CT Progressive Democrat

News and Views from CT State Representative David McCluskey / Democrat - West Hartford

Thursday, December 27, 2007

New Internet Tool for Executive Pay Comparisons

Last week, the Securities & Exchange Commission launched its first-ever on-line tool that enables investors to compare what the top executives of the 500 largest American companies get paid. The Executive Compensation Reader builds on the SEC's new requirements that went into affect this year to enhance clarity and completeness of executive compensation disclosure.


http://www.sec.gov/xbrl

Friday, December 21, 2007

A new study recently released by John Logan, a lecturer at the London School of Economics, points out that the intensity of employer opposition and government hostility to collective bargaining in the United States is unique among developed nations.

This “repressive character of U.S. labor law, which allows free rein to anti-union employers,” not only hurts workers in the United States and in other nations, Logan said today.


There is growing evidence that consultants, employer groups and multinational corporations are exporting U.S.-originated anti-union strategies to other developed countries such as the United Kingdom and Ireland and to transforming countries such as China.

Strengthening the right to organize and bargain collectively through the Employee Free Choice Act would benefit not only American workers, but also workers in other nations.

Logan’s report,
Unions Facing Hard Times: The Global Crisis in Union Collective Bargaining, shows that Sweden has the highest rate of union membership with 80 percent, while the United States trails at the bottom with 12 percent. Click here to download a copy of the report (PDF).

Thursday, December 13, 2007

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Hartford Courant
December 13, 2007


Airport Congestion Creates Opening

Connecticut has a great opportunity to take advantage of air-traffic congestion problems around New York and New Jersey airports — if we act boldly by expanding air service from Bradley International Airport and build a rail link to the airport from the Springfield-to-New Haven line.

There is simply too much air traffic for JFK, LaGuardia and Newark airports to handle. All suffer from chronic flight delays. Instead of trying to increase the number of flights at these busy airports, the effort should be to reduce the demand. One way would be to increase air service from Bradley.

Now that Bradley has international service, we should try to grow the business and attract more travelers from New York and New Jersey. We can do this most effectively by running a rail line to Bradley and start running trains from Manhattan to Bradley. Not only would this make it convenient for New York and New Jersey airline passengers to get to Bradley, we would make the region more attractive to the business community by providing a one-seat, less-than-two-hour train ride from Bradley/Hartford to New York City.

David McCluskey State Representative D-West Hartford
The writer is co-chairman of the General Assembly's transportation bonding subcommittee.