November 7 , 2008

IN THIS ISSUE:

UNIONS WILL DEMAND VOTES FROM OBAMA
NET LOSS OF TWO FOR GOP IN STATE HOUSE?
5 THINGS YOU SHOULD WATCH FOR IN THE FIRST 100 DAYS OF OBAMA'S ADMINISTRATION
MARIETTA KMART STORE CLOSING AFTER 44 YEARS
CIRCUIT CITY SHUTTERS 19 GEORGIA STORES
CAR SALES FALL TO LOWEST RATE IN 25 YEARS


Unions Will Demand Votes From Obama

Today unions represent just 7.5% of the nation’s workforce, but with the House, Senate and White House set to be under Democratic control they are setting a 20% to 30% goal. Will your business be a target?

After investing more that $400 million in campaign contributions this year, the nation’s unions will be pushing hard during the first quarter of 2009 for Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). Organized labor’s top priority is to remove private ballot elections from union organizing campaigns and to allow a federal arbiter to decide employee wages, benefits and workplace conditions. Given the bill’s primary importance to Labor as a means of greatly increasing its membership numbers and political influence, early consideration in inevitable.

President-elect Obama is a supporter of the EFCA although it is unclear how he will use the bully pulpit to push for the legislation. A vote is expected to occur in the House of Representatives as early as late January or early February of 2009, where the more heavily Democratic make up will make it virtually impossible to stop the bill.

The Senate could then take up the bill as early as February. Although the Senate’s strong Democratic majority (with at least 56 or 57 Democrats) and a probable cloture vote from Republican Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, likely bring the vote close to the 60 votes needed for cloture, we remain in a position to block or significantly modify EFCA. It is now imperative that we work to hold every moderate Republican and work with those Democrats who have expressed reservations with the bill in an effort to get them to oppose the measure.

Here in Georgia, it is also vitally important that incumbent Senator Saxby Chambliss win his run-off election against Jim Martin.

Net Loss of Two for GOP in State House?

From incomplete returns, it looks at this point that Georgia House Republicans will have a net loss of two seats when the General Assembly meets next January, trimming their majority from 107 to 105. Democrats will have a net gain of two, boosting their numbers from 73 to 75.

Republicans appeared to have lost or were losing four seats:

HD 38, Democrat Pat Dooley defeated incumbent Republican Steve “Thunder” Tumlin
HD 104, Democrat Lee Thompson defeated incumbent Republican John Heard
HD 140, Democrat Bubber Epps leads incumbent Republican Allen Freeman by a 50.4% to 49.6% margin
HD 95, an open seat, was won by Democrat Toney Collins

However, Republicans won two Democratic seats:

HD 8, Republican Stephen Allison defeated incumbent Democrat Charles Jenkins
HD 28, Republican Michael Harden defeated incumbent Democrat Jeanette Jamieson

There were no Tuesday night upsets in the Senate, which next year will continue to have a 34-22 Republican-Democrat split.

5 Things You Should Watch for in the First 100 Days of Obama's Administration

1. Plenty of promises to deliver on

Mr. Obama has defined three big issues for his first 100 days: working to bring combat troops home from Iraq in a little more than a year; beginning a plan to achieve universal health care coverage; and getting started on a far-reaching energy plan.

During 20 months of campaigning, he also has promised many other things will gain his immediate attention, among them: immigration reform; a strict ethics code; a review of President Bush's executive orders, particularly those dealing with warrantless wiretaps, the Guantanamo Bay prison and interrogation techniques; and a rural policy summit in Iowa with accompanying legislative proposals to Congress.

2. The faltering economy as a game-changer

Restoring the economy's health will likely drown out most other priorities. A sinking economy could force Mr. Obama to shift his goals, perhaps even delaying his promised tax increase on the wealthy or his expansion of health care to the uninsured.

When ABC's George Stephanopoulos pressed him recently on whether he would push the tax increases if the economy were in recession, Mr. Obama said, "No, no, no, no, no. ... I think we've got to take a look and see where the economy is. ... We're going to have to re-evaluate at the beginning of the year to see what kind of hole we're in."

If Mr. Obama put off tapping that revenue source, though, it would rob the government of the money he says he would use to expand health care.

3. Withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq

Mr. Obama has promised to finish the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops within 16 months, and he has said the work will start on his first day. The Joint Chiefs of Staff will find themselves in the Oval Office on January 21, he says, being handed a new mission "to end this war, responsibly and deliberately, but decisively." Mr. Obama's vow to pay for all his new programs could suffer a blow if he can't withdraw troops from Iraq and use that $10 billion a month elsewhere.

