ProgressOhio

Cleveland, Ohio - The Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) has notified Hugo Boss' parent firm Permira Advisors that the retirement system "now has concerns about future involvement" with Permira. In total, OPERS has invested €110 million in Permira, an amount equivalent to about $149 million today. In 2006, OPERS invested €60 million, or $81 million, in Permira IV, the name of the particular investment fund that includes Germany-based Hugo Boss.

Workers, as well as public and labor officials, contend that Hugo Boss did not bargain in good faith in trying to keep the plant open. Nearly 400 jobs are at stake; the Brooklyn, Ohio, plant is supposed to close in April.

OPERS is now demanding that the company re-engage public officials, who have already offered financial incentives to keep the suit-making factory in business.

Workers United, the union representing the plant's workers, is approaching other public employee retirement systems - including funds in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Texas and California - and is urging them to re-evaluate investments in Permira.

On February 25, OPERS chairman Ken Thomas and CEO Chris DeRose wrote to Permira and demanded a response by March 11. The letter reads, in part:

"The OPERS Board noted that the investment performance of Permira IV has underperformed our expectations and is inconsistent with the reputation of your institution. Due to the poor performance of the fund and representations to the Board that VFG, Italy (Hugo Boss) did not bargain in good faith with state and local community partners, the Board now has concerns about future involvement with your institution. In the interest of improving the overall performance of Permira IV, OPERS urges you to reengage both local and state officials to evaluate profitable alternatives to the closure of this facility."

Click Here to read the entire letter.

That's why Danny Glover is asking stars not to wear Hugo Boss on the red carpet -- and show their solidarity with workers with a pin on their lapels.

Read his letter and take action by contacting the celebrities yourself.

We'll make sure the petition gets into the hands of stars walking the red carpet.

This Thursday in Columbus, working families will march to the Ohio Statehouse to demand our politicians listen to us, not Wall Street.

Click here to let us know you'll join us

We demand that Wall Street firms like Citigroup and Lehman Brothers be held accountable for the millions of jobs they have destroyed. They must never be allowed to do this again.

President Obama's taken good steps but we need him to do more to create jobs for Main Street, and to stand up to the bank lobbyists who got us into this mess in the first place.

WHAT: March for Main Street Jobs, Not Wall Street Greed
WHEN: Thursday, February 25th. The march will start at 1:30 pm. The rally will end by 2:30 pm.
WHERE: The march will start at Main and High Street, go up High Street to the State House, and end with a short rally in front of the State House
SPONSORS: Working America, Ohio AFL-CIO, Central Ohio Labor Council, Columbus Area  Jobs with Justice, and Progress Ohio
RSVP: Click here to let us know you're coming

MORAINE, Ohio - The documentary about the closing of a General Motors Co. plant in southwest Ohio has earned an Academy Award nomination.

Oscar nominations announced Tuesday included one for "The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant," for best documentary short.

The 40-minute film was produced by Yellow Springs, Ohio, filmmakers Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert. It premiered last Aug. 19 in Dayton, attended by hundreds of the autoworkers who lost their jobs when the sport utility vehicle plant in Moraine closed.

The closing of the Moraine plant meant the direct loss of more than 1,000 jobs and, by one estimate given in the film, up to 10,000 jobs in the community as a whole. Globalization and the destruction of American industrial life are inevitably the film’s themes, but as the final day approaches, what people most want to talk about is pride in their workplace — the three-quarter-mile-long building still inspires awe in those who have worked there for decades — and the loss of the family they have found on the factory floor.

Preview the Film:

BROOKLYN, OH. – U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) met with workers and union leaders at the Hugo Boss plant in Brooklyn today. The site is home to the only U.S. manufacturing facility of the German company, which announced it would shutter operations at the Brooklyn facility in April 2010. Brown discussed the future of the plant and outlined ways to support the Northeast Ohio economy during this time.

“Ohio workers and the Brooklyn community deserve a fair shake from Hugo Boss,” Brown said. “If Hugo Boss plans on continuing to sell a large volume of its clothes in America, the company should think long and hard before closing its only U.S. manufacturing facility. Ohio workers – and American consumers – deserve better.”

Last month, Hugo Boss announced that 300 workers would be affected by the closure. Hugo Boss plans on moving its production operations to low-wage facilities overseas.

