Plans for an Iowa City Wal-Mart supercenter are back.
According to spokesman Ryan Horn, the company intends to make way for the 180,000 square-foot supercenter by demolishing its current store at 1001 Highway 1 West, as well as the former Cub Foods store and existing Staples store that are also on the site. Horn said Staples will relocate.
A deal to purchase the remaining land on the site has not been reached. Wal-Mart is seeking to purchase 20-25 acres.
“We’re in the very preliminary stages,” Horn said. No timeline has been established for the project.
Horn added that this project will be different than the previously proposed supercenter. The new supercenter will be “the most environmentally-friendly” Wal-Mart store in Iowa. Also, it will be roughly 34,000 square feet smaller than the previous design.
Wal-Mart could try to build an all-organic, solar-powered store in Iowa City and the deranged liberal lunatics who never shop there would continue to throw a tizzy.
And the deranged liberal lunatic Wal-Mart haters never want to be reminded that Tom Vilsack helped create the Avenue Of The Saints so Wal-Mart could have better road access to their distribution center in Mount Pleasant, a facility which now employs over 1200 people. Now all Tom Vilsack does is shit all over Wal-Mart.
Lee Enterprises, publisher of such monopoly corporate Iowa newspapers as the Quad City Times, Waterloo Courier, Mason City Glob-Gazette, and other pointless rags, continues to get hammered. The company took a big loss for the past quarter. Buster at InMuscatine has all the dirt.
Around February of 2007, LEE was trading above $35.00 after taking a bit of a dead cat bounce.
Lee Enterprises is poised for strength ahead as its newspapers maintain solid circulation while at the same time expanding their online components to extend their reach, the company’s chairman and chief executive officer told shareholders this morning.
“We at Lee are not buying the negative,” Mary Junck said of the “pot shots” that some pundits have taken at the newspaper industry. “It is not what we are seeing from our industry.”
...Across Lee, she said the newspapers are located in healthy, diverse markets and are the media leaders in their markets. Among the reasons for her optimism, she said, is Lee’s ability to maintain a solid circulation base, its big and growing market reach and its emphasis on revenue growth.
Since then, the company stock has crashed about 80%.
Maybe some of you still subscribe to your local newspaper. I did for decades, but then one day I realized, "Why am I buying this? I rarely read it, I don't agree with their editors, I never use it to buy anything, and it just creates a lot of garbage every week." So I canceled my subscription and that was that. I don't miss it at all.
How much are they making off of me when I visit their web sites? I don't click through their ads. I certainly don't use their classifieds when there's Craigslist or Monster around.
The newspaper industry is dead already. It's just that more people haven't realized that they can give it up. You can stop subscribing and the world will be all right. There's depressing news all over the internet for you to read. You don't have to pay their ridiculous classified rates. If you have a favorite store, chances are they are already sending out weekly ads via email.
Robert Byrd, now 90 years old and the longest serving senator in history, endorsed Barack Obama for president today. It would have meant more a week ago, before Obama was whomped in Byrd's home state. Byrd, beloved to the point of near-worship in West Virginia, might have been the one person who could have softened that defeat. But as with many other things about Byrd, it's better late than never.
Ah, it's just more proof that "Sheets" Byrd is a senile old fool who needs his diaper changed.
Talk about the poster boy for term limits. I think even the most jaded Democrats would agree with me on that matter.
For all Robert Byrd's statesmanship in recent years, I hope he retires next year so the right-wingers can quit lauding his brief and ugly Klan membership. At least he reformed which is more than can be said for some...
...Maybe the GOP was the Party of Lincoln. But we're the party of Lyndon Johnson and Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, not the party of Trent Lott and George Allen. They were the party of Frederick Douglass, but we're the party of Shirley Chisholm and Barack Obama...
We're the party of "Hey Hey LBJ, How Many Kids Did You Kill Today"!
We're the party of "Malaise"!
We're the party of "I Did Not Have Sex With That Woman, Ms Lewinsky"!
Well, you don't have Trent Lott or George Allen to kick around anymore. And thank god! A lot of Republicans are really happy that retard Trent Lott is gone. It's a shame that so many people in Mississippi kept re-electing Lott, but then I must apologize if I offend any retards.
I must say I am rather impressed with Mr Deeth's prediction of Barack Obama as being the future of the Democratic Party back in 2005. We'll see how that convention comes out. You just know Obama is going to get his ass kicked in Kentucky tomorrow, which according to that genius Obama is closer to Arkansas than Illinois.
GED recipient and former $368,000-a-year CIETC head Ramona Cunningham with Senator Tom Harkin at the dedication of the "Tom Harkin Learning Center" at CIETC offices in October 20, 2004.
