COPE News

The coming Congressional Session will face many difficult economic and political challenges as the November Mid-Term election draws near.
Progressive organizers are training around the country to get the message out that we need Washington to take action NOW!

You can help spread that message.  Please join us this Wednesday as we learn about the important economic issues and what we can do about them.

Special Guest: Karen Woodall, Florida Center for Fiscal and Economic Policy

Karen will be speaking with us about Federal tax issues that Congress will be confronting in the upcoming session and how it affects us here in Tampa.
We are also going to be speaking about the upcoming controversial vote for the Bush Tax Cuts and our Day of Action on the 15th of this month that you
can take part in.

Please join us at 10am on Wednesday, September 8th, at the IBEW 824 Hall at 6603 E. Chelsea St, Tampa, Florida 33610.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.  If you need a new air conditioner, now may be the time to buy one. Starting today (August 30), Florida consumers who upgrade their air conditioning systems can qualify to receive a $1,500 rebate, under a program supported by members of the Florida House Democratic Caucus.

In an effort to stimulate the economy and make homes throughout Florida more energy-efficient, nearly $15 million has been set aside for the Florida ENERGY STAR® Residential HVAC Rebate Program. The program runs until Dec. 31 or until the $15 million runs out.

A program that saves money for consumers, creates revenue for business, and saves energy all at the same time is a home run in my book, said Representative Joseph Abruzzo, D-Wellington, a supporter of the new program.

The rebate program was approved through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (federal stimulus). The 2009 Florida Legislature approved the legislation allowing the Florida Energy and Climate Commission to apply for the federal grant. The State of Florida received $17.6 million to establish an ENERGY STAR® appliance rebate program and an additional $15 million to develop a residential program to increase energy efficiency within the home.

The rebate applies to the purchase of new central air conditioners, air source heat pumps or geothermal heat pump that meet all the requirements of the Florida ENERGY STAR® Residential HVAC Rebate Program.  One such requirement is to have the home duct system tested, indicating that there is no more than 15 percent leakage to the outside.

The rebate will come in the form of an American Express Prepaid Card preloaded with the value of rebate determined by processor. The American Express Prepaid card is issued by American Express and is able to be used at merchants and retailers in the United States that accept the American Express Card; however, it cannot be used at cruise lines, casinos, ATMs, or for recurring charges (such as monthly utilities or subscriptions).

To qualify, homeowners must have their home air ducts tested, and there must be minimal leakage to the outdoors.

For more details and to learn how you can qualify for the rebate, go to www.rebates.com/floridahvac.

Upcoming Central Labor Council Events for the Month of September

Phone Banks:

• Every Monday in Tampa, beginning September 13^th, at the CLC war room in Tampa (5126 N. Florida Ave)
• Every Wednesday in Lakeland, beginning September 8^th, at the CLC office in Lakeland (705 E. orange St)
• Every Thursday, beginning September 9^th, a phone bank will be held on a rotational basis in Pinellas, Pasco or Sarasota Counties.

Labor Walks:

• Walks are scheduled in the following areas from 10am-2pm. Volunteers Needed:
• Saturday, September 11^th, Pinellas County (both North County and South County)
• Saturday, September 18^th, West Tampa
• Saturday, September 25^th, Pasco/Hernando County

Please RSVP with one of your AFL-CIO West Central Florida Central Labor Council contacts:

Aaron Carmella 850-228-9831      

Cheryl Schroeder 813-368-7124

Please save these numbers to your Cell phone.

The “Reverse Morris Trust” is a tax-avoidance technique that, thanks to Wall Street’s financial wizards, is increasingly deployed by corporations seeking to sell off unwanted assets without paying taxes on their gains. 

Under a Reverse Morris Trust, a parent corporation can spin-off a subsidiary into an unrelated company, tax free, if the shareholders of the parent end up controlling more than 50% of the voting rights and economic value of the resulting merged company.  As graphically described below, the basic elements of this process are:  A divesting corporation spins off a subsidiary which then merges into an unrelated acquisition corporation.  To qualify for tax-free treatment, the shareholders of the divesting corporation must own a controlling interest in the post-transaction acquisition corporation.

Typically, the parent loads up its “spinco” with as much debt as it can support, while causing this subsidiary to “dividend-out” or otherwise pay the proceeds of the new debt to the parent or one of its affiliates immediately prior to the spin-off and merger.

         Two recent examples of Reverse Morris Trust-driven transactions were the $2.7 billion spin-off of Verizon Communications’ Northern New England wireline operations into FairPoint Communications and the $2.4 billion spin-off of the Walt Disney Company’s ABC Radio business into Citadel Broadcasting Corporation.  Verizon received $1.7 billion in cash and securities - from new debt incurred by Spinco immediately prior to the transaction being consummated - while Verizon shareholders ended up owning 60% of the post-merger FairPoint.  Disney retained $1.35 billion in cash from the proceeds of new debt acquired by ABC Radio prior to the spin-off while its shareholders became owners of 57.5% of Citadel.  Unfortunately, FairPoint and Citadel are now in deep financial distress, with both having recently announced that they risk violating the financial covenants associated with the massive debt they acquired as part of the Reverse Morris Trust transactions.

            In the proposed Frontier deal, Verizon will receive $3.3 billion tax-free money as a result of this tax loophole, while Verizon shareholders will end up as involuntary owners of about 68% of the increasingly debt-laden Frontier.  

Reference:

2010 Florida AFL-CIO United Labor Lobby

Summary Report

To best describe what the United Labor Lobbying effort is; and what they do I will provide this excerpt from the Florida AFL-CIO’s own description:

         “The United Labor Lobby provides a way for unions to work together during the legislative session. The Florida AFL-CIO and its union affiliates form the core of the coalition. Others with similar interests sometimes join in the combined efforts.

