Labor Law

Business - Capitalism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - EFCA - Government - Jobs - Labor Law - Liberals - Ohio - Pensions - Public Employees Unions - Senate - Unions - Warner Todd Huston - Washington D.C.

Ohio Senator Brown: Card Check is Dead

March 25, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Hill newspaper has an interesting quote from Ohio Democrat Senator Sherrod Brown. He says the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), of the Card Check bill is a dead issue in the senate this year.

Senator Brown was being interviewed on WVIZ radio in Ohio when he was asked what he thought about the success of the EFCA in the Senate for the 112th Congressional session. “It’s not going to happen now,” the senator said.

If this is true then Big Labor should be extremely upset with President Obama and the Democrat leadership in congress. Will they take out their anger by withholding their enthusiastic support of Democrats in 2012?

One would think that this singular failure of the Democrats to get Big Labor’s most wished for legislation passed would be a deal breaker for labor. After all, labor has spent over $400 million in the last few years on getting Democrats elected and it seems that all that money went for no benefit to them. Labor’s loss of power has grown commensurately with its expenditure on Democrats, anyway.

Like old dogs that cant learn new tricks, though, it is likely that they will double down and try to pump more money than ever into the pockets of pliant Democrats. Like a beaten wife they keep coming back, it seems.
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Ohio Senator Brown: Card Check is Dead”

Budget - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Government - Judges - Labor Law - Law - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - Regulation - Scott Walker - Taxes - Teachers Unions - The Law - Unions - Warner Todd Huston - Wisconsin

Wisconsin Judge Maryann Sumi & Her (SEIU, AFL-CIO) Political Operative Son

March 23, 2011 by 5 Comments

-By LaborUnionReport.com

There’s nothing like a judge’s love for her son to cloud her otherwise-cloudy judgment.

On Friday, unions scored a temporary victory to maintain their ability to collect union dues from Wisconsin public employees when Judge Maryann Sumi (the same judge who refused to order striking teachers back to work in February) issued a Temporary Restraining Order preventing the implementation of Wisconsin’s new law governing public-sector unions.

Via the Wall Street Journal:

Judge Maryann Sumi said a lawsuit filed by the Dane County district attorney had enough merit for her to issue a temporary restraining order to prevent Secretary of State Doug La Follette from publishing the bill while she reviews the case.

This is a problem. Judge Maryann Sumi should have recused herself entirely from the Wisconsin battle due to her inability to be neutral in this case. You see, Maryann Sumi has a clear conflict of interest. Her son is a political operative who also happens to be a former lead field manager with the AFL-CIO and data manager for the SEIU State Council. Both the SEIU and the AFL-CIO have members who are public-sector employees in Wisconsin. In fact, as a federation, the AFL-CIO can boast of several member-unions that represent public-sector employees. Maryann Sumi is hardly an unbiased judge in the matter.
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Wisconsin Judge Maryann Sumi & Her (SEIU, AFL-CIO) Political Operative Son”

9/11 - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Government - Labor Law - Law - Liberals - Lobbyists - Nevada - Police - Security/Safety - Senate - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Now That He’s Won, Reid’s Paying Back Unions

November 30, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Harry Reid survived his brush with electoral death winning yet another term as Nevada’s Senator. Reid knows what side of his bread is buttered, too. Big Labor gave him millions in campaign donations and Reid knows who he owes — or rather who owns him. Now that he’s fairly won he’s promising his patrons in Big Labor that he intends to push one of their favorite laws.

Reid has said that one of his first priorities will be to push a cloture vote on the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act (S.3992) that he ramrodded earlier this year.

This act is focused on the unionization of the nation’s police, firemen and other first responders. It would replace with federal rules all state laws on collective bargaining between state and local governments and their first responder unions and would greatly empower unions to dictate pay scales and benefits on a national level.
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Now That He’s Won, Reid’s Paying Back Unions”

Anti-Americanism - Conservatives - Democracy - Democrats/Leftists - DOJ - Elections - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Labor Law - Liberals - Regulation - Republicans - Rights - Texas - Warner Todd Huston

King Street Patriots And Voting Chaos: State Officials Don’t Know What County Officials Are Up To, Rules Terminally Unclear

November 1, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

For those of you following along, I have been here in Houston, Texas all week following the spirited, grassroots, all-volunteer efforts of the King Street Patriots and their True The Vote project as they fan out across Houston as poll watchers assuring that early voting has been free, fair, and legal. They are poised to do the same for November 2, the final day of voting.

