Category Archives: Abolition Of Work

THERE have been renewed calls for reform of the House of Lords, after someone noticed as they do, every so often that it doesnt conform in every particular with the institutional models favoured by, say, the Electoral Reform Society.

These calls, as regular and traditional a part of British life as Derby Day or Trooping the Colour, remind me of the rich tapestry of our history, repeating and renewing itself, always evolving and yet somehow always fundamentally the same.

I refer, naturally, not to the House of Lords itself, which I dont care about all that much, but to the glorious heritage and pageantry of calls for the reform of the House of Lords, which date back centuries, yet still thrive.

The latest excuse is provided by the fact that Norman Fowler (as he used to be) is stepping down as Lord Speaker, and two candidates to replace him Lady Hayter and Lord Alderdice think the remaining hereditary peers should now be removed. But this is merely the latest bit of tinkering in a process that has been going on for nearly 500 years.

READ MORE ANDREW McKIE:Prince Harry and Meghan Markle: They made their choice. Stop blaming it on anyone else

The earliest reforms were conducted by literally axing a few earls here and there, but there were systematic alterations to the Houses make-up as early as the 1530s, when Thomas Cromwell got shot of the abbots.

A century later, the rest of the Lords Spiritual (ie, the bishops, a group people are still trying to get rid of today) were chucked out under the Clergy Act 1640. There then came what you might think of as a fairly conclusive reform abolishing the Lords altogether which happened in 1649.

It soon became clear, however, that not having a House of Lords was a serious obstacle to politicians and the public exercising their historic, inalienable right to call for its reform or abolition. Accordingly, it was restored in 1660, and for good measure, the following year they stuck the bishops back in it.

After the Act of Union, the English and Scottish peerages were abandoned for a Peerage of Great Britain, and a similar thing happened in 1801, when it turned into the peerage of the United Kingdom and Ireland. In both cases a fudge, similar to the one that has led to the survival of the last few hereditary peers, was devised for Scottish and Irish peers to elect some of their number.

Then there were all sorts of changes: admitting Irish bishops (1801); banning life peers (1856); banning Irish bishops (1871); creating law lords (1876); removing Welsh bishops (1920); removing Irish peers (gradually, from 1922); creating life peers (1958); as well as things like admitting female hereditary peers, letting hereditary peers renounce their titles sometimes to get new, different life peerages immediately afterwards which all happened in the 1960s.

Between then and the Blair government, we effectively stopped creating hereditary peerages and, in 1999, Mr Blair got rid of most of them. He then perfected reform by appointing 374 new peers on his own say-so.

But 92 hereditaries remained as a compromise. Currently, they elect new members from eligible peers whenever one dies or, since another reform in 2014, resigns (something peers couldnt previously do), though, because covid has prevented elections, theyre a few short at the moment.

The 1999 reform, simultaneously the most comprehensive, the most botched, and the most illogical and indefensible, by any side on any grounds, was largely the work of Lord Wakeham who, as it happens, glibly assured me a few months before it happened that there would be no problems and no compromises. His plan was amended by people like Lord Cranbourne, who ensured there were as many problems and compromises getting it through as possible.

That illustrated a bizarre fact that Lord Wakeham was initially determined to ignore: though almost every politician of almost every party has agreed for more than a century that the fundamental basis for the Lords is unjustifiable and illogical, every plan to reform it has been flawed or frustrated. And in contradictory ways: either by making it less effective, or more effective.

The one virtue of an appointed house is that you can get all sorts of distinguished experts in their fields notably lawyers, but also scientists, businessmen, people from the arts, and various regional, community (including minority community) and faith leaders. The last, even if more contentious, are not these days confined to the Church of England. Actually, even some of the hereditary peers have such expertise or experience.

I cant see much of a case for keeping them, though. But the case for appointed peers is more nuanced. The current appointments system is not democratic, and often bloody awful, but its possible to see why its useful for a revising chamber.

READ MORE ANDREW McKIE:The government is dangerously authoritarian, but the public may be even worse

And, at the moment, thats all the Upper House is. It cannot create legislation; only hold it up or point out flaws in it. By convention (since 1911), it cant stop money bills, or things that were in the governments manifesto, though many members had a good go after the Brexit vote to the approval of lots of people who normally complain about the Lords undemocratic nature.

If, however, we did the logical thing and made it democratic, it creates a different problem: paradoxically, one of democratic accountability. Parliamentary democracy currently operates on the basis that the Commons, being elected, is the font of power: it challenges the executive and, while it may receive suggestions for amendments from the Lords, can ultimately overrule it.

A legitimate, elected, second chamber would remove that presumption; there would be no justification for the Lords only to advise and revise. Of course, a way round this could no doubt be found. Other countries (lots of them) have bicameral set-ups that work. But it could be done only by tearing up every aspect of our entire system of government Commons as well as Lords and starting again, probably with new roles, checks and balances for every branch of the state from ministers to the judiciary.

Even in the short history of the renewed Scottish parliament, its clear that newly devised mechanisms like an electoral system that would prevent an overall majority, or the way the parliament as a whole holds ministers to account dont always work as intended or predicted. Its why were still tinkering with the Lords, half a millennium after we started doing it.

Our columns are a platform for writers to express their opinions. They do not necessarily represent the views of The Herald.

Read more from the original source:

Andrew McKie: Calling for reform of the Lords is as traditional a part of British life as Trooping the Colour - HeraldScotland

Enab Baladi Khawla Hefzy

With the acceleration in the Syrian Pounds devaluation (SYP)which plummeted, reaching an all-time low of 4,000 to US dollar (USD) economists demanded amendments to the decree on criminalizing those who deal in US dollar in areas controlled by the Syrian regime.

On 23 February, the Syrian Commission on Financial Markets and Securities proposed amending the decree on criminalizing those who deal in US dollar in the Syrian regime-controlled areas. They also proposed finding an appropriate legal mechanism to meet the peoples needs for foreign currencies without violating the decree and the monetary and financial regulations.

The Commission called for the amendment of Decree No. 3 of 2020, which criminalizes dealing in US dollar, and establishing official outlets for economic actors to trade in this currency.

The unique proposal coincided with an unprecedented slide in the SYP value against the USD. One US dollar exceeded 4,000 SYP on the black market in the Syrian capital of Damascus this March.

Meanwhile, according to its bulletin, the official exchange rate of the Central Bank of Syria (CBS) remained stable at 1,256 SYP per USD.

Enab Baladi spoke to several economic experts, seeking their views on the possibility of canceling Decree No. 3 and the expected impact on the exchange rate of the SYP against the USD if a decision is taken.

On 18 January 2020, the head of the Syrian regime, Bashar al-Assad, issued Decree NO.3, imposing stricter penalties on those dealing in currencies other than the SYP.

