice initiatives.”

The scheme also would kill consumer rebates for buying electric appliances (but it hikes spending on nuclear weapons by 8%.)

Next, Johnson rejected in two ways the White House request for more aid to Israel and Ukraine. Johnson divided the countries’ needs for separate votes, and he tied $14.3 billion in aid to Israel to a $14.3 billion cut in funding to the Internal Revenue Service approved last year.

“This bill is a disgrace that will not help Israelis, Palestinians or Ukrainians,” New Jersey Democrat Bill Pascrell, Jr. wrote to his constituents. “I can’t say I’m surprised, but I’m still almost speechless by the audacity of Republicans to use this crisis to help millionaires steal from you.”

Indeed, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says Johnson’s cuts to the IRS, which recovered $38 million in delinquent taxes from 175 high-income taxpayers in a few months, would add $26.8 billion to the national budget deficit.

 

Hypocrisy knows few bounds.

“The new Speaker is a far-Right Christian Nationalist and fervent follower of the thrice-married, sexual abuse Donald Trump,” said commentator Heather Digby Parton in Salon, “and he appears to be ready to push the envelope farther.”

However, he refused to meet with a delegation of Ukrainian religious leaders, including a prominent evangelical figure, visiting Washington to warn Capitol Hill about Russian threats to religious freedom. Also, the Republicans for Ukraine group gives Johnson an “F” for voting to deny funding to them.

Neither of these early measures are likely to pass the Senate, so the proposals are less pragmatic governing than political performing. But by linking his MAGA “credentials” with hopeless but not exactly insane proposals, Johnson may be trying to appease the 18 Republicans from districts Biden won and also the extremist Freedom Caucus. But that seems less like a way to govern than a path of political martyrdom, campaign fundraising, and maybe an even worse MAGA Speaker.

“Unless any deals he makes with the White House and the Senate are tantamount to complete capitulation by the Democrats, Johnson’s MAGA friends are not going to be happy,” Digby said. “There's a very good chance his honeymoon will be over before Christmas.

Practical Republicans and most Democrats must be wondering what the end game might be. In fact, Politico columnist Jonathan Martin reported one Democratic campaign veteran expressing surprise at Republicans agreeing on Johnson given mainstream Americans’ votes in the off-year election.

“Republicans elevated a speaker who tried to overthrow the election and backs an abortion ban – the two issues we won on in 2022.”

 

MJ’s record on labor’s “Legislative Scorecard”

The AFL-CIO compared U.S. lawmakers’ votes on 13 key issues important to workers, and generated a scorecard of the performance of each member of Congress.

U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) from Louisiana’s 4^th District and now Speaker of the House “earned” a zero for 2022 (the last legislative session completed). His lifetime score is the same as the average House Republican: 10%.

Here are the dates, the measures and Johnson’s votes.

*Dec. 23, 2022: The Omnibus Act of 2023

This package provides an increase in non-defense discretionary funding and critical investments in Medicaid, education, children's health and worker protection programs. [Johnson voted against working people] Wrong

*Dec. 15, 2022: VA Employee Fairness Act

This bill provides the same collective bargaining rights to tens of thousands of frontline employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs. [Johnson voted against working people] Wrong

 *Dec. 6, 2022: Veteran Service Recognition Act

This bill would provide vital protections for noncitizen veterans who’ve served our country with honor. [Johnson voted against working people] Wrong

*Nov. 30, 2022: Rail Workers Sick Leave

Unlike many workers, railroad employees aren’t guaranteed a single paid sick day. This resolution would have provided for seven days of sick leave for rail workers.     [Johnson voted against working people] Wrong

*Sept. 21, 2022:  Presidential Election Reform Act

The Presidential Election Reform Act (H.R. 8873) would help ensure that the electoral votes tallied by Congress accurately reflect each state’s public vote for President.        [Johnson voted against working people] Wrong

*Aug. 12, 2022: Inflation Reduction Act

This made historic investments in domestic energy production and manufacturing, and, among other reforms, provides much needed progress to our tax system, which has allowed the mega-rich and the biggest corporations to illegally pay far too little for far too long. [Johnson voted against working people] Wrong*July 28, 2022: CHIPS and Science Act

The CHIPS Act of 2022 invests $52 billion for domestic semiconductor funding.          [Johnson voted against working people] Wrong

*July 14, 2022: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 (Amendment #454)

This amendment prohibits the Executive Branch from moving competitive service positions to excepted service without the agreement of Congress and prevents the politicization of civil service jobs. [Johnson voted against working people] Wrong