The Quad-City congressional delegation boasts some of that body’s wealthiest members — and one of its poorest, according to financial disclosure forms that were due last week.
The new disclosures, required by law each year, show that U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and his wife, Ruth, have the highest net worth of the four disclosures reviewed by the Quad-City Times.
Harkin reported assets valued at between $8.5 million and $19.9 million. Most of the couple’s investments are held by his wife, according to the disclosure. Harkin and his wife had more than 100 different assets listed. Their form reported no debts.
Liabilities of more than $10,000 are reportable, excluding mortgages and car loans. Personal assets such as homes and cars also are not required to be reported.
Some of the Harkins’ most significant holdings include stock in Conoco Phillips Corp., where his wife is on the board of directors, and two mutual funds in ING’s American Funds family. Each are worth between $500,000 and $1 million.
So Harkin and his wife are worth a bazillion dollars. Check out what Harkin uses as his "home" in Iowa in order to stay qualified for his Senate seat:
That's right, it's 528 N. 43rd St in the little town of Cumming, just southwest of Des Moines. Harkin and his wife bought it from the Harkin family estate in 2000 for $58,500. His late brother Frank, the deaf one, lived here.
Of course, Harkin rarely ever spends any time here. Oh, maybe a night or two during the Harkin Steak Fry during the summer, but the vast majority of his time is spent in Alexandria, VA or his vacation home in Abaco, Bahamas.
A rose to the people of Postville who stepped in last week to deal with the human fallout from the immigration raid. Feds boasted it was the largest ever, but it was a personal crisis for hundreds of men, women and children, and a blow to the town of 2,300. Postville has made a heroic effort to accommodate immigrants. With the helicopters and media gone, count on townsfolk to confront the human wreckage with compassion.
The Feds boasted....
It was a personal crisis for hundreds of men, women, and children...
Harkin made his comments during his weekly conference call with reporters when he was asked about how military service impacts the way a senator views issues. Harkin says McCain's background gives him the wrong view of the country. Harkin says the books McCain has written are "all about the military," and "everything is looking through that lens of the military experience", and Harkin says "I think that distorts reality, distorts what we're really trying to do in this country."
McCain says his military background and experience in the military and as a prisoner of war in Vietnam give him the advantage in leadership. Harkin says the opposite is true. Harkin says the military view is something we have to guard against...
...One of the criticisms of presumed Democrat nominee Barrack Obama is that Obama lacks experience in a lot of areas. Harkin says McCains military history should be discounted as a benefit in the presidential race. "Again, I want to be very clear, there's nothing wrong with a career in the military, I have a lot of friends, I have friends who are generals and admirals that served their country well," Harkin says,"but now McCain's running for a higher office, he's running for commander in chief and our Constitution says that should be a civilian....In some ways I think it would be nice if that commander in chief had some military background, but I don't know if they need to have a whole lot, (that) they need to a lifetime experience in that."
Harkin says McCain's views continue to be tempered by his military history. Harkin says Senator McCain still says, unless he has changed his mind lately, has still said that the U.S. could have won the Vietnam war. "That's sort of a bizarre thing to say at this point in time," Harkin says, "and he's still talking about winning in Iraq, but he can't define what winning means in Iraq." Harkin served in the navy from 1962 to 1967 as a pilot.
While running for his Senate seat in 1984, and again while running for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1992, Tom Harkin has faced criticism for claiming that he had flown combat missions over North Vietnam. In a 1979 round table discussion with other Congressional Veterans, Harkin said of his service as a Navy pilot: “One year was in Vietnam. I was flying F-4s and F-8s on combat air patrols and photo-reconnaissance support missions”. These comments were later published in a 1981 book by David Broder. After subsequent inquiries by Barry Goldwater and The Wall Street Journal, Harkin clarified that that he had been stationed in Japan and sometimes flew recently repaired aircraft on test missions over Vietnam. His service flying F-4s and F-8s was later, while he was stationed in Cuba.
It's good to see a high visibility blogger like Instapundit pushing the story (here and here and here and here).
The hypocrisy of a repeated liar like Tom Harkin criticizing John McCain's military service is somewhat to be expected. After all, Harkin has always fought dirty. He always will.
But that the Iowa corporate media continues to ignore Harkin's past lies about his own military service is a bigger story, in my opinion. Knowing what Harkin has said in the past is an important component in determining whether or not there's any value in listening to what Harkin has to say.
Jane Norman and Darwin Danielson would have been better off not writing their news stories if they weren't going to factor Harkin's past lies into their story.
And as I've said before, I don't like John McCain at all. But Harkin's type of criticism of McCain service is entirely unfair, especially coming from a liar like Harkin.