Karam Shaar, a Syrian economist and researcher at the Middle East Institute in Washington, said that even the trader who conducts business dealings legally, pays customs clearance fees on state-permitted imported goods, and sells them inside Syria legally, is now breaking the law according to Decree No.3. Furthermore, traders who engage in USD-financed buying and selling operations in a bank outside Syria are also violating the law.

Shaar explained that the decree considers people who deal with banks outside Syria as criminals, causing a dollar-phobia among those who deal in US dollar. This decree has started to impact the businesses of companies negatively.

Firas Shabou, who holds a Ph.D. in banking and financial sciences, describes the criminalization of dealing in US dollars as a security decision, noting that it does not serve Syrias economic interest.

Shabou said that there are no financial institutions in Syria, neither a securities commission nor a stock exchange. Furthermore, Syrias trading volume is so shameful, and that CBSs statements are issued in a security tone. The CBS, for example, would often say we will hold people accountable, or we will strike with an iron fist.

Decree No. 3 stipulates that any person dealing in currencies other than the SYP in commercial transactions shall be sentenced to temporary hard labor for no less than seven years.

They shall be punished with a fine equivalent to twice the value of the payments or the amount in use or paid, as well as the services or goods offered in addition to confiscating payments, or sums involved or precious metals for the benefit of the CBS.

Firas Shabou pointed out that there are those who benefit from the current situation in Syria; they are the war merchants, and some of those affiliated with the Syrian-regime, Russia, and Iran.

Shabou considered that no one conducts his business in US dollars in the Syrian regime-held areas, unless he is supported by the Russians or Iranians, achieving enormous revenues.

The CBS supports merchants by selling them US dollars at a subsidized price (1 USD =1,250 SYP) to encourage them to import certain goods.

However, these merchants themselves price their imported goods based on the black market exchange rate (1 USD=4,000). Despite this, they are not subject to prosecution because they are the foundations of the state, according to Shabou.

On 24 January, the CBS issued the new 5,000 SYP banknotes for circulation. The Syrian government bet that the SYP exchange rate against the USD and the prices of materials in the market would not be affected by the new denomination release. However, the events on the ground proved the opposite.

Shabou said, a state of comfort and ease would prevail in the local Syrian markets if Decree NO.3 is canceled. The traders will get the US dollar at a fair price.

The economist added that the amendment or abolition of the decree would give the traders and remittances easy access to the areas controlled by the Syrian regime. This would work better for the markets and revive the economic life to some extent.

However, Since it is not allowed to deal in US dollars, people have to take a risk and carry out their business transactions in US dollars. Therefore, a margin of risk will be added to the value of the US dollar exchange rate.

Shabou expected that there will be a significant rise in the exchange rate of the USD against the SYP. In other words, the government found a solution to the problem of preventing dealing in US dollars. However, another problem was encountered: resetting the exchange rates and stopping the SYPs continuous depreciation. This is because the demand for hard currencies will be endless, while the supply is not sufficient to meet the demand.

The World Bank estimates that the remittance flows reached 1.6 billion USD annually in Syria, Syrian economist and researcher Karam Shaar told Enab Baladi in a previous interview.

Remittances are not sent through the Syrian regimes official channels because the Syrian government sets the SYPs exchange rate at a very low level1,256 SYP per USDcompared to the black market price.

Firas Shabou believes that if Decree No.3 is abolishedto allow dealing in USD and keep the exchange rate of the remittances US dollars stable, according to the CBS official rate setthe decision would be pointless. This will create a growing demand for the US dollar.

Shabou explained that the state hides its weakness with the supply by imposing security measures.

The state cannot control the exchange rate to deal with any new reality because it does not have the necessary tools, such as injecting or withdrawing US dollars.

Economists contacted by Enab Baladi ruled out that the Syrian regime would cancel Decree No. 3.

Dr. Karam Shaar said, the effect of canceling Decree No. 3, if it is taken, will be limited and will not improve the economic situation very much.

Shaar pointed out that the amendment to the decree, if it occurs, must be related to traders dealings with banks outside Syria, with which they carry out their commercial transactions legally.

Firas Shabou explained that the economic situation in Syria is absolutely unsound.

There are no financial or monetary foundations, the government is empty, and the economic sectors outside the control of the Syrian regime are rented to the Russians and Iranians, he added.

Shabou said that any strategy or decision would not bear fruit because the Syrian regime does not make a single decision unless it is in its interest or the interest of its pillars, not what is in the best of official channels.

Read the original post:

What are the implications of amending decree criminalizing dealing in US dollars? - Enab Baladi

The small village got ownership and management rights of the three village ponds in 2011, 70 years after its independence

The villagers ofDongartamashi inGadchiroli, Maharashtra, got ownership of the three ponds in their village in 2011, under theScheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006. In the decade since, the tiny village of about 60 familieswas flush with profits, mostly from high fish yield.

The impact of the windfall was visibe across sectors like education, agriculture, waterwater availability. And today, the profits even contribute to paying for tents and music at their weddings.

We sell the fish to the residents of our village at Rs 100 per kilogram and to others at Rs150 per kg. The money is kept with the Gram Sabha. Since 2013, every year we sell around 15-20 quintals of fish and the village earns around Rs 3-4 lakh, said Manik Kisan Masram, a member of the community forest rights (CFR) management committee.

This was possible because of theScheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, also known as FRA.

Under FRA, Gram Sabhas can collectively claim ownership and management rights over traditionally used forest land and water bodies.

The Gondia district was historically part of the region ruled over by Gond kings and then by the Bhonsle dynasty of Nagpur. Both the dynasties, according to historian Bhangya Bhukya, professor of history at the University of Hyderabad, laid special emphasis on creating water conservation structures like ponds and tanks in the area.

These are the same ponds that villages still use today, although new tank and ponds have also been constructed in the region, especially under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005.

When this area was still part of the Central Province, the Madhya Bharat Zamindari Abolition Act, 1951 transferred the ownership of these ponds to the irrigation department.

While the villagers had usufruct rights over these ponds to use water for irrigation, the government department auctioned off the fish.

The coming of FRA changed this and with it, the financial status of the village.

The idea was that if there are forests, there will be water in the ponds and if there is water in the ponds, then agriculture will be possible in the village, said Dilip Gode, executive director of Vidarbha Nature Conservation Society (VNCS), a Nagpur-based non-profit.

Once the Gram Sabha had the ownership over the pond, they created a management plan in 2013 for their CFR area with the help of VNCS in 2013. Activities like de-siltation and deepening were listed in the plan.

The de-siltation activity was undertaken with funds from private companies under Corporate Social Responsibility and the Gram Sabha, said Gode.

The development work increased the water availability in the village and the fish yield.