Keep Cleveland Working: Hugo Boss Protest

One year ago today, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act became the first major act of Congress signed into law by President Barack Obama.

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act restored employees rights to challenge pay discrimination. In the year since the law took effect, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reviewed over 1,100 cases where people were denied wage compensation, and some 4,800 charges alleging wage discrimination were filed with the Commission. Numerous court cases have cited the law in an effort to win compensation for back-earnings. 

Watch It:

Women are still treated unfairly in the workplace. Wage disparity persists, and women still earn, on average, only 77 cents for every dollar earned by men. If the wage gap was eliminated, annual family incomes would increase by $4,000--and the poverty rate would be cut in half. Paycheck fairness for our country's working women would in of itself act as an economic stimulus package.

For all of these reasons (and more), we must strengthen laws against wage discrimination. But don't just take my word for it --hear what Lilly Ledbetter herself thinks we can do to keep women in the workforce from being discriminated against:

"We need to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act....The bill would empower women to negotiate for equal pay, create stronger incentives for employers to follow the law, and strengthen federal outreach and enforcement efforts. It would also strengthen penalties for equal pay violations.

[...] "One of the most important aspects of the Paycheck Fairness Act is a provision that would prohibit retaliation against workers who ask about employers' wage practices or disclose their own wages to co-workers. This would have been particularly helpful to me, because Goodyear prohibited my colleagues and me from talking about our wages. This policy delayed my discovery of the pay inequities between my male counterparts and me by -- literally -- decades."

It's high past the time for women to have the same rights, the same opportunities and the same freedom to pursue their dreams as men do. If we don't get this legislation passed, our daughters could end up having to fight for fair treatment and pay in the workplace--just like their mothers and grandmothers.

The Paycheck Fairness Act is now pending in the Senate.  Senator Sherrod Brown  is a co-sponsor of the Paycheck Fairness Act (S. 182).  Take action now and tell George Voinovich to support the Paycheck Fairness Act.

Beachwood: Hugo Boss workers protest near Nordstrom store

BEACHWOOD -- In the bitter cold, Hugo Boss workers urged Nordstrom customers and managers to call upon Hugo Boss not to close its Brooklyn, Ohio plant.

On the fashion runways of Europe, clothing manufacturer Hugo Boss is constantly trying to maintain a sleek, edgy look.

But with wind chills in the single digits on the snowy sidewalk outside Beachwood Place, there was nothing sleek or edgy about the look of the protesters.

"Keep Cleveland working," the crowd chanted and encouraged passing motorists to honk their horns in support.

With the nearby mall security guards on high alert, the demonstrators said they want Nordstrom customers to know what the German Hugo Boss company is doing to their Cleveland workers.

Lydia Perez has been making suits for Hugo Boss in Brooklyn for the last 14 years. "Finding another job is going to be hard," said Perez.

She added, "and I'm going to hate to leave."

When asked why not take less money and keep her job, Perez responded, "No, no, we can't afford it. I mean I got kids."

Co-worker Anthony Senart agreed. "Can you feed your family for 8 dollars an hour? It would be hard," said Senart.

His eyes glistening in the cold wind, he said, "We work hard and we make high quality suits. Hugo Boss profits off of us. So why do we deserve a pay cut? We make the company money."

Watch It:

Tomorrow in Baltimore, Maryland, President Obama will announce details of the Small Business Jobs and Wages Tax Cut, one of his new proposals to create good jobs in America. 

In last night’s State of the Union Address, President Obama outlined a series of ways he will fight to create good paying jobs and continue our economic recovery.

One of these proposals, the Small Business Jobs and Wages Tax Cut, will put more Americans back to work by giving businesses – particularly small business – a tax cut for new hiring. 

The new proposal will also provide tax incentives for businesses to expand wages for their employees.

Through the Small Business Jobs and Wages Tax Cut:

• Businesses will receive a $5,000 tax credit for every net new employee that they employ in 2010.  The total amount of the credit for any one firm will be capped at $500,000, to ensure that the majority of the benefit is targeted at small businesses.  Start –ups will be eligible for half of the tax credit.

