SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Kentucky GOP Supermajority Just Gutted Women's, Workers' Rights
General Assembly on Saturday passed seven bills during a special session
Jan 09, 2017
Republicans, now wielding total control of the Kentucky state legislature for the first time in nearly a century, exerted their power this weekend to pass a slew of measures that weaken workers' and women's rights.
The passage of the seven bills by the General Assembly during a special session on Saturday, as the Daily Independent reports, is unusual, as, normally, "the legislature passes little or no legislation during the first four days of the biannual 30-day 'short session' using the initial week for organization."
The bills attacking women's reproductive rights are SB5, which bans abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, with no exceptions for victims of rape or incest, or for fetal anomalies; and HB2, which requires doctors to show women seeking an abortion an ultrasound image of their fetus before the procedure takes place.
Affecting workers, the lawmakers passed HB1, a so-called right-to-work bill. As Reuters explains, it gives "workers the right to work in union-represented shops and receive union-negotiated benefits without paying dues to the representing body." The General Assembly also passed passed HB3, which gets rid of the law that meant workers on public construction projects were required to earn the prevailing wage, as well as SB6, which requires workers to make a written request before union dues can be deducted.
The lawmakers also passed also SB3, which requires public disclosure of state lawmakers' pension benefits, and SB12, which replaces the board of trustees at the University of Louisville.
The legislative attack on workers and women was expected, as state Republicans are now "unfettered by Democrats," prompting Democratic Rep. Joni Jenkins to warn earlier this month, "I would say if you're a vulnerable person, if you're a woman, if you're a working man or woman, it doesn't look very good for you this session."
According to various news outlets, hundreds of protesters gathered at the Capitol building on Saturday to decry the measures. WLKY writes that "union workers packed the state Capitol building." The local news also reports Bill Londrigan, president of the Kentucky AFL-CIO, as saying during the protest, "We need you to talk to your elected representatives, at your place of work, at home, in your communities, at the church, in the grocery stores and send them a message that we will send them packing next election cycle."
Gov. Matt Bevin, who called the bills "generationally changing," said they would all go into effect Monday.
* * *
Democracy Now! on Monday spoke with Richard Becker, a union organizer with Service Employees International Union, and Lisa Abbott, a community organizer with Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, about the bills. Watch the segment below:
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Republicans, now wielding total control of the Kentucky state legislature for the first time in nearly a century, exerted their power this weekend to pass a slew of measures that weaken workers' and women's rights.
The passage of the seven bills by the General Assembly during a special session on Saturday, as the Daily Independent reports, is unusual, as, normally, "the legislature passes little or no legislation during the first four days of the biannual 30-day 'short session' using the initial week for organization."
The bills attacking women's reproductive rights are SB5, which bans abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, with no exceptions for victims of rape or incest, or for fetal anomalies; and HB2, which requires doctors to show women seeking an abortion an ultrasound image of their fetus before the procedure takes place.
Affecting workers, the lawmakers passed HB1, a so-called right-to-work bill. As Reuters explains, it gives "workers the right to work in union-represented shops and receive union-negotiated benefits without paying dues to the representing body." The General Assembly also passed passed HB3, which gets rid of the law that meant workers on public construction projects were required to earn the prevailing wage, as well as SB6, which requires workers to make a written request before union dues can be deducted.
The lawmakers also passed also SB3, which requires public disclosure of state lawmakers' pension benefits, and SB12, which replaces the board of trustees at the University of Louisville.
The legislative attack on workers and women was expected, as state Republicans are now "unfettered by Democrats," prompting Democratic Rep. Joni Jenkins to warn earlier this month, "I would say if you're a vulnerable person, if you're a woman, if you're a working man or woman, it doesn't look very good for you this session."
According to various news outlets, hundreds of protesters gathered at the Capitol building on Saturday to decry the measures. WLKY writes that "union workers packed the state Capitol building." The local news also reports Bill Londrigan, president of the Kentucky AFL-CIO, as saying during the protest, "We need you to talk to your elected representatives, at your place of work, at home, in your communities, at the church, in the grocery stores and send them a message that we will send them packing next election cycle."
Gov. Matt Bevin, who called the bills "generationally changing," said they would all go into effect Monday.
* * *
Democracy Now! on Monday spoke with Richard Becker, a union organizer with Service Employees International Union, and Lisa Abbott, a community organizer with Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, about the bills. Watch the segment below:
Republicans, now wielding total control of the Kentucky state legislature for the first time in nearly a century, exerted their power this weekend to pass a slew of measures that weaken workers' and women's rights.
The passage of the seven bills by the General Assembly during a special session on Saturday, as the Daily Independent reports, is unusual, as, normally, "the legislature passes little or no legislation during the first four days of the biannual 30-day 'short session' using the initial week for organization."
The bills attacking women's reproductive rights are SB5, which bans abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, with no exceptions for victims of rape or incest, or for fetal anomalies; and HB2, which requires doctors to show women seeking an abortion an ultrasound image of their fetus before the procedure takes place.
Affecting workers, the lawmakers passed HB1, a so-called right-to-work bill. As Reuters explains, it gives "workers the right to work in union-represented shops and receive union-negotiated benefits without paying dues to the representing body." The General Assembly also passed passed HB3, which gets rid of the law that meant workers on public construction projects were required to earn the prevailing wage, as well as SB6, which requires workers to make a written request before union dues can be deducted.
The lawmakers also passed also SB3, which requires public disclosure of state lawmakers' pension benefits, and SB12, which replaces the board of trustees at the University of Louisville.
The legislative attack on workers and women was expected, as state Republicans are now "unfettered by Democrats," prompting Democratic Rep. Joni Jenkins to warn earlier this month, "I would say if you're a vulnerable person, if you're a woman, if you're a working man or woman, it doesn't look very good for you this session."
According to various news outlets, hundreds of protesters gathered at the Capitol building on Saturday to decry the measures. WLKY writes that "union workers packed the state Capitol building." The local news also reports Bill Londrigan, president of the Kentucky AFL-CIO, as saying during the protest, "We need you to talk to your elected representatives, at your place of work, at home, in your communities, at the church, in the grocery stores and send them a message that we will send them packing next election cycle."
Gov. Matt Bevin, who called the bills "generationally changing," said they would all go into effect Monday.
* * *
Democracy Now! on Monday spoke with Richard Becker, a union organizer with Service Employees International Union, and Lisa Abbott, a community organizer with Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, about the bills. Watch the segment below:
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.