With more water availability, the agricultural yield on my two-acre field has increased to 12-13 quintals from 5-6 quintals. I am making Rs 30,000 more every year, said Dhanjaay Yaswant Madawe. His children now go to a private school instead of the governments Adivasi Ashram school, he added proudly.

The success of the fish sale prompted the villagers to set up a Macchi Beej Kendra (fish egg centre) in 2015.

We used the money from the fish sales to set up the beej kendra. Every year, we sell around 300 kilograms of fish eggs for other cultivators and we charge around Rs 500 per kg, said Mesram.

The Dongartamashi Gram Sabha has also constructed a tank along a nearby river and a pipeline from there to the pond to recharge water, all at its own expense.

Ownership rights for over 150 ponds have been given in around 90 villages in Gondia and Gadchiroli districts, and in all of those villages, lives of people have improved, said Gode.

We are a voice to you; you have been a support to us. Together we build journalism that is independent, credible and fearless. You can further help us by making a donation. This will mean a lot for our ability to bring you news, perspectives and analysis from the ground so that we can make change together.

Go here to see the original:

World Water Day: Fish from common ponds help fund weddings in this Maharashtra village - Down To Earth Magazine

The current administration came to power with a mandate to shift the countrys fiscal mix toward a lower tax burden. However, tax cuts are not an objective in themselves, because they dont come for free.

If tax cuts are not implemented as part of a well thought-out plan, they carry the cost of either reduced government spending or higher debt. As such, tax cuts, when proposed and implemented, need to be based on solid macroeconomic foundations. Ultimately, a key objective of changes in taxation is to influence relative prices, thus indirectly impacting the relative allocation of economic resources and agent behavior.

The government was called to serve three main economic objectives:

First, to accelerate economic growth and to create new, well-paying jobs. This means prioritizing tax relief on labor and capital, not consumption and wealth.

Second, to reduce tax evasion. Tax evasion is not only socially unjust, but also leads to a lower economic growth rate, because it creates distortions in the allocation of resources.

Third, high growth rates that do not unduly burden the countrys external balance. Greece cannot devalue its currency. As such, tax policy needs to be indirectly supportive of exports, and act as a headwind to imports.

Our tax (and economic policy more generally) has been developed in those three directions.

The first objective of the government is supporting legal salaried employment. This is why we prioritized a reduction in social security contributions, which is one of the most efficient tax shifts. It acts as an incentive for the creation of new jobs. It reduces the attractiveness of tax evasion. And it is not burdensome toward our external balance.

The reduction in social security contributions by nearly 4 percentage points to date is an emblematic policy shift of the government. Additional interventions might be required when the necessary fiscal space emerges, possibly also involving a lowering in the so-called contribution ceiling.

The temporary relaxation of fiscal rules during the pandemic has allowed the government to implement its policies faster than would otherwise be the case, also creating the conditions for an applied study of the fiscal and economic impact of such changes. It is my strong belief that the reduction in social security contributions will end up having a much smaller fiscal cost than a simple, arithmetic calculation would suggest, as was also concluded by a recent Bank of Greece research study.

Let me also highlight here another reform that did not, in my opinion, receive its due attention, and that is the so-called Vroutsis reform delinking social security contributions from declared income for those self-employed, thus removing incentives for tax evasion and boosting declared income.

Salaried employment is also being supported by other structural reforms. The transition, for example, in the second pillar of the pension system toward a fully funded defined contribution model. And the upcoming flagship labor market reform bill.

Another emblematic tax reform of the government has been the suspension, and ultimate abolition, of the so-called solidarity income tax surcharge. A tax that was imposed during the crisis, it acted as a headwind toward the creation of jobs that form the backbone of any large inward investment, thus indirectly negatively impacting those lower on the income ladder, while also incentivizing tax evasion. We expect the ultimate fiscal cost to also be smaller than first envisaged.

Let me also mention the flat tax rate that was introduced for stock options and restricted stock units as part of variable employee compensation, a framework that is especially important for startups and tech companies, while also better aligning employer and employee incentives.

Three tax regimes were introduced to attract non-residents: First, the introduction of a non-dom regime, as well as the recent introduction of a framework for family offices targeting global wealth. Second, the new regime for non-resident pensioners. And thirdly, the incentives for the relocation of employment into the country.

There has been the occasional criticism that such regimes are unfair because they do not apply to local residents. However, attracting non-residents can only have a positive impact on tax revenues since, by definition, such tax revenues are nonexistent today, particularly in the context of the countrys large brain-drain. This, in itself, creates additional fiscal room. In our view, all of this is low-hanging fruit whose adoption only ideological stubbornness had prevented in the past.

After labor, let us now move on to capital. The government moved swiftly in lowering the corporate income tax rate as well as the dividend tax rate. We have also created a framework for superabsorption (tax credits) for three categories of capital expenditure: research & development, green and digital. All three areas are key priorities of Greeces Recovery and Resilience Plan which will be presented in its totality in April.

Climate change remains one of the biggest challenges, also for tax policy, at a global level. Significant tax changes are likely to be required over the medium term if our planet is to achieve its ambitious climate objectives. Let me conclude by highlighting some additional challenges for tax policy in the coming years. The below reflect to some extent my own personal opinions, and not necessarily those of the government.

First, the continued battle against tax evasion. There is no magic wand to wave. Rather it requires a lot of small, and larger, changes. Each change feeds into the others. For example, the experience of other cities around the world teaches us that the use of credit and debit cards as means of payment on public transport will increase card penetration in other areas too. This is in the process of being implemented.

In 2021 we legislated the requirement that 30% of individuals income is spent using electronic means. Electronic payments could be extended to other areas, for example the payment of rent.

Obligatory electronic invoicing and electronic bookkeeping is another flagship reform, which, in itself, requires digital investment and also digital training. This will unfold throughout 2021. Among others, we are also planning for the use of artificial intelligence and big data in the design of tax audits.

Second, incentives for declared employment. The marginal effective tax rate leads toward negative income when shifting from undeclared to declared work for lower income levels. The so-called Pissarides report has some very interesting proposals in that regard. It is an issue of economic development, but primarily an issue of social justice. We have the obligation to help and support those who want to climb the economic ladder.

Third, increasing the average size of Greek enterprises. Half of employment in our country is created by firms that employ up to nine employees, the highest share in the whole of the European Union. This has a negative impact on productivity, on the ability to export, to fight tax evasion, to secure financing, and even to promote best labor practices, whether to fight workplace discrimination or to observe labor laws more generally.

Encouraging cooperation, mergers and acquisitions, as well as truly supporting micro and small and medium-size enterprises in their desire to grow is of paramount importance. Populism keeps our economy down and ultimately works against the interests of those more vulnerable.

Lastly, I would also like the external account to feature more in our public debates. Lowering consumption taxes on goods that are primarily imported does not make sense.