A former senior systems engineer claims Rockwell Collins fired him last year because he wouldn't agree to sign a diversity document that asked him to accept homosexuality.
Thomas Meeker of Robins filed the lawsuit this week in U.S. District Court of Northern Iowa in Cedar Rapids. Meeker is a devout Christian and believes homosexuality is a sin, according to the lawsuit.
The suit claims Meeker was fired because he is a Christian. It also claims Meeker suffered loss of pay and benefits while on suspension without pay, as well as emotional distress...
...In the lawsuit, Meeker states that he received an e-mail informing employees of the company's diversity initiative on May 22, 2007. The initiative expected employees to welcome, value and respect differences of others in the workplace, according to the suit.
Meeker sent an e-mail to company officials stating his objection to diversity training. He believed such training "divided communities into groups by focusing on differences" and refused to participate.
Meeker then had more than one meeting with human resources and other managers where he again stated his objections and refusal to complete the diversity training, according to the lawsuit.
He said he went through the online training in preparation for one of the meetings and found it "offensive."
He told the managers it promoted and insisted the employees accept, celebrate and embrace homosexuality.
Andrew Mlynarczyk of human resources told Meeker his e-mail messages were disrespectful and that he had acted outside the company's "standards of business," according to the lawsuit.
Meeker received a certified letter on July 9, 2007, stating he was terminated because of his unwillingness to treat gay or lesbian co-workers with respect in the workplace, which is against company policies.
Typical corporate bullshit.
It's an example of why every Human Resources department needs to be chopped down by about 90%. You get all these diversity nazis pushing employees to take classes and sign documents. It's a total waste of time.
What the hell does Rockwell make? Don't they make radio equipment for military aircraft? That place has got to be filled with former members of the military (Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Right?). Why are these HR nazis and the brain-dead management of Rockwell signing on to this bullshit? It's only going to stir up trouble.
And what's the point of diversity, anyway? Isn't there any room for the Christian who personally believes that homosexuality is a sin?
Besides, unless a couple of homos are fucking right in front of you at work, how are you ever going to know? That's none of my business.
I bet this Meeker fella didn't go around Rockwell wearing t-shirts that said "God Hates Fags" every day, ya think? I'll bet you anything the guy just did his job and minded his own business until the day some HR Nazi pushed the envelope a bit too far. All in the name of diversity. And he had the balls to Just Say No.
Anyway, what does this crap have to do with your work? Absolutely nothing, unless your workspace is adorned with pictures of the Fred Phelps Family. In that case, management should deal with such matters on a one-on-one basis.
Typical of this kind of braindead HR Nazi paper pusher is Rose "Chupacabra" Vasquez, the so-called "diversity analyst" at Principal Financial in Des Moines, who also happens to be a member of the Iowa Board of Regents and who also believes that cops shouldn't have guns. These people are complete fucking idiots. But in another way, Nazis like Rose Vasquez are total fucking geniuses. How they ever scammed their way into such a job simply amazes me. I've always vowed that I would never ever ever want to work for a company that would pull that sort of crap, although I did at one time.
Pachino Hill walked out of the Scott County Courthouse on Friday afternoon after a sometimes-tearful hearing that could have sent him to prison for more than two years.
Instead, Hill will report to jail a week from today to serve 30 days for violating the terms of his probation. He is accused of hitting another person with a metal pipe during a large fight May 4 at the LaQuinta Inn in Davenport, and he pleaded guilty to having an open container in a car in April.
The incidents came after a judge sentenced him in March to a term of probation that included a requirement he attend eight consecutive weeks of church, as well as a counseling program at that church, Third Missionary Baptist in Davenport...
...Scott County Associate District Judge Christine Dalton... called the probation infractions “minor.”
And what is Pachino Tehran Hill's past criminal record like?
Hill was charged when he was 14 with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Lawrence Brown Johnson. He was accused of giving the gun used in the shooting to Clyde Edwards Jr. Hill pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and terrorism and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
In December 2002, Hill was one of three men charged with attempted murder for allegedly shooting at a Davenport police officer. One of those bullets missed the head of the Cpl. Dennis Colclasure by six inches, police investigators said.
A lack of evidence caused Scott County prosecutors to drop those charges. Hill was convicted of possessing a firearm as a felon in connection with that incident, but a judge later ruled the evidence insufficient to charge him with any offense and dismissed the case.
In October 2004, Hill was arrested on charges of helping Bryan Mitchell of Davenport leave the area of the fatal shooting of Grayling Church, 20, of Davenport. He also was accused of concealing the weapon and keeping witnesses from giving statements. He was found not guilty of that charge.