• Small businesses that increase wages or hours for their existing employees will be reimbursed for the Social Security payroll taxes they pay on real increases in their payrolls.  This bonus would be based on Social Security payrolls, so it would not apply to wage increases above the current taxable maximum of $106,800.

• Firms will be able to claim the credit on a quarterly basis, which gets money out to businesses quickly and provides and early incentive to hire and increase payrolls.

The proposal is estimated to cost $33 billion.

Pass Real Insurance Reform NOW
We can't turn back now.

Already, reform means:
- At least 30 million more people will have healthcare they can count on
- Americans will no longer be discriminated against or denied care because of gender or pre-existing conditions.

One election doesn't change the need to make good healthcare affordable and keep insurance companies in-check.

Call 1-866-308-6259 on Monday, Janyuary 25th.

Tell Your Representative: "Pass the Senate reform bill and make the improvements needed to make good affordable healthcare coverage available to all Ohio families."

Because of the critical need to win quality, affordable healthcare, the phone lines may be busy. Keep trying--our Members of Congress need to hear from us.

Union leaders vow to fight closing of Hugo Boss plant in Brooklyn, Ohio

The union that represents workers at the Hugo Boss plant here will fight the company’s decision — announced Tuesday — to close the plant.

That’s what Bruce Raynor, president of Workers United, Service Employees International Union, told the Sun Post Tuesday afternoon.

Raynor said Hugo Boss — a clothing manufacturer headquartered in Metzingen, Germany — plans to send Brooklyn jobs overseas.

"This is a sweatshop company putting American workers on the street to exploit workers in poor countries and send the profits back to Germany," Raynor said.

Raynor said overseas workers will earn less than $1 an hour working for Hugo Boss. He said the union will start a campaign to educate consumers on how the company operates.

"The union intends to resist this (Brooklyn plant) closing with everything at our disposal," Raynor said.

Hugo Boss spends millions on sports sponsorships like competitive sailing, tennis, golf, auto racing, and soccer.

And yet they'd like you to believe that they can no longer afford to employ suit manufacturing workers in the U.S.

Don't believe them.

Watch It:

Hugo Boss made more than $140 million in profits in the first nine months of 2009, according to the company's third-quarter report. The company paid shareholders more than $135 million in dividends last year, on top of a huge dividend of $637 million in 2008.

The amount Hugo Boss says it is trying to save by closing its U.S. suit manufacturing plant is only a few million dollars... a drop in the Hugo Boss bucket.

Tell Hugo Boss Chief Operating Officer Dr. Andreas Stockert to keep the company's U.S. suit manufacturing plant open and keep hard-working Americans on the job.

Andreas_Stockert@HugoBoss.com

212-940-0600

Received via email from our friends at Americans United For Change:

What happened in Massachusetts yesterday is a call to action, not a cause for retreat.

The people of Massachusetts voted for change and they are frustrated with the seeming lack thereof. They are hurting and they have not yet seen Congress come forward to ease their pain, punish those who caused this crisis or make sure it cannot happen again.

Unfortunately, they picked the wrong side to blame. Regardless of how you feel about the way the health insurance reform effort has played out, it's important to note that most Democrats in Congress, and certainly the White House, supported swift, bold and effective change. The majority of Democrats in the Senate, for example, support the public health insurance option. But they couldn't get it done because the minority Republicans blocked an up-or-down vote.

When it comes to financial reform, the Obama Administration and Senate Banking Committee Chair Chris Dodd proposed strong legislation to reign in the abuses of the big banks that led to this mess in the first place. The banking committee's Republican leader, Senator Richard Shelby said "no way, no how, not ever."  

You get the idea: Lack of change is not for lack of trying on the part of the majority of congressional Democrats. But despite being the majority, the Republicans have blocked them from voting.

Scott Brown is only going to make it harder to do what we need to do in America - like clean up Wall Street and provide good, affordable health care for all. He has shown on the campaign trail that he will stand firmly with his Republican colleagues in favor of the Bush-era policies and politics that got us into this mess in the first place.

And if that doesn't scare you into fighting even harder, I don't know what will.

Call your member of Congress at 202-225-3121 or write your Senators and Members of Congress through our website.

Tell them to fight hard against Wall Street, the insurance companies and those elected officials who carry their water.