I end my comments on an optimistic note. The changes that have been implemented in tax policy are, in my opinion, widespread and important. The global pandemic and the freeze in some economic activity have, to a large degree, muted their impact. However, as soon as the post-pandemic economy emerges, I have no doubt that these structural tax changes will flourish, leading to significantly faster economic growth.

Of course, our relentless drive to transform and reform our economy has to continue, and will continue, always based on economic fundamentals, and always driven by solid theoretical principles.

Alex Patelis is chief economic adviser to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

See more here:

How shifting the country's fiscal mix will help the Greek economy - http://www.ekathimerini.com

About a year ago, the four convicts in the Nirbhaya rape caseAkshay Thakur, 31, Pawan Gupta, 25, Vinay Sharma, 26, and Mukesh Singh, 32were hanged at Delhi's Tihar Jail at daybreak. The jail authorities carried out the execution swiftly, without fuss, as most hangings are, hours after the Supreme Court rejected the mercy pleas of the four convicts. The verdict and the subsequent execution evoked mass laudatory sentimentsthey were, after all, the boys we wanted to kill.

Did or will their hanging deter Indian men from raping, killing or brutalising women? Is capital punishment, abolished in most nations (and retained by 58 countries, with China being the most active death penalty country in the world), more effective in deterring crimes than, say, a life sentence?

There are no simple answers to these questions because the death penalty is the most severe punishment permitted in our criminal justice systema system notorious for its dubious evidence-collecting processes and minimal access of citizens belonging to poor and marginalised sections of society to legal representation. But what the Nirbhaya hangings did unequivocally do was throw Indias death row abolitionist movement off course by decades.

Dialogues around the death penalty in Indiain media, academia or in public activismare scarce. The promise of retributive justice, or at least the perception of it, effectively buries the moral-philosophical question at its heart: Should anyone or any entity, even the state, have a right to end a human beings life?

In this context, the work of Project 39A, a criminal justice research and litigation centre based out of National Law University, Delhi, is groundbreaking. Their work, which includes a staggering archive of recordings with hundreds of people on death row either awaiting their execution or acceptance of their mercy pleas, offers powerful glimpses into the emotions, the psychological knots, the inexplicable madness and the dire social circumstances that lead human beings to heinous crimes.

Jahnavi Misras anthology of fictionalised stories, The Punished: Stories of Death-Row Prisoners in India, which is based on some of these recordings, is therefore a book that forces us to think beyond whats deserved, whats justice and whats a lessonto think about what our standards of collective morality often obfuscate, to think humanly about the people we want to suffer and wait inexorably for their deaths. These are vignettes, not stories. They are evocative peeks into the emotional and social maelstroms that can propel people into unimaginable brutality. Misra fictionalises real stories based on the recordings and effectively retains the lens on the severity of the crimes. It is a delicate balance, and through the right details, the stories become compelling.

Chanda, known as the tantric gurumata, who executed a gruesome sacrifice of a two-year-old child in the name of a religious cult, had joined her tantric guru husband in his practice as a means to avert domestic abuse. Sanjeev Sharma, hanged for raping a minor girl, vacillated between dread, boredom, numbness and fear after being brutalised by the police and ignored by his own lawyer given to him through the states ineffectual legal aid system.

The Punished, by Jahnavi Misra, published by HarperCollins India, 176 pages, 499. ((HarperCollins India/Twitter))

Manpreet, a man whose family resented his friendship with another man, killed his entire family one by one during the course of a sultry night and willingly admitted to his crime after his friend was killed while on parole. Rukhsar, a woman from Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh, was ridiculed for her dark skin and physical appearance all her life. When her family members threatened to kill her if she married the only man, a Hindu, who wanted to love and accept her for who she was, the entire family was found dead, their throats slit to precision.

All the characters in this anthology are people who dont understand the workings of the legal system and are unaware of their own rights. They are legal, social and cultural pariahs. Because government legal aid is poor and uncaring, lawyers dont invest enough in their cases for a fair hearing. Many of them are incoherent after relentless police brutality. Their families face economic and societal ruin for generations.

In jail, Rukhsar receives a letter from a man from her past who wishes to adopt her son. Misra interprets from the interview with Rukhsar, in her retelling of a moment of joy before she goes to the gallows: She knew that the world considered her evil, so then what was this letter doing on her bed? How did this pure and beautiful gesture find its way into her extraordinarily ugly life? She did not believe in god, but for a fleeting moment felt a warm golden grace light her from within.

These stories arent, in any way, complete portraits. They capture only the essence of the humanity that the interviews reveal, but what Misras book does is put the spotlight on the groundbreaking work that Project 39A has been doing in Indiato trigger new conversations on legal aid, torture, forensics, mental health and the death penalty.

Among their several publications, Project 39A, under the leadership of Anup Surendranath and his team of passionate lawyers and students, has brought out a set of books called Matter of Judgement, which lucidly explains the findings of a study they conducted with 60 former judges of the Supreme Court to understand the reasons they saw for both abolition and retention of the death penalty, what the rarest of rare doctrine, which is applied in most death penalty cases, meant to them and to locate all these discussions in the context of the criminal justice system in its entirety.

The study concluded, among other things such as the unpreparedness of the Indian psyche to abolish capital punishment, that at best, it is retributive instinct in response to brutality that drives legal discourse on the death penalty, rather than the goal of deterrence of crime.

In celebrating tough verdicts, have we then become more sensitive or more coarse? The assiduous work of Project 39A suggests that reform and rehabilitation of hard criminals is the only constructive response.

Sanjukta Sharma is a Mumbai-based journalist and screenwriter.

Read the original post:

Stories of the people we want to kill - Livemint

This is an automated machine translation of an article published by Business Insider in a different language. Machine translations can generate errors or inaccuracies; we will continue the work to improve these translations. You can find the original version here.

The FDP has drawn up its ideas for the 2021 federal election. The first draft of the election program, which is just under 150 pages long, has not yet been published. In it, the liberals call for, among other things, a new assessment of working hours, the legalization of cannabis, and the abolition of the controversial paragraph 219a.

There is also a list of priorities of just under 50 pages, which repeatedly addresses the issue of intergenerational justice. What seems to play less of a role, on the other hand, is climate protection. We have picked out a few points from the FDP program.

Capping social security contributions: The level of social spending is to be capped at 50 percent of the federal budget. Even before the Corona crisis, the federal government spent more than every second euro on social welfare. This is blocking investment, according to the FDP.

Smoking ban in cars: The FDP wants to ban smoking in cars when children are in the car.

Shopping on Sundays and public holidays: Under the heading of "making city centers fit for the future", the Liberals want to overturn store closing times. Retailers would then also be able to open their stores on Sundays or public holidays.