In March 2006, Hill was charged with attempted murder in the shooting of a 28-year-old man in the thigh. He pleaded guilty to assault resulting in bodily injury and was sentenced to one year probation and a $250 fine.
He was charged with child endangerment in April 2006, a drug charge in July 2006 and a domestic assault charge in August 2006. That charge prompted a police search because he fled after hitting a former girlfriend in the forehead with a bottle and slashing two tires on her car.
He received probation for the child endangerment and drug charges. The domestic assault case was dismissed.
In July 2007, he led police on a chase during a traffic enforcement effort on the Centennial Bridge. He pleaded guilty to driving while barred and received probation. It is this charge he will serve the 30 days on.
Christine Dalton needs to be recalled as a judge. What a failure.
Of the 389 administratively arrested [at the Agriprocessors plant in Postville], 62 were released on humanitarian grounds and 21 are being held on administrative charges. Of those 83, 18 were juveniles between the ages of 13 and 17.
13 year olds....
You look at filthy politicians like Chuck Grassley and Patty Judge, both who took money from the Rubashkins who own Agriprocessors, and you've got to wonder how they can keep that money and sleep at night knowing that a 13 year old was working at that meat processing plant.
GED recipient and former $368,000-a-year CIETC head Ramona Cunningham with Senator Tom Harkin at the dedication of the "Tom Harkin Learning Center" at CIETC offices in October 20, 2004.
Washington, D.C. – Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s family background as the son and grandson of admirals has given him a world view shaped by the military, “and he has a hard time thinking beyond that,” Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Ia., said today.
“I think he’s trapped in that,” Harkin added, in a conference call with Iowa reporters. “Everything is looked at from his life experiences, from always having been in the military, and I think that can be pretty dangerous.”
Harkin said that “it’s one thing to have been drafted and served. But another thing when you come from generations of military people and that’s just how you’re steeped, how you’ve learned, how you’ve grown up.”
While running for his Senate seat in 1984, and again while running for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1992, Tom Harkin has faced criticism for claiming that he had flown combat missions over North Vietnam. In a 1979 round table discussion with other Congressional Veterans, Harkin said of his service as a Navy pilot: “One year was in Vietnam. I was flying F-4s and F-8s on combat air patrols and photo-reconnaissance support missions”. These comments were later published in a 1981 book by David Broder. After subsequent inquiries by Barry Goldwater and The Wall Street Journal, Harkin clarified that that he had been stationed in Japan and sometimes flew recently repaired aircraft on test missions over Vietnam. His service flying F-4s and F-8s was later, while he was stationed in Cuba.
Nevermind such an obvious and notorious thing there with Harkin, Jane.
Besides, Jane, the Des Moines Register has readers to "vet" (pardon the pun) such details in the online edition of your worthless rag.
Why you didn't feel it was worth mentioning in the story, I'll never understand.
Naturally, this is how you get such shitty sleazebags such as Chuck Grassley and Tom Harkin representing Iowa in the Senate.
You have an ass-licking, monopolistic, corporate media in Iowa carrying the water for these fucking crooks and liars.
Wouldn't it be more fun to spend the day lampooning an old Commie asshat like Tom Harkin? It's so damn easy. WHY NOT?????
I'm curious to see if there are any further stories from other Iowa reporters about this conference call. Do you think any of them have the balls to mention the Vietnam thing to Harkin during the call? I bet not. You lapdog reporters and reporterettes are a bunch of scared pussies. I know a lot of you read this site. Why don't you just quit your pathetic job tomorrow if you're going to bend over all the time for that fucking liar? Maybe you enjoy dishing out the lies, and anyway the paychecks will keep clearing for a while, at least until the newspaper industry totally dies within the next five years. Keep that gravy train going, even though if you had any goddamn teeth in your mouth you could keep readers interested instead of gumming and deep throating these old fart politicians. Doesn't it leave a bad taste in your mouth?
Sure, you'll say, "Why State 29, you get to say anything from your anonymous blog!" Yes, indeed. I don't want a bunch of politicians and the IRS up my ass, you see. I only like to keep certain things up my ass.
Besides, isn't asking the tough questions your job?
I remember during 2004 when Tom Harkin called Vice President Dick Cheney a "coward" for getting a bunch of draft deferments during the Vietnam War era due to college and raising a family.
At least Dick Cheney didn't lie about what he was doing during the Vietnam years, unlike, say, Bill Clinton.
You can't win with a liar, that's for sure. To a liar like Tom Harkin, a Republican is either a warmongering lifer or simply a coward.
The sprawling Agriprocessors packing plant on the outskirts of town is imposing and intimidating even if you don’t know about the jaw-dropping lawlessness our government says went on inside these fences.Knowing sends a chill up your back.
