Republican County Commissioners Cut Common Construction Wage by 40%: Act Now

Is there no doubt that the Tea Party controlled Harrison County Board of Commissioners is the worst group we have ever had in our county? There is none now. They treat county employees as bad as they can, went to inferior road repairs (which they abandoned right before the election), did not properly plow snow from county roads or mow them, and did everything they could to enact a radical agenda.

Now, they are going for the pocketbook. Wages on construction projects will be lowered 40% due to their actions. These are projects that hard working Harrison County people depend on for a good standard of living. Now they will take a 40% hit. We will now have cheap labor (which we know involves illegals in some cases) flood into the county for projects. You get what you pay for. Would you want to go into one of these finished projects? We think not.

Another thing is kind of funny that all three Commissioners have either spouses, children, or siblings on federal or county payrolls. Have they asked their wife at the Post Office to take a 40% cut? They have their stuff, but to hell with everybody else.

The next Harrison County Commissioner meeting is Monday, October 6 at 8:30 AM at the Government Center. Go there and let them know your thoughts on what they have done. Maybe suggest they all take 40% pay cuts in their County Commissioner pay.

One bad thing is that only one County Commissioner is up for reelection this year- Jim Klinstiver, who voted for this Tea Party act. Let's vote him out in November, and work on voting out the other two in 2016. All three of them are part of the party of low wages. Remember in November!

We have attached a press release from the Indiana Construction Information Network.

Happy Labor Day! 36 reasons to thank labor unions.

Happy Labor Day from the Harrison County Democratic Party! Here are 36 things brought to you by the labor movement, and 36 things the Koch Brothers and Tea Party Republicans would take away if they got the chance. 

Did you know that labor unions made the following 36 things possible?

1. Weekends without work
2. All breaks at work, including your lunch breaks
3. Paid vacation
4. Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
5. Sick leave
6. Social Security
7. Minimum wage
8. Civil Rights Act/Title VII - prohibits employer discrimination
9. 8-hour work day
10. Overtime pay
11. Child labor laws
12. Occupational Safety & Health Act (OSHA)
13. 40-hour work week
14. Workers' compensation (workers' comp)
15. Unemployment insurance
16. Pensions
17. Workplace safety standards and regulations
18. Employer health care insurance
19. Collective bargaining rights for employees
20. Wrongful termination laws
21. Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA)
22. Whistleblower protection laws
23. Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA) - prohibits employers from using a lie detector test on an employee
24. Veteran's Employment and Training Services (VETS)
25. Compensation increases and evaluations (i.e. raises)
26. Sexual harassment laws
27. Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)
28. Holiday pay
29. Employer dental, life, and vision insurance
30. Privacy rights
31. Pregnancy and parental leave
32. Military leave
33. The right to strike
34. Public education for children
35. Equal Pay Acts of 1963 & 2011 - requires employers pay men and women equally for the same amount of work
36. Laws ending sweatshops in the United States

Thanks to Union Plus for the list. 

Something the Tea Party and Koch Brothers don't believe in.

Rhoads Rhoads gets a raise every year. Why is she blocking one for Hoosiers?

According to the Indiana Transparency Database, Rep. Rhonda Rhoads made $58,471.66 last year from her part time position in the Indiana House of Representatives. Her salary is tied to judicial pay, so she has gotten a raise every year since she entered the General Assembly. Plus, she is drawing a pension check from being a retired teacher, despite her frequent votes against public education and teachers.

However, she refused to co-sponsor HB 1151, by Rep. John Bartlett, which would have taken the modest step of raising the Indiana minimum wage from $7.25 per hour to $8.25 per hour this year. This would have given a minimum wage worker a more than $2,000 a year raise. Her party refused to even give this a hearing, and spent much of their time this session on things that don't create jobs or raise wages. More than 70% of Americans want a minimum wage increase, and even Republicans in the Michigan Legislature recently passed an increase.

The questions we have for Rep. Rhonda Rhoads are simple.

• Do you support raising the minimum wage in Indiana at all?
• Would you support HB 1151 to raise the minimum wage by $1.00 per hour?
• Do you support the idea of having a minimum wage at all?
• If given the chance, would you abolish the minimum wage?
• Do you think it is right that you get a raise every year while minimum wage workers in Indiana are stuck at $7.25 per hour while you get salary and pension increase paid by taxpayers?

Answer us Rhonda. You have no problem giving your opinion on Duck Dynasty, so answer the questions.

Republicans Block Minimum Wage Increase

Yesterday, Republicans in the U.S. Senate blocked even having a debate on raising the minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $10.10 per hour. All members of the GOP except one member, voted against a motion to proceed to debate. Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-Indiana) voted in favor of raising the minimum wage. By a margin of 69% to 28%, according to the March Bloomberg Poll, Americans support an increase in the minimum wage. In fact, some Republicans support eliminating the minimum wage altogether, including Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tennessee) and billionaire Republicans the Koch Brothers, who have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on behalf of Republicans in the last five years. Raising the minimum wage will help raise the wages of all workers, not just those currently at $7.25, by raising all wages and lift millions out of poverty.

If you want to let our Senators know what you think about raising the minimum wage, the number for the U.S. Senate switchboard is (202) 224-3121. Sen. Joe Donnelly can be contacted at (202) 224-4814 or you can e-mail him visiting his website at this link: E-mail Joe Donnelly. Sen. Dan Coats can by contacted at (202) 224-5623 or you can e-mail him by visiting his website at this link: E-mail Dan Coats.

The truth about who minimum wage workers really are.