Club culture: The corona pandemic has hit the club scene hard. Even after a year of pandemic, disco owners are not allowed to reopen their stores. The FDP wants to set an example and calls for electronic dance and club culture to be recognized as an intangible cultural heritage.

No young against old: Here the FDP comes with climate protection by the back door. It wants to introduce a generational balance sheet for laws. Laws are to undergo a sustainability and generational balance check. In the process, society's benefits for future generations are compared with the burdens that the young have to bear or pay off. What is to follow from this, however, remains open.

Armored Europe: The FDP wants more European cooperation on armaments. This should relieve individual states of the burden of developing and procuring military equipment, as well as maintaining and training it, and allow them to benefit from each other's knowledge.

Away from daily maximum working hours: The FDP wants more flexibility in the Working Time Act. This is to be achieved by defining weekly working hours instead of maximum daily working hours. For mobile work and home offices, the Occupational Health and Safety Act should apply, but not the Workplace Ordinance, which regulates workplace safety, for example.

Against a women's quota: Although the Liberals would like to see more women in management positions, they do not want to use rigid quotas. Instead, they leave it at voluntary commitments for larger companies. Companies should also commit to improving the proportion of women at the board level.

Top tax rate: The classic FDP theme of tax cuts is also to be found in the election platform for the 2021 federal election. The FDP wants the top tax rate to apply only above an annual income of 90,000 euros. Average earners should not already pay the highest tax rate.

Term limits and reduction in the size of the Bundestag: If the Free Democrats have their way, future chancellors will only be allowed to rule for a maximum of ten years. They also want to do something about the large Bundestag (currently 709 members). In order to reduce the size of parliament, the number of constituencies and thus of direct mandates is to be limited to 250.

Abortion paragraph: The FDP wants to abolish the controversial paragraph 219a. This regulates so far that physicians on their Internet sides may not place information about legal medical abortions. However, this often makes it more difficult for women to obtain objective information and advice on the subject.

Legalize cannabis: The FDP calls for the controlled distribution of cannabis. Possession and consumption should be allowed for adults and thus the quality should be controlled and the passing on of contaminated substances prevented.

According to its election program, the FDP also advocates abolishing the EEG surcharge for renewable energies, diesel driving bans, and the rent brake. At the very end of the detailed collection of ideas, there is the proposal to recognize and support e-sports as a sport.

Since October 2020, all members of the party have been able to participate in the guidelines for the election program. The Julis, the youth organization of the FDP, also want to contribute their own proposals, such as the introduction of the Everyman's Right in Germany. This would allow anyone to pitch a tent in any place. The Julis want to make it possible for young people in Germany on a budget to get to know their country. The draft is to be officially adopted in May of this year.

See the article here:

Low taxes, flexible work, legal cannabis: The FDP wants to enter the Bundestag election campaign with these... - Business Insider

Numerous groups have seized on the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol to shame the business community for making political contributions from their employee-funded political action committees (PACs). The disapprobation ranges from criticism for contributing to certain politiciansthat is, those who disputed the results of the Electoral Collegeto calls for the complete abolition of business PACs.

Following Jan. 6, some Big Law firms and several corporations indicated they would either stop contributions from their PACs or review their process.

Critics of PACs are not the first to co-opt the political stage with designs on reordering our system of campaign finance. And there is no denying the high-volume of anti-PAC rhetoric we are hearing today.

So, the question on the minds of us in the business communityfrom manufacturers of goods to service providers like law firmsis how to address it. Before answering that, lets first see what history can tell us.

Since business PACs first entered the scene in the mid-20th century, numerous laws and reforms set the standards for PACs as we know them today. However, there have been no meaningful campaign finance reform efforts directed at business PACs for almost 50 years.

The reason for this was explained on the floor of the U.S. Senate by one of historys most ardent campaign finance reformers, the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who said: "[W]e try to help political action committees because they provide us, generally speaking, with small donations that are an expression of small individuals involvement.

McCain provided this historical look back in 2002 while debating what became known as the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill. That bill also marked the beginning of a 20-year journey by Congress and the courts to address all manner of participants in our campaign finance system other than business PACs, which remain free to operate as they have for the past 50 years.

The current anti-PAC sentiment is clearly an anomaly in the larger campaign finance reform context. Cynically, it appears to be an attempt by those opposed to the business communitys political involvementwhich we see manifested in many different waysto seize an opportunity from the chaos at the Capitol. Though there may not be a basis in history for this moment, it should not be ignored, either.

First, dont apologize. Dont express regret for having a PAC and the important work it does to encourage small contributors to participate in our representative democracy and to advance the political goals of the business community and its many constituents. Although the impact of Jan. 6 weighs heavily on our thoughts and actions, its important to not lose sight of the value of a PAC, which has been borne out for decades. Rise above the noise of anti-PAC chatter, both internal and external, and be proud of your PAC.

Craft a long-term strategy. Use this as an opportunity to revitalize interest in your PAC by planning for future success. Build a value proposition, focusing on long-term objectives, rather than short-term goals. Have the conversation about the type of political engagement that is in the best interest of the organization, rather than reacting to a set of events that may soon be in the rear-view mirror.

Educate, educate, educate. Promote your PACs long-term strategy to stakeholders. The need for PACs has not diminished, but the anti-PAC rhetoric leads people to the opposite conclusion. Educating stakeholders about the value of the PAC will be critical to overcoming todays criticism and help insulate against the next wave.

But dont stop there. Transparency is key to maintaining momentum for your PAC. Share information through annual reports, weekly or monthly political and legislative updates, and testimonials from your employees, members, and officeholders. Be aggressive in distributing information to your constituents so your storythe real storyis louder than the misinformation.

Solicit small. Emphasize small-dollar participation in this environment and broaden your donor base. Giving a political voice to small donors is one of the many virtues of a PAC. And over time, broader participation will drive future growth and ensure success for the long term. The intent is to create a vast, educated constituency that will rally behind your organizations political efforts.

Jan. 6 was a historical moment, but the current anti-PAC sentiment should have no place in it. For decades, business PACs have been accepted as fully transparent participants in federal political campaigns. They are subject to strict limits and encourage political participation and awareness by even the most modest of contributors. These are virtues to promote and celebrate.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. or its owners.

Write for Us: Author Guidelines

Caleb P. Burns, partner in Wiley Rein LLPs Election Law & Government Ethics Practice, represents participants in the U.S. political process on compliance with all aspects of campaign finance, government ethics and lobbying laws.

Trey Richardson, managing partner of Sagac Public Affairs, creates and implements finance, communications and market research for Americas business political action committees and advocacy organizations.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of Wiley/SAGAC or their clients.

Read the original:

Navigating the Current Anti-PAC Sentiment - Bloomberg Tax

Edinburgh City Council has approved plans to add a plaque to the St Andrew Square landmark - denouncing Henry Dundas role in deferring abolition of the slave trade and his role in expanding the British Empire.