         Each year lobbyists who are sponsored by industrial, building trades, service and public employee unions work on legislation that relates specifically to their unions’ interest, as well as general labor legislation. Through the United Labor Lobby, the union lobbyists share information, take specific lobbying assignments and coordinate committee testimony.”

As your co-workers and volunteer activist-- the members of your Committee on Political Education were excited and happy to join-in for a few days to storm the hill in Tallahassee with all of our brothers and sisters from around the state!

Pictures of our work and comments on issues can be found on Face Book. If you are not already a friend, please search us and feel free to request access. You can search groups by typing in “IBEW 824 COPE group”. Via this interactive social networking site you can get up to date information about what we are working on; and participate in discussions with others in the group. This is a closed group created for 824 Members only; information shared is not made public.

I would like to remind everyone that our monthly committee meetings are open to all IBEW 824 members. If you would like to join some of your co-workers who are active and engaged in local politics; than we would be happy to see you at our next regular meeting at 6:30pm at the Union hall on the same night as our general meeting.

 If you would like to add your support but don’t have the time, please consider filling out a COPE contribution card and making a small monthly donation. Donation cards can be downloaded from your IBEW 824 website under the “COPE—sign up” tabs. You can contribute any amount you wish.

Your COPE members would like to thank our leadership and our membership for supporting our efforts.

In Solidarity

Jason Smith

Chair of the COPE group

In order to facilitate Organized Labor as a cohesive, unified voice in Tampa Bay, dates for the 2010 political screenings/endorsements are noted below.  Please mark your calendars NOW to ensure your participation and no scheduling conflicts:

            Saturday, February 27, 2010              Screening for Congressional 12                                                                      UFCW 1625 (Lakeland)

            Tuesday, March 2, 2010                     Council approval of screening recommendations from February 27^th *

Saturday, April 3, 2010                       Screenings for Congressional 5, 9 & 13

            Tuesday, April 6, 2010                        Council approval of screening recommendations from April 3^rd  *

            Saturday, May 1, 2010                        Screenings for Florida House & Senate

            Tuesday, May 4, 2010                         Council approval of screening recommendations from May 1^st *

* Recommended endorsements to be considered and acted upon by the Florida AFL-CIO

            May 21-23, 2010                                 Florida AFL-CIO COPE Endorsing Convention                                                 Crowne Plaza, Jacksonville

            Saturday, June 5, 2010                        Screenings for local, municipal elections

            Tuesday, June 8, 2010                         Council approval of screening recommendations from June 5^th

            Saturday, June 26, 2010                      COPE Dinner/Dance                                                                                       Crowne Plaza, Sabal Park

Screenings will be held specific to the legislative area and locations will be announced as soon as confirmed.  As always, our screenings are open to all union members and we encourage active participation on the part of all unions.

Providing this opportunity means that we can all work together to not only choose the best candidate to represent working families but also be unified in our financial support of endorsed candidates.  It is customary for candidate contributions to be distributed at our June 26^thDinner/Dance (still timely for the candidate to have a good showing on their 2^ndquarter fundraising reports) when the presence of many unions and their contributions showcase the power, strength and value of a labor endorsement.

Please join us in solidarity as we work to elect the best candidates to represent us locally, in Tallahassee and in Washington!

Cheryl Schroeder, Executive Director

West Central Florida Federation of Labor

(813) 740-2233 - Phone

(813) 368-7124 - Cell

www.wcffofl.com

Dear Neighbor,  

Once again the Florida Legislature will debate on whether or not to allow oil drilling 3-10 miles off the Florida coast. I would like to give you some information to think about with regard to offshore drilling, and why I am opposing it at this time.  

My first concern is the potential environmental impact. According to the Office of Response and Restoration under NOAA, the Gulf of Mexico has the most oil spills in the world. In fact, we have more spills in our Gulf, than the #2 and #3 sites combined (Northeast US and the Mediterranean Sea).  

Environmentally, even a minor oil spill would be devastating to our pristine coastline and wildlife preserves, refuge to numerous endangered species. An oil spill would also be devastating to our economy, both locally and state-wide. In 2009, an oil spill near Port Arthur, Texas caused the shorelines to be closed for more than 5 days. Here in Pinellas County, shutting down our beaches could result in a $10M loss to local businesses. Stretched out over 5 days, this could amount to almost $50 million dollars in revenue lost. We simply cannot afford to risk harming our shores, environmentally or economically.  

Those who favor oil drilling, claim it will bring jobs to Florida. But there is no guarantee that Floridians will be obtaining these jobs, or even what kind of economic boost these jobs will provide. This is not a good tradeoff for the jobs that could potentially be lost if a spill were to occur, not to mention the jobs potentially lost should our horizons become filled with oil rigs.  

Florida, and Pinellas County specifically, relies on the dollars that our beautiful beaches and wildlife bring in. It is time we stop gambling with our shorelines. 

Charlie Justice  

** Charlie Justice is currently a State Senator, representing District 16.  Charlie is a candidate for the US Congress in the 10th Congressional District.  Fpr more information on Charlie, visit www.charliejustice.com. ***

This is a web link to the Florida AFL-CIO political page that shows
Legislative updates.

http://www.flaflcio.org/main/page/tlu

IBEW 824 Members may wish to periodically check in and see what
legislative issues are being worked on. We should remind folks that the
Florida Legislative session runs from March to May.

Labor Unions from around the state send their union members to Tallahassee
to share our points of view with them in their offices in the state
Capital while they are all working on legislation.

In Solidarity
Jason Smith