Selma auto workers asks union to go away
Workers at a Selma auto supplier have signed a petition asking the United Auto Workers union to “leave this business and us, its employees, alone.” About 80 percent of workers at the Lear Corporation-owned Renosol Seating plant signed an April 6 petition asking the UAW to stop investigating a nearly year-long dispute, The Montgomery Advertiser reports. “We do not need this union or any union here,” the petition says. Last May a public relations firm representing the workers said about three-quarters of the plant’s 90 workers had respiratory problems associated with a chemical used during manufacturing. Federal regulators found air quality at the plant to be within federal guidelines, and Lear says some workers are engaging in baseless scare tactics orchestrated by the UAW. Since then, the plant fired one of the workers who spoke out about the claims and is suing her for defamation. The firing has spawned a federal whistleblower retaliation investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor. The union blasted the recent petition in a statement Thursday, accusing the plant’s management of using illegal tactics to coerce workings into signing it. “It is perfectly clear that the ‘petition’ was misrepresented to workers over the six-plus months that management has been circulating versions of it,” read a statement attributed to the Selma Workers Organizing Committee. Plant production worker Jacqueline Atkins disputed that claim and said management had no role in the petition. “Everybody read it and signed it of their own free will,” Atkins said. “We were not forced. We were not tricked. Nobody threatened us any kind of way.” Republished with permission of The Associated Press. Photo Credit
Uber, Lyft ridesharing in Alabama gets mixed reaction from lawmakers
Lawmakers can’t agree whether bringing an app-based ride-hailing service like Uber or Lyft to Alabama is a good thing. Just this week, House lawmakers declined to vote on legislation by Rep. Jack Williams that would have forced the companies to operate under greater state supervision. Legislators’ responses to the bill were mixed, according to reporters at the hearing, ranging from concerns over sexual assaults of passengers to the low proposed registration fee. That may not be surprising, since the public is reporting mixed views on ridesharing. Uber and Lyft are mobile-app based ridesharing networks. In a nutshell, they provide passengers who need a ride with a driver able to provide it. Passengers can use a smartphone to schedule a ride alone or to arrange to share with several strangers headed the same way. Riders in major cities worldwide are already using the service. Though both companies are privately-owned and not required to issue financial projections, Uber is projected to earn upward of $10B in 2015; Lyft is expected to generate $1B in revenue. Uber has already made several attempts to break into Alabama markets: Tuscaloosa, Huntsville, Birmingham and Auburn. Last year, Uber launched a social media campaign to rally supporters in Birmingham to the idea and block the city’s attempt to add regulations to their model. Hundreds of tweets using the hashtag #BirminghamNeedsUber showed overall support from would-be passengers. Birmingham resident Amanda Watkins tweeted “Friends in Alabama: If you want to have a good time in Birmingham and a safe ride home, then support @Uber! #BirminghamNeedsUber” In Wednesday’s hearing, Hoover City Council member John Lyda reportedly said that he was in favor of bring the model to the state, saying it would bring “choice and competition” to his residents. Former driver Harry Poole said, “When I was in Auburn, everybody loved Uber,” and that parents would often tell students to call Uber rather than a traditional taxi service. But some have voiced concern over Uber’s tiered approach to service. In an interview, Birmingham City Council president Johnathan Austin said that cheaper UberX version was problematic because of lower driver requirements and training: “We want Uber but With UberX you just don’t know because it’s a different model. So you could have a driver who might not have been trained, you could have a driver who does not know the city.” The company maintains that its insurance and training requirements help to ensure passenger safety. “All uberX rides are insured up to $1M per incident–twice what is required of taxicabs in Birmingham,” Uber officials said in that same story. “Drivers must pass rigorous background checks at the county, state and federal level before they are ever allowed access to the technology.” Despite the company’s assurances, there have been several reports alleging driver misconduct in Alabama and nationwide. The company’s launch in Tuscaloosa quickly devolved into a fight with city officials over ordinances that govern taxi services. Soon after that, an Uber driver was caught in an undercover sting and charged with ordinance violations along with several drug and alcohol offences. Uber and Lyft have also been the subject of lawsuits by passengers, with allegations including negligent driving, assault, and sexual assault. In fact, Birmingham City Councilor Kim Rafferty cited concerns over passenger safety in a leaked email exchange with Mayor Walt Maddox. In her email, Rafferty suggested the formation of an ad-hoc committee to work with ridesharing companies in and out of the state on a model that meets regulatory and safety concerns. “Change in the on-demand for hire transportation industry is coming,” she said. “We need to be not just prepared but proactive.” No vote from lawmakers on Wednesday could mean that – for good or ill – change is unlikely to come to Alabama in this legislative session. In the interim, Uber has taken another approach to attracting local fans. The Uber in Alabama Twitter accounted tweeted on Friday, “Though regulations prevent us from connecting you with rides in #Birmingham, we can still connect you with giving” with a link to have an Uber driver pick up donations and drop them off at a Goodwill center in Birmingham.