It has been enlightening, not to mention educational, to sit here at the King Streeter’s HQ observing the poll watcher training sessions. Harris County Democrats have charged that the Streeters are “overzealous and undertrained,” but as I watched the extensive training sessions (some of them observed by Civil Court Judge R. Jack Cagle) it was clear that the Democrats are at once uninformed of what is actually going on here and engaging in mindless partisan sniping.
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King Street Patriots And Voting Chaos: State Officials Don’t Know What County Officials Are Up To, Rules Terminally Unclear”

Anti-Americanism - Business - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - EFCA - Elections - Government - Jobs - Labor Law - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - Regulation - Right To Work - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

As America Votes, Obama Angling to Take Vote Away From Workers

November 1, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

As Americans prepare to head to the polls to exercise their right to a secret ballot on election day, the Obama administration is poised to roll back that right in the workplace. By Obama’s orders, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is looking over a policy change that would undermine the protections for a worker’s right to a secret ballot vote in union elections in the workplace.

This elimination of a secret ballot is one of the policy changes that Big Labor has been pushing for several years now and is a chief component of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) — better known as card check – a policy that Big Labor has been desperate to force Congress to pass.

Card Check would take away the right that workers have to a secret ballot when considering whether or not a union will be awarded representation at the workplace. This elimination of the secret ballot would leave workers open to the intimidation of union operatives who would be able to identify precisely which worker does and which worker does not support them. The secret ballot is one of the oldest, democratic rights in free and fair elections but unions want this right summarily taken away by federal order.
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As America Votes, Obama Angling to Take Vote Away From Workers”

Business - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Ethics - Government - Labor Law - Liberals - Lobbyists - President - Public Employees Unions - Regulation - SEIU - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Obama Rules That SEIUs Law Breaking is OK By Him

October 19, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

With a recent Federal Election Commission decision Obama’s government has ruled in favor of the SEIU’s illegal kickback scheme and decided that such law breaking it is A’OK as far as he is concerned.

Ostensibly, FEC law states that unions cannot require member locals to pay a specific amount of money into a union’s political action committee (PAC) fund. PAC contributions by the locals are supposed to be voluntary and not forced by rules from the main HQ. This year, however, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has handed down rules from its Washington HQ that locals must send $25,000 each to the SEIU political PAC or face a “fine” of $37,500 from the main office in DC. This clearly violates FEC rules.
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Obama Rules That SEIUs Law Breaking is OK By Him”

California - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Government - Judges - Labor Law - Law - Liberals - Nancy Morgan

Gloria Allred Should Be Disbarred

October 9, 2010 by

-By Nancy Morgan

Media hound Gloria Allred should be disbarred.

Representing an illegal immigrant who is a former housekeeper of Meg Whitman, who just happens to be running for Governor of California, Ms. Allred has taken to the airwaves in a blatant, if not illegal attempt to tar Meg Whitman with the label of liar just ahead of the California gubernatorial election.

Ms. Allred appeared with her client Nicky Diaz Santillan on national television yesterday to show what a big meanie Meg Whitman is. With tears dripping down her cheeks and a quavering voice, Santillan detailed how (Republican) Meg Whitman abused her. She was actually forced to drive a car and allegedly Whitman refused to pay her overtime.
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Gloria Allred Should Be Disbarred”

Barack Obama - Business - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Government - Jobs - Labor Law - Liberals - President - Senate - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Senate Dems Pushing Another Big Union Payoff

September 24, 2010 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Senate Democrats, Harry Ried in the lead, are once again attempting to bestow a big payoff to unions by attempting to defeat Senate Resolution 30.

This resolution would turn back a union payoff that Democrats slipped by the nation last May. A rules change made by Obama’s National Mediation Board, a federal agency that regulates relations between labor unions and businesses, changed the way union votes are governed.

The rule change allowed unions to tabulate pro-union votes by counting a majority of those employees voting in a particular election instead of counting the majority of all the employees of a company. In other words, if a company has 50,000 employees but only 2,000 vote in a union election, the majority of the 2,000 is what counts toward a majority. This means that a tiny minority of a company’s employees could impose union rules on the majority.

This is little else but stealth enactment of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA).
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Senate Dems Pushing Another Big Union Payoff”

AFL-CIO - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Government - Labor Law - Liberals - Pensions - President - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Unions Struggling to Get Members to Rally Behind Dems

September 18, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

When voters are not enthused even unions find it harder to get their supporters to rally to an election and this is one of the worst years for Democrats on record. Unions are finding their efforts hard slogging just like the rest of the Democrat Party is. It’s so bad even The New York Times is reporting the Union’s woes.