Cross-posted at DailyKOS.com

Last Friday, I broke the story that the major unions in his home county of Scioto had rescinded their endorsement of State Rep. Todd Book for the OH-02 congressional seat: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/1...

I also reported indications from confidential sources that Book was preparing to withdraw from the race. Tonight it became semi-official as Clermont County Democratic Chairman David Lane e-mailed Democrats in his county that Book has indeed withdrawn.

Book's withdrawal leaves David Krikorian unchallenged for the Democratic nomination to challenge Jean Schmidt next November. However, Schmidt does face a serious primary challenge from the right, coming from her home county of Warren. County Commissioner C. Michael Kilburn comes at the paleozoic Schmidt from the GOP center fringe, claiming that she's just a big Obama softie.

If you're just joining the OH-02 2010 Demolition Derby, Todd Book was hand-picked by the Wizard Behind the Columbus Curtain (i.e. Ted Strickland, also of Scioto County) to be the machine's knight-in-rusted-armor, for battling the insurgent dragon with a populist tinge, David Krikorian.

Cook Reports then "uprated" the OH-02 race for Democrats, on the basis of having recruited such a "quality candidate." Like I said, lots of professional pontificators don't know jack schmidt about this part of the world.

Strickland, you see, had failed to vet his man. It turned out that Todd Book had some rather large problems with loyalty to local labor. Book's private law firm, Book and Associates, filed as Ohio legal agent for Fitzpatrick Engineering, a non-union construction firm of Lawrenceville, Georgia.

Most of that I reported on Friday. What I did not report was that Lawrenceville is also home to Todd Book's father's firm, Wall Technologies Company, Inc. Wall Technologies is likewise non-union, and in September it brought foreign workers from Georgia (immigration status unknown) to Ohio to work on a public construction project, for which Todd Book had taken credit for getting the state funding.

Extraneous thought: It was the prosecution and conviction of State Senator Joseph Coniglio in Bergen County, NJ, for deriving private benefits from a public project for which he had obtained the state funds that ultimately led to the downfall of Governor Corzine for inferred connections to the corruption.

Anyway, the Scioto County, Ohio, unions found out about Books's extracurricular arrangements after they had endorsed Mr. Book in September. On November 17, the Ohio caucus of the Tri-State Building and Construction Trades Council voted to rescind that endorsement. The writing was on the Wall, so to speak.

This morning, Monday, the Krikorian campaign sent notice to its supporters, alerting them to my report of last Friday. Perhaps that lit a fire under Mr. Book to get out while the getting was reasonably good. Book had failed to appear at a meeting of Democratic Party County Chairs on Saturday, giving away that his campaign was at an end.

The terse message from the Clermont County Chair sent at 5:30 pm tonight reads as follows:

Clermont Dems:

Please be advised that Todd Book has announced that he is formally withdrawing from the race in the 2nd Congressional District. Todd will devote all his energy to his legislative duties in Columbus. I will keep you apprised of developments as they become available.

Regards,

Dave Lane

As of this post, Book has still not issued any statement directly accessible, and there is no notice of withdrawal posted to his website. But there have now been so many communiques expressing his intent, it's hardly reversible.

It is well understood that Todd Book has various matters to attend to. Just please,

Mr. Book, show that you do have some consideration for the team. Chances for redemption aren't all that easy to come by. No Copperhead backsliding now. We're watching.

To find out more and donate to the Krikorian campaign, go to: http://www.krikorian2010.com/

UPDATE: Book's withdrawal is the lead front-page story in today's Portsmouth Daily Times: http://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com...

He told PDT of his decision yesterday. Book did not mention any of the union issues or corruption charges, and our ace local reporters apparently did not ask. The timing of the announcement following the union vote last Tuesday and my story published Friday should serve to verify my account.

Note also that Book plans to spend his next year making Ohio "attractive to Bioscience [aka Agribusiness]" under the recently approved Issue 2. That should serve to answer those "progressives" who refused to acknowledge that Book was the lead sponsor of Issue 2, a disaster for small farmers and for the environment and public health.