The approval has been welcomed by activists, with one leading campaigner saying the Scottish people are big enough to take on their whole history.

The Category A-listed monument pays tribute to Henry Dundas, the 1st Viscount Melville, the trusted right hand man of Prime Minister William Pitt and at one time the most powerful politician in Scotland.

He was instrumental in the Scottish Enlightenment, the prosecution of the French Revolutionary Wars and British colonial expansion in India.

However, Dundas is a controversial figure in Scottish history, due to his role in subjugating indigenous populations in the British Empire and for his part in delaying the abolition of the slave trade.

He was the Scottish Lord Advocate, an MP for Edinburgh and Midlothian, and the First Lord of the Admiralty.

As first lord of the admiralty, Dundas deliberately prolonged slavery to protect the elite in the 1800s forcing about 630,000 slaves to wait more than a decade for their freedom.

In June 2020, during a Black Lives Matter demonstration in the city, the monument was vandalised.

Now, Edinburgh City Councils development management committee has approved an application by Edinburgh World Heritage and Essential Edinburgh for the installation of a plaque on the Melville Monument that will outline his misdeeds.

The planning application for the plaque attracted over 2,200 comments from members of the public.

The plaque reads: While Home Secretary in 1792, and first Secretary of State for War in 1796 he was instrumental in deferring the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade.

Slave trading by British ships was not abolished until 1807. As a result of this delay, more than half a million enslaved Africans crossed the Atlantic.

Dundas also curbed democratic dissent in Scotland, and both defended and expanded the British empire, imposing colonial rule on indigenous peoples.

The plaque concludes: In 2020 this plaque was dedicated to the memory of the more than half-a-million Africans whose enslavement was a consequence of Henry Dundass actions.

The idea of a plaque on the statue first raised its head in 2016, when Adam Ramsay, the editor of OpenDemocracy started a petition which was handed into the council.

Commenting on the approval, he said: Scotland needs to come to terms with our historic role in the violence and plunder of the British Empire.

This is one very small step in the right direction.

Chas Booth, Green councillor for Leith, who was convener of the council's petitions committee in 2016 when the petition for a plaque on the monument was first raised, said: Im delighted this plaque has finally got the planning green light.

Its vital that Edinburgh addresses the impact of its past links to slavery and colonialism, and this plaque is an important step towards that.

We must listen to the black and minority-ethnic community in the city and the Black Lives Matter movement, who have asked us to address all memorials to those with links to colonialism and slavery.

Its just a shame that this plaque has taken nearly five years since the petition was first brought to the council, and I hope the work of the Edinburgh Slavery and Colonialism Legacy Review Group won't take so long."

Sir Geoff Palmer, chair of the Edinburgh Slavery and Colonialsm Legacy Review Group, has previously called for statues to remain where they are and for educational information to be made available at the sites, as he believes that if you remove the statue you remove the deed, and our statues are in the context of our history.

Commenting on the approval of the slavery plaque, Sir Geoff said: Henry Dundas statue, with his old plaque, has been there for about 200 years, and the word slavery wasnt on it - it didnt teach us anything about slavery.

What is important about this plaque, is that for the first time in 200 years slavery will be mentioned here.

This is the publics victory, that the governing body of Edinburgh has looked at the evidence, looked at the evidence very carefully, and decided that slavery should be on this plaque, and that some recognition should be given to the suffering of the people, who not only endured slavery as whole, but of the 630,000 people he was responsible for transporting into slavery.

This is an enormous victory, not just for the people of Edinburgh, but for the people of Scotland, because theyve acknowledged that they were involved in slavery and have now decided to do something about.

I can assure you that some of the people who dont want this plaque, with slavery on it, they would rather the statue would come down, because thats the power of the plaque and the truth of the plaque.

Those activists and self-serving people who think theyre doing the Scottish people a favour by telling lies, those people would rather the statue down because they think theyre moderating Scotlands role in slavery by not telling the truth.

The Scottish people are big enough to take on their whole history.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

See the article here:

'An enormous victory for Edinburgh and the people of Scotland' - reaction to Melville Monument slavery plaque - Edinburgh News

CHEYENNE The Wyoming Legislature has considered repealing the death penalty many times. But its only come close once.

In 2019 Rep. Jared Olsen (R-Cheyenne) the first Republican champion after years of Democratic sponsorship picked up the mantle of death penalty repeal, taking on the subject from an angle of government mistrust and fiscal conservatism, rather than the traditional moral argument against the state-sanctioned killing of a human being.

Though the state has not ordered an execution since that of convicted killer Mark Hopkinson in 1992, simply keeping the death penalty on the books costs Wyoming more than $1 million each year, Olsen explained. Actually trying a capital-punishment case costs taxpayers millions more, he argued.

A long-held stereotype is that conservatives in this country favor capital punishment, while liberals oppose it, Olsen wrote in a2019 op-ed in the New York Times. But that doesnt accord with reality: In recent years, more conservatives have come to realize that capital punishment conflicts irreconcilably with their principles of valuing life, fiscal responsibility and limited government.

But after passing the House of Representatives that winter, Olsens bill House Bill 145 Death penalty repeal-2 failed to pass an introduction vote in the Senate. Nearly two-thirds of the chamber voted against it.

Two years later, the repeal effort has again taken root, this time in the same body that killed it so resoundingly two years ago. Sen. Brian Boners (R-Douglas) Senate File 150 Death penalty repeal advanced out of committee last week to the Senate floor. The House of Representatives, meanwhile, preemptively passed abudget amendment to defund the states death penalty program should the Senate choose to repeal it.

Those arent the only differences this time around. The bill also comes on the heels of a multi-year public awareness campaign by an unlikely coalition of faith leaders, conservative groups and liberal advocacy organizations to bring a permanent end to the death penalty in Wyoming.

Its a formula that some close observers of the legislature hope might finally prove successful in a state that has long rebuffed the measure.

The first test of the groups influence could come as soon as this week, as the Senate begins whittling down a stack of bills on general file. Advocates, who said they sought to work through the Senate first as a strategic choice, are optimistic about the odds.

I think that as long as we focus on the facts, I think we have a really good chance of getting through the Senate this year, Kylie Taylor, the Wyoming coordinator for pro-repeal group Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, said.

Prior to a1972 United States Supreme Court decision banning states from performing executions due to the arbitrary and capricious nature of those laws, Wyomings territorial and state government successfully executed 25 men. All had been convicted of murder.

The death penalty was reinstated a half-decade later, and in the years since, the state has executed just one man Hopkinson. Death penalty prosecutions also remain rare, with just one such case, Dale Wayne Eaton, having taken place in the last decade.