*July 13, 2022: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 (Amendment #3)

This amendment establishes a contracting preference for contractors who commit to remaining neutral in organizing campaigns. [Johnson voted against working people] Wrong

*May 12, 2022: Rights for the Transportation Security Administration Workforce Act

The Act would provide TSA officers with the same statutory rights to union representation, due process and fair pay as most other federal workers. [Johnson voted against working people] Wrong

*March 17, 2022: FAIR Act

The AFL-CIO opposed the vote for the Fitzgerald Amendment to the FAIR Act as it was a blatantly anti-union amendment that sought to undermine union workers by voiding their negotiated dispute resolution procedures. [Johnson voted against working people] Wrong

*March 3, 2022: Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act of 2021

The PACT Act addresses a number of VA health-care issues, including extending VA health-care eligibility for issues tied to exposures decades ago. [Johnson voted against working people] Wrong

*Feb. 8, 2022: Postal Service Reform Act

This bill would bring financial stability to the Postal Service by eliminating the mandate that the Postal Service pre-fund its retiree health care benefits Dec. ades in advance (a requirement asked of no other public or private agency) and by adopting private-sector best practices by maximizing the integration of postal annuitants into Medicare. [Johnson voted against working people] Wrong

 

Mark Gruenberg of Press Associates Union News Service commented, “We have a dysfunctional democracy, as various think-tanks are increasingly pointing out.

“Dysfunction does workers no good,” he continued. “Congress ground to a halt, and it did for three weeks. And if gridlock continues – and there’s every sign it will due to GOP divisions – key programs for workers, from job safety and health inspections to labor law enforcement to making sure the skies are safe to sending Medicare and Social Security checks out the door, will be either stopped or endangered.

 “More importantly,” Gruenberg added. “our constitutional rights, including free speech, a free press and –as the spinoff of those and other constitutional provisions – the right to organize, enshrined in the 1935 National Labor Relations Act, will be in danger, too. From the rabid Right wing, they already are.”

UAW eyes expanded organizing at Rivian, Tesla, Honda, Toyota, VW…

After a successful six-week wave of strikes at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, the United Auto Workers is following up with helping rank and file workers at non-union plants in the United States.

The union has signaled that its next campaign is to organize workers at battery plants, EV factories and foreign transplants that have long resisted organized labor.

 

“One of our biggest goals coming out of this historic contract victory is to organize like we’ve never organized before,” said UAW President Shawn Fain. “When we return to the bargaining table in 2028, it won’t just be with a Big Three, but with a Big Five or Big Six.”

 

He’s called workers at non-union vehicle manufacturers like Rivian in Normal and Tesla in Fremont, Calif., “UAW members of the future.”

 

Observers say that labor may have a battle, but pointing to gains achieved during negotiations with the Big Three could convince non-union workers of the benefits of union representation.

 

As for targeted corporations, they should expect the UAW to use the same hardball tactics that proved effective against Detroit’s automakers, from contrasting wages that failed to keep up with inflation to exorbitant pay to executives, and even if unionization drives fall short, companies could raise wages to rebuff unions.

 

“This agreement is going to have a trickle-down effect,” said New York law firm Wilk Auslander employment law specialist Helen Rella told the New York Times.

 

Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting at AutoForecast Solutons LLC agreed, noting, “It's still difficult in many places. The plants down South will fight tooth and nail against it. In many cases, the workers are politically opposed to unionization. Changing their minds will be difficult, but substantial raises and added benefits can change minds quickly.

 

"If existing factories do not catch up to the UAW standard, the likelihood of the union moving into those plants has just increased,” he added.

 

Art Wheaton, director of Labor Studies at Cornell’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations' Buffalo Co-Lab, said the push to leverage wins at the bargaining table into organizing campaigns isn't unique to the UAW. Sean O'Brien, president of the Teamsters, has sought to use the union's favorable contract with the United Parcel Service to make inroads in organizing workers at e-commerce behemoth Amazon.com Inc.

For Central Illinois, the UAW’s win with Ford, GM and Stellantis would give the union the edge at Rivian, where the Machinists also are collecting union authorization cards with some of the 8,000 or so workers there. The UAW is “absolutely” organizing at the EV maker, UAW Region 4 organizer Cam Hefty told the Labor Paper.

 

And although California’s anti-union owner of Tesla, Elon Musk, shouldn’t be underestimated, that goes both ways, according to Seth Harris, former deputy director at the National Economic Council under President Biden.