UPDATE 2: The mainstream media has picked up the story, with reports in CQ Politics and the Dayton Daily News, in addition to virtually all the newspapers in OH-02. A story in the Cincinnati Enquirer and Chillicothe Gazette (both Gannett papers) has the most in-depth coverage, such as it is, with reference to the Building Trades vote one week ago as laying the foundation for Book's withdrawal. That story is at: Cincinnati.Com | Cincinnati Enquirer | Politics Extra » Book dropping out of 2nd District race

Cross-posted at DailyKOS

Prior to another recent Thanksgiving in OH-02, the big news in the district was that my neighbor Terry’s two full-grown African lions escaped and were found "molesting" cars on the highway. This year competes for drama. On Tuesday, November 17, the Ohio division of the Tri-State Building and Construction Trades Council voted to rescind its endorsement of Todd Book for U.S. Congress. Multiple and reliable sources report that Book is preparing to withdraw from the race.

Book’s withdrawal will leave David Krikorian without opposition in the Democratic primary for the nomination to challenge procrustean Jean Schmidt. (A third candidate, Jim Parker, has already announced his withdrawal.) Schmidt, on the other hand, faces a serious primary challenge from C. Michael Kilburn, a Warren County Commissioner.

This report breaks the story, which the unions chose not to publicly announce. The vote on Tuesday was final, but formal ratification by the full Tri-State Council of West Virgina, Kentucky and Ohio awaits action at the December meeting. I have communicated with over seven individuals associated with the unions and all confirm the vote. Sources for this story wish to remain anonymous in order to preserve Democratic unity, allowing time for Mr. Book to make a gracious exit from the race.

The Ohio Division of the Tri-State Council, based in Portsmouth, had voted to endorse native-son Book, the State Representative from Portsmouth, on September 11 (just a little inauspicious?). Soon after the endorsement, however, the unions obtained information that Book’s private law firm, Book and Associates, had registered as the legal agent for Fitzpatrick Engineering, a non-union shop in Georgia. According to one union source, "This proved Todd Book’s association with the Antichrist as far as unions are concerned. Book has lost all of his union and labor support."

The association with Fitzpatrick was stated as the cause in the motion to rescind. Other labor problems involving Mr. Book, currently under investigation, have been tabled pending word from Democratic Party officials that Book’s withdrawal is immanent. Book had also received $7400 in contributions from one union and one individual associated with the Tri-State Council, about 12% of his total 3rd quarter fundraising.

Book retains the endorsement of the IBEW Local 575, based in Portsmouth. Book’s father-in-law, Bill Tipton, is the former business manager of that local. The Tri-State Council represents fifty locals from fifteen different unions in thirty-two counties of the tri-state area of Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia.

The Portsmouth unions have already held a large meeting with David Krikorian with an eye toward switching endorsement, which will become pro forma after Book withdraws. Krikorian ran as an Independent in 2008, garnering 18% of the vote, the highest percentage of any Independent in the nation in a congressional race that year.

By uniting Democrats and Indpendents across the district, Krikorian will present Jean Schmidt with her toughest challenge yet. And, she faces a bruising primary battle with Kilburn who pulls her, if you can believe it, to the right. Kilburn also comes from Schmidt’s home county, her strongest base.

Following the election of insurgent Democrat Jane Murray to the Portsmouth mayoralty in 2009, the ascension of David Krikorian to presumptive nominee carries forth a general routing of the old Copperhead Democratic machine from Scioto County, Ted Strickland’s home county, where Portsmouth is the county seat. Murray defeated incumbent mayor Jim Kalb in both the primary and the general election, with Kalb placing third behind a write-in candidate in the general. Todd Book and Jim Kalb had together championed a new City Center proposal in Portsmouth, which was soundly defeated at the polls in 2008. With Portsmouth unions now joining with Democratic insurgents, the old Scioto machine is done.

As of this posting, Book has not yet acknowledged the union vote or announced his intention to withdraw.

You can find out more and donate to the Krikorian campaign at: http://www.krikorian2010.com/

Note: Allow me to preempt any accusation that this development was somehow "arranged." The Krikorian campaign and I were likewise in the dark about these developments, until we were each independently notified by separate union sources, about two weeks ago. By the time we were notified, the decision to rescind had already been effectively made by the key Portsmouth unions.

Also, a hat tip to Brian Hester, who has given me the idea for a new book titled: REAL Democrats Don’t Dump on Popular Prospective Nominees of their Party. Thanks, Brian!