AP-GfK Poll: Doubts about Hillary Clinton’s honesty after emails
Americans appear to be suspicious of Hillary Rodham Clinton‘s honesty, and even many Democrats are only lukewarm about her presidential candidacy, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll. Is she strong and decisive? Yes, say a majority of people. But inspiring and likable? Only a minority think so. Clinton’s struggles to explain her email practices while in government, along with questions about the Clinton Foundation and Republican criticism of her openness, wealth and trustworthiness seem to have struck a nerve in the public’s perception of the dominant Democratic figure in the 2016 campaign. In the survey, 61 percent said “honest” describes her only slightly well or not at all. Nearly four in 10 Democrats, and more than six in 10 independents agreed that “honest” was not the best word for her. Even so, she is viewed more favorably than her potential Republican rivals, none of whom are as well-known as the former secretary of state, senator and first lady. With Clinton facing little competition on the Democratic side, Republicans are trying to make questions about her integrity central to the early 2016 campaign. They paint her as a creature of Washington who flouts the rules to get ahead. Her use of a private email account run from a server kept at her New York home while serving as secretary of state has fed perceptions that she had things to hide. And questions are swirling about foreign donations to the family’s charitable foundation and whether that money influenced her work at the State Department. James Robins, an independent voter from North Carolina, says his generally positive opinion of Clinton has shifted over the past few months, as more details have emerged about her email usage and foundation fundraising practices. “She and her family think they’re above everything,” he said. “She intentionally destroyed all the evidence on that server. And when you look at some of her other stuff recently it’s equally as bad.” Clinton said last month that she used a personal account out of convenience. She deleted about 30,000 emails that she has described as personal in nature and has declined requests from congressional Republicans to turn over her server for an independent review. The survey suggests that many Americans aren’t buying Clinton’s explanation: A majority said they believe she used a private address to shield her emails from transparency laws and they think she should turn her server over to a third party for further investigation. At the same time, the public is split over whether her email usage is a significant issue for her presidential aspirations: Less than a third — 32 percent — said it was a major problem, 36 percent rated it a minor problem, and 31 percent said it’s not a problem at all. Only 20 percent said they’re paying very close attention to the email story. “We don’t have the whole picture and all the information that we need to make a judgment,” said Ruth Johnson, of Moorhead, Minnesota. “Will she show everything that was emailed? Or has she eliminated a lot of stuff we’ll never know about?” Still, Clinton’s overall ratings remain the strongest in the emerging presidential field and are essentially unchanged since two AP-GfK polls conducted last year. Forty-six percent of Americans express a favorable view of Clinton, slightly more than the 41 percent who express a negative opinion. No potential Republican candidate in the poll had significantly greater positive than negative ratings. Polls generally showed Clinton with a much higher approval rating while she was secretary of state. Opinions of her have become more polarized as she has re-entered partisan politics, as they were when she vied for the Democratic nomination for president in 2008. Despite Clinton’s dominance in the early primary field, the survey suggests that some in her party would be open to a challenger. Among Democrats, only 34 percent said they were excited by her candidacy while 36 percent described themselves as merely satisfied. Another 19 percent said they were neutral, and 9 percent were disappointed or angry. “I wish there was somebody else,” said Kenneth Berger, of New York City. “She always has a problem.” ___ The AP-GfK Poll of 1,077 adults was conducted online April 23-27, using a sample drawn from GfK’s probability-based KnowledgePanel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.4 percentage points. Respondents were first selected randomly using phone or mail survey methods, and later interviewed online. People selected for KnowledgePanel who didn’t otherwise have access to the Internet were provided access at no cost to them. ___ Online: AP-GfK Poll: https://www.ap-gfkpoll.com Republished with permission of The Associated Press. Photo Credit: AP Photo/The Canadian Press, John Woods
Jeb Bush on Baltimore police charges: ‘The process works’