Proponents say the death penalty serves as an effective deterrent to violent crime, and can be used as a bargaining chip for prosecutors in gaining information from those theyve charged with violent crimes. Many supporters also believe the penalty should be an option for families seeking justice.

Those in favor of abolishing the death penalty, meanwhile, argue the rarity of its employment by the criminal justice system justifies ending the practice. Death penalty cases are expensive and arduous, they say, and are emotionally draining on the families of victims and perpetrators, creating a cycle of trauma that rips open scars already slow to heal.

Christal Martin, a Wyoming resident who lost both her mother and husband in separate murders, favors abolishing the penalty.

Losing her mother at 8 years old, she said she had difficulty processing what had happened to her and her family. She spent the next several decades learning about restorative justice in the judicial system, she told lawmakers during a hearing on the death penalty repeal bill earlier this month, and eventually met with the perpetrator on what she called a mission of forgiveness.

When her own children lost their father 22 years after her mothers murder, Martin found herself confronting the issue again, she said. The offender who killed her husband had a family of his own a 5-year-old daughter and a wife. Martin, who has previously written about the insufficient resources she received from the states victim services division to cope with that loss, did not want to inflict another set of wounds, she said.

At that point in time, I knew the loss of two family members through a violent crime, she said in her testimony. And in no way would I ever invite for somebody to go and be put to death, by my hand or by the judicial system, and cause a chain reaction of trauma.

Supporters of repeal also offer statistical evidence that challenges the death penaltys effectiveness. Groups like the American Civil Liberties Union have argued there is no credible evidence that the death penalty deters crime more effectively than long terms of imprisonment, according to a policy brief. Some research has argued murder rates are actually lower in states that have banned the death penalty, though a sweeping review of existing research by the National Academy of Sciences in 2012 found insufficient evidence to support whether the death penalty was an effective deterrent to violent crime or not.

Critics have argued the efficacy of the death penalty also depends heavily on the infallibility of the justice system itself. According to the non-partisan Death Penalty Information Center, since 1973 atotal of 185 people who were sentenced to death have been exonerated of the charges against them, while at least 20 were executed despite standing questions about their guilt.

Its no longer debatable that innocent people can and do get sentenced to death, and some have been executed, the Death Penalty Information Centers executive director, Robert Dunham, told lawmakers. The data raised serious questions as to whether we can trust our governments to carry out the death penalty fairly, honestly and reliably.

One of those innocent individuals was Ray Krone, a Pennsylvania man and a military veteran who was wrongfully sentenced to death for murder based off the shape of a bite mark on the victim before his name was cleared by DNA testing. In his own testimony to lawmakers earlier this month, Krone argued the potential for the government to get it wrong was enough to do away with the death penalty. For those who are guilty, the death penalty is the easy way out, he said.

If youre about the death penalty and you want people to suffer, you make them wake up each and every day in our justice system, in our prisons, he said. So if you want them to suffer, you make them see that every day what they made that family have to go through.

Others feel Wyoming should keep the measure on its books. Jennifer Burns, a Cheyenne resident who testified against the bill earlier this month, said that she considered the death penalty not only a tool for prosecutors, but a choice for the victims of violent crime, particularly for the most heinous and gruesome examples of homicide.

If my family is brutally murdered, I want that choice, she said.

As a legislative candidate in the 2020 Republican Primaries in Cheyenne, Burns said she had asked every potential voter on the campaign trail about their support for the death penalty, and heard almost no opposition.

That is really the wish of Wyoming residents, she said.

The only other person to testify against the bill echoed those desires, even with the potential for mistakes to be made.

If someone hurts my family, I want to hurt theirs, said Jim Merryfield, a Cheyenne resident who testified against repealing the death penalty.

Id like to keep the option open, to be able to put them to death if I feel that its necessary, he added. Decisions have to be made, right or wrong. Are some mistakes going to be made? Probably But to take it off the table is to say they dont have to fear it anymore.

The majority of Americans support capital punishment, according to nationwide Gallup polling data. But that support has been shrinking: in 1996 the approval rating reached its all time high of 80%, today the figure is 55%.

They say support for the death penalty runs a mile wide and an inch deep, and its so true, Taylor said. Support for the death penalty is high until you take a look at the facts. And once someone is willing to look at the facts and accept them for what they are, its really hard to continue supporting the death penalty.

Where support has remained consistent over the years, according to Gallup, is among white conservatives, who still approve of the death penalty at overwhelming margins to liberals and in particular, people of color a group thats disproportionately represented among death-row inmates.

Researchers have presented numerous arguments for why that demographics belief in the death penalty has been so steadfast. However, it is within peoples religious beliefs where support for the death penalty remains the strongest. According to research compiled by the DPIC, those who identify as religious maintain some of the highest percentages of death penalty supporters.

In Wyoming, however, the religious community has been an integral part of the campaign to repeal it. During testimony earlier this month, representatives of numerous religious organizations testified in-favor of the bill, with some sharing personal experiences in dealing with the death penalty.

Should offenders face consequences for their actions? Absolutely, Ashley Engel, the associate director of pastoral ministry at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Cheyenne, said in her testimony earlier this month. Is death a fair penalty? Absolutely not. Death is not justice.

And knowing the tie between religion and support of the death penalty, organizers opposing it here have made religion a centerpiece of their campaign. Between public rallies in Cheyenne and numerous events on platforms like Facebook Live, groups like Taylors and ACLU of Wyoming have focused significant attention on organizing with religious organizations, while the Catholic Diocese of Cheyenne has evolved from a quiet supporter of repeal to a vocal player in the coalitions broader efforts in recent years.

We have to think about where our inconsistencies lie, Deacon Mike Leman said. It hit me at one point, like there is no good time to commit a murder. But if you plan it ahead of time, thats worse. If you involve others in the planning, thats even worse. But were paying the state to do the exact same thing. Theres a lot of inconsistencies there.

For two years, Taylor and individuals like ACLU Wyomings Sabrina King have worked to build a coalition that reaches people where they are at their most receptive through their computer screens, through their churches and their pastors and through conversations that force them to reckon with their emotions at their rawest. The number of people willing to engage in those conversations, Taylor said, has grown steadily since the death of the 2019 repeal bill, allowing her coalition to grow from just a handful of individuals then to dozens of groups statewide today.

Repeal is so important to so many of us that individuals who usually arent aligned politically are willing to come together to make this happen, she said.

Whether that will be a winning combination remains to be seen. Facing crippling budgetary shortfalls last year, Gov. Mark Gordon said he was considering a moratorium on the states death penalty, calling it a luxury the state can no longer afford. And while executions continue across the nation, the quantity has been in decline: a fact proponents of repeal see as a sign the United States position on the death penalty may be turning a corner.