A pullout could come sooner than he plans. If the Iraqis refuse to sign a new security deal to keep U.S. troops in the country after December 31, Mr. Obama would face a huge potential crisis: the vast logistical nightmare of removing tens of thousands of American forces and vast stores of materiel from a country that still bristles with fighters who would be willing to attack departing forces.

4. 'Signal to the world' on energy

Responding to a donor's question at a fundraiser in May, Mr. Obama said his top goals for his first 100 days would include an immediate "signal to the world" on the nation's commitment to alternative energy.

That signal could be something less ambitious than the $15-billion-a-year energy plan he touted on the campaign trail. He might make a dramatic personal appearance at the international climate change negotiations set to begin in December, or order the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

The advantage of such acts: Neither requires public money or congressional approval.

5. A new White House-Congress relationship

Even with stronger Democratic control in the House and Senate, you shouldn't expect everything to be smooth sailing between Mr. Obama and congressional leaders. Democrats don't speak with one voice on big issues such as the Iraq war, health care and energy independence.

Congress tends to move slowly on major legislation and has difficulty tackling more than one big issue at a time. Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton are widely viewed as having squandered opportunities by pursuing a muddle of initiatives at the outset.

In style, Mr. Obama could also find himself at odds with congressional Democrats or his constituency. That also happened to Mr. Carter and Mr. Clinton, though they are more conservative than the congressional wing of their party, while Mr. Obama is at home with the liberal wing. © 2008 The Augusta Chronicle

Marietta Kmart store closing after 44 years

The store at 1140 Roswell Road near Cobb Parkway began liquidating its stock on Sunday, October 2. Doors will close for good on January 4, 2009.

The store, in operation at the same location since 1964, is closing for underperformance. No other Georgia Kmart is scheduled to close, although half-dozen others across the country will also shut their doors.

The retailer’s 65 employees will be offered jobs at nearby Sears and Kmart stores. The Sears Holding Corp., headquartered in Illinois, which owns Kmart, reported a 62 percent drop in second-quarter profits.

CIRCUIT CITY SHUTTERS 19 GEORGIA STORES

Circuit City Stores will be closing 155 of its more than 700 U.S. stores by December 31. The stores are spread throughout 28 states, including multiple locations in areas like Phoenix and Atlanta. It is laying-off about 17 percent of its domestic work force, which could affect up to 7,300 people.

Stores which will be closing in the following communities: Acworth, Alpharetta, Atlanta (4), Bogart, Buford, Conyers, Cumming, Douglasville, Duluth, Hiram, Kennesaw, Macon, Morrow, Newnan, Snellville, and Warner Robins.

Circuit City will also reducing future store openings and aggressively renegotiate certain leases.

Car sales fall to lowest rate in 25 years

General Motors' October U.S. sales plunged 45 percent, and Ford's and Chrysler's weren't far behind, as low consumer confidence and tight credit combined to bring the industry's sales to an "unsustainably weak level" that is the worst in 25 years.

Automakers sold 838,156 vehicles in October, 32 percent fewer than the same month last year and the worst performance since January 1991, according to Autodata Corporation and Ward's AutoInfoBank. The seasonally adjusted annual sales rate of 10.6 million vehicles was the lowest since February 1983.

Chrysler's sales tumbled 35 percent and Ford's dropped 30 percent. Toyota's sales fell 23 percent despite its zero-percent financing offer, and Nissan and Honda posted 33 percent and 25 percent declines, respectively.

Overall, General Motors Corp. sold 168,719 vehicles in October, while Ford Motor Co., including its Volvo brand, sold 132,278 light vehicles and Chrysler LLC's sales totaled 94,530 units.

Despite the steep drop, GM's total was enough to keep it ahead of Toyota Motor Corp. for the number one U.S. sales spot. Toyota, which rolled out an offer of zero-percent financing during the month, sold 152,101 vehicles. The Japanese company's light truck sales fell 34 percent, while car sales dropped 15 percent.

Honda Motor Co.'s sales fell to 85,864 vehicles as truck sales fell 29 percent. But sales of cars from its Acura luxury division rose 6 percent.

Nissan Motor Co. sold 56,945 vehicles, and its truck sales dropped 52 percent.


Thank you.
 
 
John C. Heavener, MSM, CAE
President
johnh@georgiaretail.org
Telephone – 770-484-3449, ext. 21
Fax – 770-484-5727
 
Georgia Retail Association
 
About GRA: The Georgia Retail Association, with membership that comprises all retail formats and channels of distribution including department, specialty, discount, catalog, Internet, independent stores, and grocery stores has been serving the state’s business community since 1961. The Georgia Retail Association represents an industry with more than 71,300 retail establishments, and more than 715,000 employees - about one in five of Georgia’s workers - and 2004 sales of $115.2 billion.

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