So it’s probably lucky you can’t stay long. Tuesday, a stern, but polite, woman told Gazette video journalist Mike Barnes and myself to leave, pronto.
Fair enough. Nothing to see. No one’s talking. But there was plenty to see elsewhere.
There was St. Bridget’s Catholic parish near downtown, where dozens of plant workers and their families milled around inside the church and outside in the courtyard. Many here have family members among the 390 plant workers detained by federal immigration officials at Monday’s historic raid.
I know workers broke the law in coming here and working here and must deal with the consequences. Fine.
But you’d have to be one hard-bitten, coldhearted Minuteman to look into the anxious, dazed faces of these people, as their children played around their feet, and not feel some sort of sympathy.
“They’re lost,” said Sister Mary McCauley, pastoral administrator at the church.
McCauley wishes Iowa’s congressmen could be here to see this. So do I.
But I’m less forgiving.
This would have been a great spot for a congressional junket. Time for our so-called leaders to see what dereliction of leadership and government malpractice look like, close up.
This is what it looks like when you do next to nothing to rein in a meat packing industry that’s mutated into a monolithic monopoly of misery fattened by illegal immigration. Could it be that the folks who run this industry line political pockets with campaign donations? Campaign finance records show that members of the Rubashkin family, which owns the Postville plant, donated tens of thousands of dollars, mostly to Republicans, over the last decade. Say it ain’t so.
I think we’ll all be watching to see if top Agriprocessors executives take one of those famous federal perp walks. Justice demands it.
Add congressional inaction on big ag’s excesses to its inability to control the nation’s southern border or come up with a realistic plan for dealing with illegal immigrants already here, some for years, and you understand why Congress gets the kind of dismal approval ratings it so richly deserves.
This is the same bunch of political clowns who think they can manage the health care industry, the price of gas, the price of food, etc etc etc.
Think about that.
Congress can't secure our borders, much less control the flow of illegals into this country, or even shut down companies whose Mission Statement appears to be: We Will Break Laws In Order To Profit From Slave Labor.
This is an excellent column, of course. The only thing that would make it better would be to point out that scumsuckers like Chuck Grassley and Patty Judge took money from the Rubashkins and the rest of the organized crime group that is Agriprocesssors Inc, but that's what you've got blogs for, I guess.
I don't know why everybody in the media always ends up running over to that church and interviewing Sister Mary McCauley. As far as I'm concerned, the Catholic Church is part of the conspiracy. Follow the money. The Catholic collection plate is down, and these child porn enablers in the Davenport Diocese have the nerve to get all political in our faces while never having to pay any taxes.
Another story that isn't being followed: how come all the local officials in Postville knew what was going on but didn't do anything about it? Talk about the modern-day manifestation of a Company Town. All of them were corrupt and, frankly, all of them should be in prison. That mayor and police chief have a lot of chutzpah to come out and act like they're above the law.
The United Packinghouse Workers Union (UPWA) had been strongly influenced by the democratic and militant traditions inherited from the Independent Union of All Workers, founded at Hormel by IWW organizers in 1933, and the left-wing socialists of the Packinghouse Workers Organizing Committee. With the competition between the UPWA and Amalgamated Meatcutters Union for the allegiance of meatpacking workers, workers in the industry continued to gain higher wages, improved benefits, safety and job security. This continued from the founding of the IUAW and PWOC in the '30s up into the '60s.
During the period of American economic growth after World War II, meat packing companies were investing heavily in new production capacity (new refrigeration, more automated techniques, etc.). The federal government's highway program made it more feasible to locate new plants out in the countryside, closer to where the animals were, and former big city packing centers like Chicago declined.
The Amalgamated was a conservative craft union of the AFL type. Despite the efforts of the UPWA and Amalgamated to build a pattern of common contract expiration dates and a national wage standard, the Amalgamated did permit the existence of an institution called the "Southern differential" in which southern operations were allowed to pay their workers less. In other words, a lower rate for blacks. "rednecks" and workers of Mexican descent.
The first break in this pattern was in the poultry industry, which began to move south in the '50s. At that time wages in the poultry industry were roughly equal to those in red-meat packing. By the 1970s the wage level in the poultry packing industry had fallen to less than half the red-meat rates.
In the early '60s a fledgling outfit opened a plant in Denison, Iowa. The company(Iowa Beef Processors had new ideas about the beef business. Instead of shipping half carcasses into the Eastern markets to be cut up and sold at the retail level, this company would split up the beef into "primal cuts" and package them for retail sale. This meant that the grocery store didn't have to buy or butcher those cuts which weren't good sellers in their particular markets. This idea was very popular with supermarkets. But "boxed beef" was not popular with retail butchers(it eliminated their jobs. But IBP bribed a certain International Vice-President of the Amalgamated and "boxed beef" was allowed into selected Eastern markets.