As we’ve repeatedly talked about here, The Times reports that Big Labor is pumping millions into the Democrat’s pockets in hopes of fighting off the conservative Tea Party enthusiasm out there this election year. Apparently, though, unions are finding that, like other Democrat constituencies, their members are not “feeling particularly enthusiastic about the party.”

Unions have been bitterly disappointed by Obama. When they voted for him only 2 years ago they thought that they had won the battle for all the freebies and payoffs that they’d ever want. But they’ve been frustrated by key losses — such as an inability to get cap and trade, green initiatives, and their most desired legislation the Employee Free Trade Act (EFCA).
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Unions Struggling to Get Members to Rally Behind Dems”

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Government - Jobs - John Kennedy - Labor Law - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - Regulation - SEIU - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Majority of Union Members Now Work for Government

September 9, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

It is the most important hill that folks interested in good government have yet to conquer and that is the elimination of government employee unions. The Heritage Foundation reports the sad and disgusting news that the majority of union members now work for government, an intolerable situation to say the least.

The BLS’s annual report on union membership shows the labor movement’s decline in membership continued in 2009. While a full 23.0 percent of Americans belonged to labor unions in 1980, by 2008 only 12.4 percent did. In 2009, that figure dropped slightly to 12.3 percent.[2] There are now 15.3 million union members in the United States, 770,000 fewer than in 2008.

…What is newsworthy, however, is another figure reported by the BLS: 52 percent of all union members work for the federal or state and local governments, a sharp increase from the 49 percent in 2008. A majority of American union members are now employed by the government; three times more union members now work in the Post Office than in the auto industry.

This is a travesty. Unions are one of the main causes of budgets going into the red in states all across the country. The incestuous relationship between politicians greedy for union political contributions and unions donating to them in order to get ever grater pay and benefits (all conveniently cutting out the will of the voters and destroying good, fiscally responsible government) has about ruined this country.
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Majority of Union Members Now Work for Government”

Barack Obama - Budget - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Government - Labor Law - Law - Liberals - President - Regulation - SEIU - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

SEIU’s Illegal Fund-Raising Scheme

September 7, 2010 by 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, has an interesting expose in the Washington Examiner revealing how the U.S. government has decided to allow an obviously illegal fund-raising scheme that the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) invented to fuel its spending on political causes and campaigns.

The SEIU has decided to fine any of its locals that does not meet a $25,000 Political Action Committee (PAC) contribution limit. The fine imposed is $37,500. This means that union headquarters is telling the locals that they MUST donate a “voluntary” $27,000 or face this exorbitant fine.
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SEIU’s Illegal Fund-Raising Scheme”

AFL-CIO - Business - Capitalism - Crime - Economy/Finances - Jobs - Journalism - Labor Law - Liberals - Media - Media Bias - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Violence Soaked AFL-CIO Prez Calls Palin a McCarthyite?

September 3, 2010 by 12 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

For his Labor Day weekend trick, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka leveled the charge of McCarthyism at former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. This is a bit rich from a guy with blood on his hands — and I don’t say that figuratively, either.

At a September 2 meeting sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor, Trumka claimed that “Palinism” was the “new McCarthyism” and warned that if she kept up her rhetoric she would be guilty of inciting her followers. “She can’t use loose language that foments… that anger to hatred, or that action to violence,” Trumka said.

The comments were “totally consistent,” Trumka said. “She has taken on a position of leadership, and whether it is rightfully given to her or not, she is there. And so she can’t use loose language that foments … changing that anger to hatred or that action to violence.” He continued, “If she doesn’t change her ways, then Palinism will be equated with other forms of McCarthyism that fomented division among the populace and acts of hatred among the populace.”

This is a bit rich from a guy that has the death of a non-union worker in New York on his head. Michelle Malkin does the good work of reminding us all of the violence that Trumka has supported in the past.

Meet Eddie York. He was a workingman whose story will never scroll across Obama’s teleprompter. A nonunion contractor who operated heavy equipment, York was shot to death during a strike called by the United Mine Workers 17 years ago. Workmates who tried to come to his rescue were beaten in an ensuing melee. The head of the UMW spearheading the wave of strikes at that time? Richard Trumka. Responding to concerns about violence, he shrugged to the Virginian-Pilot in September 1993: “I’m saying if you strike a match and you put your finger in it, you’re likely to get burned.” Incendiary rhetoric, anyone?