 

“The UAW is showing itself to be a militant, well-organized force,” said Harris, now a professor at Northeastern University in Boston.

If this column ran headlines, a good one might be, 'Well, duh!'

 Still, it’s reassuring to see studies showing that corporate price-gouging has been a big reason for higher prices for food, fuel and insurance, much less cars, homes and other big-ticket items burdened by higher interest rates raised because rising demand tempted greedy executives to take advantage of people’s troubles.

Most Americans thought that was the case – and resented it, and now it’s become more obvious that exploiting a crisis and the consumers the economy depends upon couldn’t last.

And companies raising prices just because they can is bad business, too.

The Federal Reserve for years has blamed workers’ wages for inflation, publicly saying it sought rate hikes to weaken the labor market, leading to lower wages, less spending and less demand. But this year even the business-oriented central bank has conceded that profiteering was part of the inflation problem.

During Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s semi-annual testimony before the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, he was asked by Sen. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), “If corporate profits were to decline from the extremely high levels that we saw recently, would it be possible to sustain growth even as we get inflation down to the target of 2%?”

Powell said yes.

But so far corporate titans have resisted cutting prices, or are faking confusion about why consumer demand is falling.

Some consumer-product companies such as Conagra and Kraft Heinz have seen stock prices fall more than 20% due to declining gross revenues (not net incomes). Yet some executives seem to explain the downturn in shopping to suddenly fickle buyers, temporary penny-pinching, or slipping brand loyalty (to generics or store-brands), but not the evident culprit – raised prices.

They blame the victims of profiteering.

The Chicago Tribune’s moderate Republican-leaning editorial page said COVID “gave the businesses cover to fatten their profit margins well beyond what was required to cope with their own inflationary pressures.”

The Trib cited a couple of samples of CEO cluelessness or arrogance.

Kraft Heinz CEO Miguel Patricio this summer dismissed the notion that Kraft Heinz went too far in hiking prices.

“I would do everything again,” he said. “We are leaders in the vast majority of categories where we play. … I mean, we can always go back on price if we think we have to … but we had to lead price increases.”

Conagra CEO Sean Connolly in an October call with analysts said consumers “have [shown] a reduction in wasted food and an increase in the use of leftovers. [Such] short-term behavior shifts act as a sort of cheat code to help these consumers spend within their means.”

The nerve!

The U.S economy depends on consumer spending, as do most modern economies. And in Europe, economists with the mainstream International Monetary Fund this summer flatly blamed corporate profiteering as a key driver of the surge in inflation the last few years.

IMF staffers Niels-Jakob Hansen, Frederik Toscani and Jing Zhou wrote, “Rising corporate profits account for almost half the increase in Europe's inflation over the past two years as companies increased prices by more than spiking costs of imported energy.”

Specifically, corporate profit-pricing has been responsible for almost 45% of inflation’s increase since the onset of the pandemic, as companies raised prices beyond just covering the rising costs from suppliers, energy, shipping woes, and materials.

Corporations’ financial windfalls were stark. For instance, the oil conglomerate Shell manipulated prices so its profits more than doubled last year – to $40 billion, a record.

n the United States, similar boons are apparent, said the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), whose analyst Josh Bivens reported, “In normal times corporate profits contribute about 13% to prices. [But] since the second quarter of 2020, they have instead contributed more than a third of price growth, or more than twice as much as they normally do.”

If inflation is to drop to the targeted 2% target, the IMF economists said, “Companies may have to accept a smaller profit share” as workers demand “pay rises to recoup lost purchasing power.” (Note: Companies could still make healthy profits without sparking inflation, or worse.)

“Corporate greed is a stubborn thing and requires serious action from Congress,” Liz Zelnick, director of economic security and corporate power at the nonpartisan nonprofit Accountable.US told Common Dreams reporter Jake Johnson.

“The Fed has not seen an adequate return on its investment in a policy that has already created fissures in the economy that could lead to recession,” she added. “It's just not worth it.”

West Central Illinois Labor Council hears candidates, elects new officers

 Three political candidates addressed delegates of the West Central Illinois Labor Council at its monthly meeting Oct. 23 at the UAW Local 974 hall. They stressed non-partisanship or bipartisanship and their appreciation of, or roots in, unions.

Democrat Sean Donahue, running to replace Kevin Lyons as a 10^th Circuit judge, said besides having worked for the Peoria State’s Attorney’s Office, for the late Jerry Brady in private practice and as a judge since 2017, he worked as a mason tender for two years for Laborers Local 165.