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Friday that he trusts the legal process that resulted in charges against six Baltimore officers in the death of a man from injuries sustained while in police custody. But a president, said the likely 2016 Republican candidate, could do more to address rising anger toward police in poor neighborhoods. “I think we need, as a nation, to have a conversation about why is it that we’re creating these big pockets of poverty,” he said. Speaking shortly after charges were announced in Freddie Gray‘s death in Baltimore, Bush said “the process works, and it will go forward from here on out. People are innocent until proven guilty.” At the same time, Bush stressed that in any time of disaffection, the first responsibility is to make sure the rule of law applies. There are “ways to protest peacefully, but when you cross the line and you start doing damage to property and harming people, innocent people, that’s a problem. “ Bush met Friday morning with dozens of supporters at the North Carolina Republican Party headquarters in Raleigh as he edges closer to a decision on whether he’ll seek the GOP presidential nomination. “It’s not that far off,” he told the crowd of his decision. Bush was expected to make several more stops in the state, including a private meeting with supporters in Charlotte. In remarks to his Raleigh audience, Bush warned against retrenchment in foreign policy, saying the U.S. needs to maintain a strong presence in global security. “When we pull back, what happens?” he asked. “Voids are filled. They’re filled by these new barbarian Islamic terrorist threats.” And “our friends have no confidence that we’re going to have their back, and our enemies don’t fear us.” On poverty, Bush said better education, help for small businesses in poor neighborhoods and a focus on “committed family life as an organizing principle” are part of the remedy, not another “war on poverty” by the federal government as was launched in the 1960s. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
GOP chairman Reince Priebus: Campaign prep just as important as nominee
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus cautioned GOP faithful on Friday that they won’t recapture the White House if the party gets too obsessed with choosing its nominee while Democrats continue to outpace Republicans on campaign tactics. “We have become a candidate-crazy party to the detriment of all the mechanics,” Priebus told hundreds of GOP donors and activists at a South Carolina party dinner. Describing the 2012 nomination fight as a “total disaster” and a “traveling circus,” Priebus said the Republican National Committee has learned its lesson. The party is spending millions of dollars this year to build a database that will help identify millions of likely Republican voters — an exercise unabashedly modeled after the success of President Barack Obama‘s two national victories. “Now we’re the ones buying the data licenses so that we know who to target and how to target,” Priebus said. “Somebody has to get that done.” The national GOP also condensed the primary calendar and reduced the number of debates, with the party taking a stronger role in choosing the format and moderators. Now, Priebus said, it’s Republican voters’ responsibility to avoid a “slice-and-dice festival” that he said left the 2012 Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, in a weak position as he tried to unseat Obama. The chairman’s warning comes less than nine months before the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary start the nominating calendar. South Carolina follows a few weeks later; the winner of the GOP primary here captured every Republican presidential nomination from 1980 to 2008. (Newt Gingrich won South Carolina in 2012.) Home-state Sen. Lindsey Graham, who has been traveling in Iowa and New Hampshire, suggested Friday that he was close to launching a formal campaign as he shared the stage with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a declared candidate, and potential candidates Rick Santorum and Rick Perry. “As to what happens in the coming months, get ready,” Graham said. “Get ready for a debate that’s been long overdue within the party.” He later added: “To Iowa and New Hampshire, hello. To South Carolina, you have my heart.” Graham would be considered a long-shot, but his aides and backers believe his foreign policy experience in the Senate, his outspoken advocacy for an aggressive U.S. international presence and his blistering critiques of Obama’s international policy can propel him in a crowded field, amid widespread voter concern about security issues. He hit those themes in his brief remarks. “To our enemies, get ready, because there’s a new way of business coming,” he said. “To our friends, get ready for the America you used to know.” The would-be 2016 rivals avoided any intra-party barbs at the GOP affair. “I don’t think there’s anybody in this country that knows foreign policy better than Lindsey Graham,” said Perry, the former Texas governor. Graham praised Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, as a champion opponent of abortion. Cruz hailed the “incredible array of talent we have in 2016,” then used the praise to mock the Democratic presidential field, which officially consists of Hillary Rodham Clinton and Bernie Sanders, a Vermont senator who has identified himself as socialist. The Democrats’ primary, Cruz said, for now “consists of a wild-eyed socialist with dangerous views on foreign policy … and Bernie Sanders.” South Carolina Republicans will reconvene Saturday, with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush joining the list of potential candidates taking the stage. The state’s primary was a key victory for Bush’s father, George H.W. Bush, in 1988 and his brother, George W. Bush, in 2000. Republished with permission of The Associated Press. Photo Credit: AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File
