Office of Chairman TNF: Red Army takes NM, UT, ID, AZ

[TNF]

Greetings fellow Mideasterners. Today I am proud to announce my candidacy for Mideast Assembly as a member of the Labor Party from the great commonwealth of Kentucky! I would like to ask for your support in my campaign to make the Mideast into a just, humane, and progressive region of which all Atlasians can be proud.

[tmthforu94]

Best of luck!

[Kitteh]

ENDORSED

[TNF]

ENDORSED

Thank you for your endorsement, drj101!

[Gass3268]

Endorsed for 2nd preference!

[TNF]

Endorsed for 2nd preference!

Thank you, Gass!

[TNF]

In addition to supporting the implementation of the Labor Party platform at the regional level, I would, if given the opportunity to serve as your Assemblyman, press for legislation to establish a regional bank not unlike the Bank of North Dakota, establish paid sick leave as a right of employment, expand access to apprenticeship programs as viable alternatives for those who wish to forego a college degree, reform the Mideast's labor laws, and establish a state-owned insurance company.

If you have any questions for me, please feel free to ask. I want to be an open an accessible candidate and an open and accessible member of the Mideast Assembly.

[Napoleon]

A regional bank is something I secured as Northeast Governor. If you're looking for ideas on how to author a bank bill, you can check out the one we passed here.

[tmthforu94]

How would you seek to change the labor relations bill I and the center-left Assembly passed in January?

[Zanas]

As a professional in labor laws IRL, I praise your attention to labor realted topics, apprenticeships etc.

Even if I'm not voting in the Mideast, you have the endorsement of the Southern Speaker !

[TNF]

How would you seek to change the labor relations bill I and the center-left Assembly passed in January?

Ideally I would like to see an amendment to the Labor Relations Act that bans the use of replacement workers during a strike (also known as scabs), raise the amount possible for fines for companies in violation, reduce the number needed to forego an election and recognize a union on cards signed from seventy-five percent to fifty percent, remove language that bars "regional prosecutors, regional public defenders, and regional employees of departments dealing with road repair, snow removal, trash collection," from striking. I would also like to implement a policy similar to Germany's co-determination in the Mideast.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

What would be your governing style/approach/philosophy if elected?

[TNF]

What would be your governing style/approach/philosophy if elected?

I'd like to think my governing style would be focused on working with others in the Assembly and working with our Governor to make the Mideast a better place. I am no doubt a progressive, but I consider myself to be part of "the left-wing of the possible," and would not let perfect become the enemy of the good. I pledge myself to work with members of all parties in the Mideast and all persons in the Mideast to make the Mideast a better place for all of its residents.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Endorsed

[TNF]

Endorsed

Thank you for your endorsement, Sen. X!

[TNF]

TNF for Mideast Assembly 2013
Working for the Atlasian Worker

I advocate and pledge myself to the following program:

Labor

The use of replacement workers during industrial disputes, also known as 'scabs' is unconscionable and a violation of the right of labor to a redress of grievances at the bargaining table. I resolve to end the use of replacement workers for workers going out on strike and make it illegal to 'permanently replace' or fire any worker because he or she is participating in a strike action.

As it stands, the amount of fines administered for violations of the Labor Relations Act cannot exceed fifteen percent of a company's total income. Fifteen percent could simply be the 'cost of doing business' for many, especially those companies large enough to wage prolonged battles against organized labor. I favor an increase the total amount of fines that can be administered from the current fifteen percent to twenty-five percent.

As it stands, to forego an election for union representation, seventy-five percent of workers must sign union cards. This is an unreasonable number, as only fifty percent of workers are needed to sign union cards to decertify a union at any given workplace in Atlasia. I favor the reduction of the number of signatures needed to forego an election from the current seventy-five percent to a more reasonable fifty percent.

The Labor Relations Act currently bars a number of public employees from going out on strike, deeming them emergency personnel. While this is no doubt true for a number of those occupations specified, some of those designations are arbitrary in my opinion and should be removed from the list of those banned from engaging in a strike action. I therefore favor removing the following language and allowing these previously barred public employees to strike: "regional prosecutors, regional public defenders, and regional employees of departments dealing with road repair, snow removal, trash collection."

The right of labor to govern its own affairs, and to participate in the governance of those forces that govern the lives of everyday workers, is absolutely necessary if we are to establish a truly democratic society in the Mideast. I therefore favor requiring half the members of the board of directors for any company employing more than 1,000 employees to be elected representatives of labor.

Recognizing that the right to health and wellbeing requires the right to take a leave of absence in the event of sickness on the job, I favor the implementation of a paid sick leave law in the Mideast.

Recognizing that early childhood development is dependent upon parental attention and interaction, I favor the implementation of paid parental leave in the Mideast, to be shared by both mothers and fathers.

Recognizing that the right to time off is as important as the right to employment, I favor the implementation of a paid leave law, with designations for short paid vacations and longer, paid long-service leave.