With its plants located in rural areas, where unionism was weak, IBP could operate as a low-wage, non-union packer. Meanwhile, the mainline packers had been acquired by conglomerates; Greyhound bought Armour, LTV owned Wilson & Co., General Brands had Morell, etc. IBP was able to grow very rapidly during a period when these conglomerates were milking their meatpacking subsidiaries.
In 1967 the Amalgamated merged with the UPWA; the merged organization never acquired the will to organize IBP. In negotiations the major packers would routinely warn the Amalgamated, and later its successor, the UFCW, that they had better get IBP into the industry pattern or suffer the consequences.
By the mid-'70s the Amalgamated bureaucracy could no doubt see that the conglomerates weren't investing in their plants. They could see the proverbial "writing on the wall," and looked around for a way to extricate themselves from the impending disaster. In 1979 the Amalgamated merged with the AFL Retail Clerks union to form the UFCW. Today the UFCW Packinghouse Division constitutes only 9% of the membership of the AFL-CIO's largest affiliate. Thus, the top bureaucrats of the UFCW have even less reason to be concerned about the fate of the industrial butcher.
With intense competition from low-wage outfits like IBP and the general economic downturn, the employers' concessions drive in the meatpacking industry began in earnest in the '70s. When the dust settled from the union-busting, plant closings, bankruptcy ploys, and conglomerate buyouts, the $10.60 standard wage had been cut down to $6 and some change per hour in many plants.
Beginning in the '70s, the UFCW's strategy for dealing with employer aggression in an increasingly competitive environment was to use concessions as a means of "stabilizing" wages and, hopefully, placating the bosses so they wouldn't make further demands for givebacks.
Though the master contracts with the major, old-line pork packers didn't expire until September 1982, the UFCW re-opened these contracts in December of 1981 in order to offer to freeze wages at $10.69 an hour until Sept. 1985. This meant a wage cut at Oscar Mayer, where wages were then $11.27 per hour. At Hormel, Wilson, Armour, Swift and Morell, it meant a freeze at the wage rate that had been established in the 1979 contract.
The UFCW leaders thought that by taking the initiative to offer concessions in 1981 they would preserve the integrity of their master contracts and ward off future concessions. But it didn't work out that way.
In 1980 Dubuque Pack had threatened to close its doors unless it got concessions. The workers agreed and the company agreed to not seek additional concessions during the life of the contract. However, by March 1981, the entire hog kill department had been shut down and in October 1981 the workers agreed to a 16% wage cut. Despite these concessions, Dubuque Pack closed the plant anyway in October 1982 and it reopened as a non-union plant a week later under a new name, DFL, and with wages cut to $6 an hour.
In June 1983 Wilson used bankruptcy to get out from under the master contract, which still had two years before expiration. Wages were cut to $6.50 an hour. Wilson was still making a profit at the time. The UFCW then struck for 22 days, which resulted in wages being raised to $8 per hour ($2.69 less than under the pre-bankruptcy contract).
Greyhound demanded further concessions for its Armour pork plants. When the workers voted to reject the concessions, the plants were shut down. Thirteen plants were later re-opened as non-union operations under the aegis of ConAgra. The only response of the UFCW has been drawn-out legal maneuverings and a consumer boycott you've probably never heard about.
By 1983 Lewie Anderson (UFCW International Vice-President and head of the Packinghouse Division) admitted that the number of workers covered by the master contract rate had dropped by 40%. Instead of bringing the low-wage employers closer to the master contract rate, further concessions were made to Iowa Beef Processors, Rath and Pierce Packing. By January of 1985 the average hourly wage in meatpacking had fallen to $7.93, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Today only 40% of the meat butchered in the U.S. is union (down from 85% ten years ago.)
During this same period working conditions in the plants seriously deteriorated, as indicated by a rise in the injury rate. A number of changes in the industry contributed to this situation: speed up, tough competition from vicious low-wage producers like Iowa Beef Processors, changes in ownership, letting equipment deteriorate in anticipation of shutdowns, introduction of new technologies and a push for a rapid increase in productivity, and the union's loss of shop-floor bite.
The UFCW's "strategy" of trying to appease the employers with concessions in order to "stabilize" wages and preserve jobs has been an obvious failure. The UFCW's "master contracts" have become a pathetic joke. In spite of all the talk of stabilizing packing wage rates at a "new level," Lewie Anderson's Packinghouse Division has completely done away with the common expiration dates for contracts and thrown away any chance of industry-wide bargaining for years to come. The UFCW's prevailing philosophy is, "Let's keep the union in the plants at any costs"...at any cost to the rank-and-file, that is. The rule of thumb in meatpacking today is that each company will squeeze or discard the UFCW for the lowest wages and the worst conditions it can get.
