Highlights: WI: Wisconsin's union law to take effect following Supreme Court ruling; Bill reducing unemployment benefits signed by Gov. Scott; 1,500 Philly teacher layoffs remain on hold...; US: GOP governors push back against Obama on federal Medicaid rules; NJ: Against own party's wishes, Sweeney pushes overhaul to pension system for N.J. public employees; Public schools anxious over possible government shutdown; Negotiations continue on two fronts to save Katahdin mills; Legislature responds to unions' complaint; full Scrooge Alert at http://dailyscroogealert.blogspot.com/
National
US: GOP governors push back against Obama on federal Medicaid rules
Faced with severe budget problems, Republican governors are escalating their fight against federal rules requiring states to maintain current levels of health-care coverage for the poor and disabled.
Wisconsin
Demonstrators protest state budget cuts
Washington Post
John Hart / AP People carry signs outside the New Jersey Statehouse in Trenton to ... The bill would strip public employees of collective bargaining rights. ...
Updated: Wisconsin Supreme Court Reverses Lower Court; Allows Anti-Union Law To Take Effect
WI: Wisconsin's union law to take effect following Supreme Court ruling
The Wisconsin Supreme Court handed Republican Gov. Scott Walker a major victory on Tuesday, ruling that a divisive union law could take effect that takes away most collective bargaining powers from public employees.
Ohio
Union President Steve Loomis says Ohio's new labor law effectively eliminates ...
PolitiFact
Safety forces were given binding arbitration as part of Ohio's 1983 collective-bargaining law for public employees. In what was considered a trade-off, that law banned strikes by police and firefighters. In an interview, Senate President Tom Niehaus ...
Pennsylvania
1,500 Philly teacher layoffs remain on hold...
Bill: use student performance to evaluate teachers...
Florida
Bill reducing unemployment benefits signed by Gov. Scott
Gov. Rick Scott on Tuesday signed a bill that will cut unemployment benefits to as few as 12 weeks for Florida residents, when the state unemployment rate falls to 5 percent or lower. Florida's rate in April was 10.8 percent.
Maine
Negotiations continue on two fronts to save Katahdin mills
Investors who recently bought a Baileyville mill were negotiating Tuesday to purchase two Katahdin region paper mills even as lawmakers and LePage administration officials scrambled to win support for a bill deemed critical to the potential sale.
Minnesota
Public schools anxious over possible government shutdown
School employees are not state workers, but their salaries and other school expenses rely on money that districts get from the state.
Minn. GOP lawmaker raises Hitler, Castro in email
The leader of a Minnesota state employee union is taking a Republican state lawmaker to task for an email to a constituent in which he compares union politics to Fidel Castro and Adolf Hitler.
Montana
Legislature responds to unions' complaint
An unfair-labor-practice complaint filed against the 2011 Legislature for rejecting negotiated pay raises for state employees is without merit and should be dismissed, a legislative attorney said Wednesday.
New Jersey
'Right-to-work' not right for NJ
Gloucester County Times - NJ.com
May I suggest that she and the rest of the Assembly find a way through collective bargaining to correct what she perceives to be wrong with the current situation. As far as I am concerned, her solution is a matter of throwing out the baby with the bath ...
NJ: Against own party's wishes, Sweeney pushes overhaul to pension system for N.J. public employees
Despite a rising chorus of opposition from fellow Democrats, the Senate president and Assembly speaker pressed forward Tuesday to overhaul health and pension benefits for the state's 500,000 public employees.