Recognizing that fair wages are a right all workers should rightfully enjoy, I favor the implementation of stronger fair pay legislation for women, a strong statute to dissuade wage theft and stiff punishments for violators, a living wage law, stricter enforcement of wage and hours laws, and a law providing for double-time for those working federal or regional holidays, as well as time-and-a-half for all those workers who work weekends.

Recognizing that students should be in school and not at work, I favor reducing the number of total hours possible for work for those enrolled in any educational program or school to 24 hours per week, with no loss in pay for those affected by this change.

Recognizing that unpaid internships are a form of unjust and uncompensated work, I favor banning unpaid internships and requiring that all internships in the Mideast be paid internships from this point forward. Further, I favor a ban on prison labor and the sale of products made utilizing prison labor.

The unemployment insurance system, as it currently operates, penalizes those who willfully quit their jobs in search of better ones, in spite of the fact that workers pay into the system itself. Barring a full assumption of unemployment insurance, I favor allowing unemployment insurance to be collected by those individuals who willingly quit their jobs. Furthermore, I favor transforming the unemployment insurance system into a kind of job insurance program that keeps workers working and paying taxes if they cannot find stable employment.

I support ending the subminimum wage for workers with disabilities, as well as treating part-time workers the same as full time workers with regard to benefits, wages, etc.

I support the creation of a support the creation of a fund for workers which would pay a worker’s full wages and health insurance as well as necessary educational and/or retraining costs if that worker loses a job due to environmental transition, down-sizing, corporate dismantlement, or capital flight. (Thanks to the Socialist Party USA for this brilliant suggestion)

I support tougher workplace safety laws and increasing regulation to prevent needless and senseless deaths on the job.

[Maxwell]

Good Luck!

[TNF]

TNF for Mideast Assembly 2013
Working for the Atlasian Worker

I advocate and pledge myself to the following program:

Education

I support the full and equal funding of schools in the Mideast to guarantee that no Mideastern child is denied a quality public education. I believe that a regional curriculum should be adopted and designed with the aid of teachers and their democratically elected representatives, i.e. their labor union representatives.

Further, I support a ban on any public funding going to a private educational institution, and a ban on charter schools and so-called "school choice" schemes that only serve undermine our public education system. I support the creation of a regional higher education system based on the California Master Plan for Higher Education.

Class sizes are too big. I support the reduction of class sizes for elementary education to ten, fifteen for secondary education, and capped at twenty for higher education.

I support any and all efforts to establish public child care services in the Mideast.

I oppose merit pay for teachers, standardized testing, homework, letter-based grading systems, corporate financing of schools or educational activities, and competition between schools within the same school district.

I support an expansion of technical training and creating partnerships with public and private institutions to expand the number of available apprenticeships and internships.

If elected, I promise to introduce legislation that will create an 'educational lottery' that will randomly assign students to schools within the areas that they live. This will prevent the segregation of schools and will allow for positive advancement of all students, while not creating a situation that could lead to "white flight" or any number of negative policy outcomes.

I would support legislation that would allow teachers more control over the day-to-day operations of the schools they work in, including a union hiring hall.

I support science-based sexual education in schools.

I believe in full and free access to information, and thus favor public ownership of online databases residing within the Mideast.


More to come. Any questions, comments, or corrections thus far?

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

What about charter schools designed primarily to help special needs students, such as individuals with autism?  Many of those sorts of charter schools are the only reason that many children are not left behind by the Atlasian education system.  Would you support an exemption for such schools from any ban on charter schools?  I also wondered if you would support a single national curriculum for schools?  Lastly, would you mind elaborating why union representatives should be involved in determining school curriculums?

[Adam Griffin]

Endorsed!

[TNF]

What about charter schools designed primarily to help special needs students, such as individuals with autism?  Many of those sorts of charter schools are the only reason that many children are not left behind by the Atlasian education system.  Would you support an exemption for such schools from any ban on charter schools?  I also wondered if you would support a single national curriculum for schools?  Lastly, would you mind elaborating why union representatives should be involved in determining school curriculums?

Senator X,

I would not favor an exemption for charter schools that cater to the need of special needs students. This is not because I am opposed to helping special needs students (nothing could be further from the truth), but because I am opposed to the charter school model. What I'm arguing here is that those schools, which are specially designed for special needs students, should be under public ownership, rather than under private ownership.

I would support a national curriculum, provided that it was created with the input of teachers.

As for why union representatives should be involved in designing the curriculum, it's because the teachers' unions are democratically elected representatives of teachers themselves. They act as representative bodies for the teachers, who should be intimately involved in designing any regional or national curricula. Indeed, they should have the most weight, because they know the trade.

[Penelope]

As a fellow friend from AH.com, I wish you the best of luck!

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

As a fellow friend from AH.com, I wish you the best of luck!

You're on ah.com?

[Penelope]

As a fellow friend from AH.com, I wish you the best of luck!

You're on ah.com?

Yeah. Under the same username as here.

[TNF]

Endorsed!

Thank you for the endorsement, Griffin!