I think that the abolition side is eventually going to prevail, David Gushee, an ethicist at Mercer University who has studied religions ties to the death penalty, said. It may be that some states will keep the death penalty on the books, but they are increasingly using it less. The number of actual executions is dropping dramatically. There must be reasons for that.

See the original post here:

Coalition aims to make 2021 the year Wyo repeals death penalty - WyoFile

BESSEMER, Ala. The South has never been hospitable to organized labor. But that may be changing with an important test in Alabama, where thousands of workers at an Amazon campus are deciding whether to form a union.

Labor organizers and advocates see the David-and-Goliath fight as a potential turning point in the region with a long history of undervalued labor and entrenched hostility to collective bargaining rights. A win could have economic and political ripples for the labor movement and its Democratic Party allies who want a stronger foothold in the South amid decades of dwindling union power nationally.

This election transcends this one workplace. It even transcends this one powerful company, said Stuart Appelbaum, national president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. If workers at Amazon in Alabama, in the middle of the pandemic, can organize, then that means that workers anywhere can organize.

The mere presence of a national union figure like Appelbaum in Alabama underscores the stakes.

The Amazon vote comes as Democrats and Republicans are battling fiercely for working-class voters. Over decades, many white workers have drifted toward Republicans, attracted in part by cultural identity and an anti-establishment posture. Thats left Democrats looking to refine their economic pitch, arguing their party is the one fighting for higher wages, better working conditions and more affordable health care.

A win in Bessemer, where the vast majority of the workforce is Black, would have additional significance as a launch pad for new political organizing in the South, where Democrats want to build on recent successes.

That could prove decisive in newfound battlegrounds like Georgia, which Biden pulled into the partys presidential column for the first time since 1992 and where Democrats won two Senate races. It could be a building block in GOP-dominated states like Alabama and Mississippi. And any domino effect nationally could boost Democrats in old industrial Rust Belt states like Pennsylvania and Ohio, where Republicans have gained ground.

Biden drew plaudits from labor leaders with a recent video address pushing the right to organize through free and fair elections, although he did not directly mention the Amazon campaign.

The ongoing mail vote by almost 6,000 workers is the largest union push ever at Amazon, one of the worlds wealthiest companies. The election, which runs through March, also ranks among the largest single organizing efforts in Southern history. It follows a series of failed organizing votes at automobile assembly plants Nissan in Mississippi in 2017, Volkswagen in Tennessee in 2019, among others that have flocked to the region over the last three decades.

Wages in this region have been depressed from the time of slavery, said historian Keri Leigh Merritt, because weve always had these competing underclasses of different races that white elites, from the South and elsewhere, have been able to play off each other.

The result, Merritt said, is nearly all laborers being paid below the national market.

The 2019 median household income in the U.S. was $62,843, according to Census Bureau data. In Bessemer, part of an industrialized swath outside of Birmingham that once teemed with steel mills, that figure was $32,301.

We just want whats owed to us, said Kevin Jackson, a worker at the distribution center.

Jackson, who is Black, compared Amazon wages, which start at $15 an hour, about double minimum wage, to the fortune of company founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, whose net worth measures in the hundreds of billions.

When you kick a dog so many times, hes going to bite, Jackson said. Were biting back.

The unions election overlaps with Biden and Democrats in Congress pushing the PRO Act, legislation that would overhaul labor law to make organizing easier. The bill represents the most significant labor law change since the New Deal era and follows a decades-long slide in union membership. In 1970, almost a third of the U.S. workforce were unionized. In 2020, that number was 10.8%.

The House approved the overhaul Tuesday on a largely party line vote, but it faces almost certain defeat in the 50-50 Senate where major bills require at least 10 Republican votes to avoid a filibuster.

Even without that law, labor leaders say the Amazon result could be a springboard for labor organizing nationwide. Regionally, a win would provide a roadmap for a Southern workforce unaccustomed to unions as a routine part of the economy.

Mary Kay Henry, president of the Service Employees International Union, said the Alabama workers are inspiring, and added that her union and others are watching closely as they mull expansion.

Organized labors Southern deficit is glaring: all 11 states of the old Confederacy have so-called right to work laws, which allow workers in unionized shops to opt out of paying union dues even as they retain the benefits and job protection negotiated by the union. That weakens unions by reducing their membership and their negotiating leverage. Most Southern states also bar public employees from collective bargaining.

The entire region lags national union membership when measured as a percentage of the workforce. For example, the United Auto Workers has more than 400,000 members, but just 12,000 in Southern states, despite the regions abundance of internationally owned auto plants and associated suppliers.

Merritt, an expert on Southern labor politics, drew a straight line from the pre-Civil War economy to the current climate.

Before slaverys abolition, she said, white workers were threatened explicitly or implicitly with being replaced by slaves, stripping them of any leverage with employers. After emancipation, free Black laborers and poor white laborers had to compete in a devastated agricultural economy that struggled to rebuild itself from the war. Eventually, northern industrialists entered Southern markets, joining white Southern land barons to take advantage of cheap labor in industries including textiles, steel and mining.

The trend continued as the regional economy expanded with chemical plants and oil refineries in Texas and Louisiana, shipbuilding along the coasts and, eventually, auto plants from Texas to the Carolinas.

Generations of Southern elected officials Democrats and Republicans perfected their pitch to outside firms.

They always offered major tax breaks and basically sold people on moving their factories South by saying, look, we can offer you rock-bottom labor prices and labor laws that will always favor employers, said Merritt.

Some observers say that history should temper expectations.

The political power of business and corporate leaders and the anti-union power in the South are still quite strong, said Duke University emeritus professor Robert Korstad, an expert on Southern labors evolution. So its not going to be anything easy.

Amazon, which has a long record of beating back organizing campaigns, has held mandatory sessions to tell workers a union would command dues when they already get the kind of compensation benefits, including health insurance, that unions negotiate.

We believe we already offer everything the unions are requesting and that we highly value direct communication with our employees, said company spokeswoman Heather Knox.

Amazon offered a similar message to Democratic elected officials who joined Appelbaum on a recent visit. Members of Congress welcome to Bessemer, an electronic sign in the facilitys parking lot read. Please match Amazons $15/hour minimum wage.

All House members there already had supported a $15 wage bill.

The union organizers have a sign of their own in Bessemer one that hints at the broader political possibilities beyond the campaign. Outside the Amazon warehouse is a banner depicting voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams credited as an early architect of Bidens win in Georgia as a Rosie the Riveter character, an iconic symbol of workers power.

We can do it, the banner reads.

Bill Barrow, Associated Press

Looking for more retail coverage? Click here to read all retail news and updates. Click here to subscribe to D-FW Retail and more newsletters from The Dallas Morning News.

See the original post:

Labor union targets Amazon as a foothold in the South - The Dallas Morning News