The 35-year-old Kickapoo native said judges aren’t partisan, but he hopes organized labor sees the value in honesty and ethics on the bench.

Another Democratic judge candidate in the March primary is John Spears, seeking the seat of retired Judge Michael Risinger, and the Peoria native, also 35, worked in the State’s Attorney’s Office as well, for both current State’s Attorney Jodi Hoos and her predecessor, Brady. With experience as a public defender in Tazewell County, Spears said he grew up in a union family, and praised the importance of labor in bargaining contracts providing decent wages, job security, and good work schedules.

“I haven’t forgotten what union principles and values meant to my working-class family.”

Also speaking and answering questions was Republican Gary Manier, mayor of Washington since 2001 and a vice president of the Illinois Municipal League.

Recalling the importance of unions after the 2013 tornado that severely damaged Washington, Manier said unions have also been in his family background, and he sees himself as a “consensus builder.”

“Straight party-line voting is not helping,” he said.

Referring to October’s squabbles in the U.S. House of Representatives, Manier said Congress should “worry about America, not themselves.”

Running for the State Senate from the 53^rd District, Manier said governing isn’t about D or R, it’s about us – the people of Illinois.”

The 53^rd District runs from part of Peoria Heights north to Morris, and Hennepin east to the Indiana state lines, with a population of more than 230,000 including the communities of Dwight, Henry Pontiac, Streator and Washington.

The Labor Council in other business elected officers: President Chase Carlton (IBEW), Executive Vice President Craig Chladny (IATSE), Vice President Robbie Frietsch, Secretary Steve Wagstaff (IBEW), Treasurer Evonne Fleming (AFSCME), Sergeant at arms Bill Purcell (IATSE retired), and Trustees Velma Walton and Gary Hall (both UAW) and Nancy Gardner (Union Retirees). Also named were eights slots in the council’s executive board: Amy Flynn, Holly Hasty, Bill Knight, Jackie Monckton, Vic Murrie, Larry Spears, Lisa Uphoff and Anthony Walraven, with openings remaining.

The Labor Council’s next meeting is scheduled for Nov. 27, with a special meeting Dec. 18, when delegates and volunteers will prepare holiday gift bags for students at the council’s “adopt-a-school” – the Annie Jo Gordon Community Learning Center on Krause Avenue.

Ways to cope with child care without COVID aid may emerge

 The September Community Word covered financial threats to child care as government aid was on the verge of ending. Money from the American Rescue Plan Act stopped Sept. 30.

“The basic business model of child care – where it costs more to produce than parents can afford – is further complicated when there is a gap in the workforce where very few receive a reasonable pay for a demanding job,” said Linda Smith, director of the Early Childhood Initiative at the Bipartisan Policy Center think tank.

“Child care has widely been seen as a classic example of market failure,” she continued, talking to Stateline news. “It’s worth understanding because it was bad before COVID, and it has gotten worse.”

The 2021 American Rescue Plan Act included $24 billion to stabilize child-care centers during the COVID-19 pandemic and another $15 billion to boost grants to states to help low-income households with child-care costs. Providers were supposed to use the money to stay open, and some used it to raise salaries to recruit and retain workers. States were permitted to use the funds to help cover child-care costs for low-income families and also essential workers.

The end of such assistance may force more than 70,000 child-care programs to shut down, according to a study from the Century Foundation in June.

“Some states have increased their own investments in child care, providing a cushion against the end of the federal aid,” wrote Stateline reporter Robbie Sequeira, citing new laws and new spending in New Mexico, New York and Washington state.

In the short term, state efforts might save some child-care providers from cutbacks or closures after the pandemic-era assistance ended, but long-term, accessible and affordable child care, centers’ low pay and staff turnover all remain.

“Child care advocates assert that most, if not all, states eventually will need federal help,” Sequeira added.

If so, one idea might come from Canada.

Perhaps considering Scandinavian countries with strong federal support for child care, Canadian lawmakers accepted that public funds could underwrite child care in a nationwide program, and during the pandemic they committed $30 billion over five years to create a Canada-wide early-learning and child-care system, according to the Hechinger Report. In the years since, the government initiative started focusing on lowering parents’ child-care fees to $10 a day.

In the system, each Canadian province controls much of its own child-care structure.

Canada’s system is in year 2 of the build-out process and has some of the same challenges Americans face, such as adequate staffing, but already, almost half of its provinces and territories offer regulated child care –for an average of $10 a day.