Paid-off politicians who want to grant shamnesty to $5 an hour under-the-table illegals for cheap slave labor in order to keep their campaign coffers full of dirty cash.
If you're a political observer, it's got to make your head spin.
If you're a Democrat, your choices are Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. Both are in favor of shamnesty so we can have more $5 an hour slave labor (aka Tom Vilsack's Wet Dream).
How can you be a Democrat and believe in that?
How can you be pro-union and believe in that?
What the fuck is the matter with you, Democrats?
Likewise, for you Republicans. Sholom Rubashkin gave tons of money to Republican crooks like Chuck Grassley and Jim Nussle. Grassley voted for shamnesty back in 1986, and he almost did it again last year except he wanted to get re-elected. How come Republicans aren't in favor of fining businesses heavily who knowingly import illegals from other countries? Is that your idea of a good time so you can have a 49 cent hamburger? Is that your idea of "market forces"?
What the fuck is the matter with you, Republicans?
A valid U.S. passport is required for all U.S. citizens, regardless of age, to enter Guatemala and to depart Guatemala for return to the U.S. Even if dual nationals are permitted to enter Guatemala on a second nationality passport, U.S. citizens returning to the United States from Guatemala are not allowed to board their flights without a valid U.S. passport. Certificates of Naturalization, birth certificates, driver's licenses, and photocopies are not accepted by Guatemalan authorities as alternative travel documents. While in Guatemala, U.S. citizens should carry their passports, or a photocopy of their passports, with them at all times.
An exit tax must be paid when departing Guatemala by air. The exit tax (currently $30) is generally included in an airline ticket price, but may be charged separately. There is an additional airport security fee (20 Quetzales, approximately $2.50) that all travelers must pay at the airport.
Minors under 18 traveling with a valid U.S. passport need no special permission from their parents to enter or leave Guatemala. U.S. citizens do not need a visa for a stay of 90 days or less (that period can be extended for an additional 180 days upon application to Guatemalan immigration).
A U.S. citizen whose passport is lost or stolen in Guatemala must obtain a new passport at the U.S. Embassy as soon as possible and present it, together with a police report of the loss or theft, to the Dirección de Migración (Guatemalan immigration agency), Sub-director de Control Migratorio (Sub-director for Migratory Control), to obtain permission to depart Guatemala. The agency is located in Guatemala City at 6 Avenida 3-11, Zone 4, Guatemala City. Office hours are weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.; telephone 2411-2411. No fee is charged by Guatemalan immigration for this service.
In June 2006, Guatemala entered a “Central America-4 (CA-4) Border Control Agreement” with El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Under the terms of the agreement, citizens of the four countries may travel freely across land borders from one of the countries to any of the others without completing entry and exit formalities at Immigration checkpoints. U.S. citizens and other eligible foreign nationals, who legally enter any of the four countries, may similarly travel among the four without obtaining additional visas or tourist entry permits for the other three countries. Immigration officials at the first port of entry determine the length of stay, up to a maximum period of 90 days. Foreign tourists who wish to remain in the region beyond the period initially granted for their visit are required to request a one-time extension of stay from local Immigration authorities in the country where the traveler is physically present, or travel outside the CA-4 countries and reapply for admission to the region. Foreigners “expelled” from any of the four countries are excluded from the entire “CA-4” region. In isolated cases, the lack of clarity in the implementing details of the CA-4 Border Control Agreement has caused temporary inconvenience to travelers...
...While in a foreign country, a U.S. citizen is subject to that country's laws and regulations, which sometimes differ significantly from those in the United States and may not afford the protections available to the individual under U.S. law. Penalties for breaking the law can be more severe than in the United States for similar offences. Persons violating Guatemalan laws, even unknowingly, may be expelled, arrested or imprisoned.
Running a convenience store in a central Davenport neighborhood plagued with crime forced owner Matar Abdalhadi into a Catch-22.
On the one hand, Abdalhadi has been asked by police to call and report suspicious activity, loitering, fighting and other illegal behavior, which he has done.
But at Wednesday night’s Davenport City Council meeting, the high volume of police calls for service at his establishment almost cost him his license to sell beer and wine.
“They told us to call more,” he said from behind the counter of the 1st Stop store at 1139 Brady St., hours before the council meeting. “I put $8,000 in security cameras in. We are working and working and working to make it better.”
Several aldermen remain skeptical that serious efforts are being made, but seven out of the 10 voted to table a resolution to deny Abdalhadi’s license. Instead, the motion was tabled for one council cycle, during which he will be asked to meet with staff and police on strategies for reducing criminal behavior in the vicinity of his store.
“I understand the difficulty in owning and operating a business in that area,” said 5th Ward Alderman Bill Lynn. “But every year, I field complaints from the neighborhood about trash, crime and other problems. I want to be sure we’re getting as much cooperation from the business owner as we can.”
Police Chief Frank Donchez said officers have responded to the 1100 block of Brady Street 168 times so far in 2008. Among those calls were two assaults, 11 thefts, 19 juvenile complaints and 65 requests for extra patrols.
Alderman Bill Boom, 3rd Ward, said those numbers are troubling.
“There is a lot of activity going on here,” he said. “You are responsible not only for conditions inside your store, but on your property. That business tends to be a focal point for a lot of negative activity going on in that neighborhood.”
Abdalhadi’s attorney, Garth Carlson, said it’s unfair to hold his client responsible for the conduct of the entire neighborhood. He noted that Central High School is one and a half blocks away, and the source for many of the juvenile calls. In addition, he pointed out that his client’s video surveillance system helped lead to the capture of a suspect who robbed a nearby bank.
He said Abdalhadi has complied with every request from staff and police — including clearing out window displays and adding a security system — and will continue to do so.
Is the guy selling to underage kids? No.
Is he complying with the demands of the local police department thugs and City Council goons? Yes.
It's too bad Mr Abdalhadi isn't in the Kosher meat processing business in Postville. He could bribe Chuck Grassley and Patty Judge, pay off all the local officials, keep the Catholic Church on his side, and only have to throw the Feds a bone every few years if he got repeatedly busted for employing slave labor at $5 an hour. Viva diversity!
The truth is in the comments of this story:
Huh what is the davenport council smoking why should it be on the buisness owners shoulders to clean up the neighborhood it should fall on the citzens of that neighborhood not just the buisness owner...
...So rather than increase patrols in the areas of high crime, Davenport police announce they are increasing their seatbelt patrols and speed traps. I, for one, am DISGUSTED every Monday morning when I look at my QC TIMES newspaper and see the crime map. Davenport is littered with crime every week. But instead of the city council tasking law enforcement with doing their job, the police do the safe and profitable thing of issuing traffic tickets. DISGUSTING! The problem isn't the business. The problem is the criminals. City Council: stop trying to take the easy way out you lazy bunch of slackers. DO YOUR JOB, AND CLEAN UP THIS ARMPIT OF IOWA...
...There's a housing project out on 160th st that also receives a lot of police attention; should the city co pull its' operating permit/funding b/c of the "local clientele"?...
...The shortfall of most law enforcement organizations such as that in Davenport is that they are reactionary - they respond to crimes that have been already committed. There is no real crime prevention taking place. Prevention requires a different approach and mindset and far greater management and leadership than our department has been able to muster...
...Why stop at expecting this store owner to clean up the neighborhood? Maybe the city council should also tell him he must fix the flooding problem, fix the streets, do something with the zoo...
Those slave traders The Rubashkins will pay a big fine and then continue to thwart the Feds, buy off our filthy politicians like Chuck Grassley and Patty Judge, buy off the Catholic Church, and will just find a new bunch of illegals to work in their plants for $5 an hour.
Do you really think the media is going to raise a stink about this? Heck no! The monopoly corporate media loves illegals! It sells newspapers. It gets law-abiding Americans stirred up.
I'm sure there's quite a bit of envy at newspapers around Iowa these days. Gee, if only they could get a bunch of illegals to produce the newspaper for $5 an hour then maybe their stock prices would bounce back.
We are talking about an industry that used to employ underage children, not pay them an hourly wage, required them to work before 6am, usually had to carry a heavy load, required them to collect the company's money, participate in circulation sales drives in the evening, and when kids got snatched off the streets or disappeared the newspaper companies sort of shrugged their shoulders about it and blamed the police.
I think most of us agree that Agriprocessors, Inc is an organized crime outfit. They should be prosecuted as such.
If you or I ran our business in this manner, and didn't have money to pay off the likes of Chuck Grassley or Patty Judge, we would be in trouble.
Don't ya think?
Or....... maybe it's OK to run your business like this.
The government is mostly saying, "Ehhhhhh, you can get away with it for a while, but then we're going to spend millions in taxpayer money deporting a handful of Mexicans and Guatemalans for show, and then you can get back to it."
Right?
That's how I'm seeing it.
Update: A timeline of crimes by Agriprocessors via Mainstream Iowan.