And Malkin also chronicles the time when Trumka incited violence in Illinois.
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Violence Soaked AFL-CIO Prez Calls Palin a McCarthyite?”

Bill Brady - Budget - Business - Economy/Finances - Elections - Free Trade - GOP - Government - Illinois - Illinois State Government - Immigration/Immigrants - Labor Law - Law - Regulation - Republicans - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Bill Brady Advocates a Path to Citizenship for Illegals

August 8, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

GOP Gubernatorial candidate BIll Brady told the attendees of a Hispanic business leaders at Chicago’s Navy Pier that we need to offer some sort of path to citizenship to the illegal aliens now living in the US.

Brady said that we need more legal immigration because our birth rate isn’t robust enough to keep the country growing.

If we wanna grow as a nation, and as a state we have to realize one of the principles that this nation was founded on and that’s immigration. Ladies and gentlemen the birth rate in this country will not allow us to grow at a rate we need to grow at, and we need to bring real reform to immigration policy and open the doors so we can see a growth rate in this country of four percent or greater. The lack of reform and the lack of immigration in this state and country is crippling our economy and our quality of life.

Brady did not offer any numbers to supplement his feeling that we needed more immigrants but he went on to say that he thinks the U.S. government should implement a policy penalizing illegals while offering them a way to become legal citizens.

In a press release Brady said:
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Bill Brady Advocates a Path to Citizenship for Illegals”

Budget - Business - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Education - Government - Jobs - Labor Law - Law - Liberals - Morals/Sex - Public Employees Unions - Regulation - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston - Wisconsin

As Fellows Lose Jobs Union Fights For Stiffer Drug Benefits: Free Viagra

August 7, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Unions have for years been figuring out new ways to screw employers and in Madison, Wisconsin a teacher’s union is looking for yet another way to slam it to the taxpayers by insisting that they get a free Viagra drug benefit.

In this bad economy, with states going bankrupt right and left, with teachers being laid off all across the country are Wisconsin’s teachers getting serious about negotiations and thankful they have a job at all? Apparently not, because in this dismal employment environment these teachers are trying to get free sex enhancement drugs.

The amorous union has demanded that a judge order the administration to reinstate the Viagra drug benefit that was sliced from the budget in 2005 to save money. And this demand comes at the same time that 482 teachers in Milwaukee have received layoff notices.
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As Fellows Lose Jobs Union Fights For Stiffer Drug Benefits: Free Viagra”

Associated Press - Business - Capitalism - CNN - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Free Trade - Government - History - Journalism - Labor Law - Liberals - Media - Media Bias - New Hampshire - NPR - Regulation - Taxes - Unemployment - Warner Todd Huston

Down Economy: America’s ‘Oldest Family Farm’ Up For Sale

August 3, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

In a sign of these dismal times, the oldest family farm in America is up for sale because its owners just cannot survive this down economy. After 378 years of contiguous family ownership and operation, the Tuttle family of Dover, New Hampshire is selling its 134-acre farm.

Founded in 1632 by John Tuttle fresh off the boat from the Old World, the Tuttle family farm has moved on with the times, improved and changed to continue operating. But, at long last, this economy is too much for them to bear.

Curiously, the Associated Press worked very hard to downplay the economic side of this argument in its coverage and instead played up the fact that the Tuttles are aging and have decided to discourage their own sons from taking up the family business. The APs story also turned the focus away from the bad economy and toward blaming WalMart and the “growth of supermarket chains.”
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Down Economy: America’s ‘Oldest Family Farm’ Up For Sale”

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Government - Jobs - Labor Law - Liberals - President - Regulation - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Is The American Middle Class Disappearing?

August 1, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Michael T. Snyder has a disheartening piece in the New York Post today that lays out 25 statistics that shows that the American middle class is dying. Snyder tells us his statistics “prove that the middle class is being systematically wiped out of existence in America.” Further he says, “the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer at a staggering rate.”

Snyder’s main point is that increasing government regulations on business is making it more and more expensive to employ people and that, in turn, is causing middle income jobs to disappear.

This echos the recent post I made where economics professor Richard Timberlake said that this current recession was made by overweening government regulations not by a failure of the market.
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Is The American Middle Class Disappearing?”

Arizona - Democrats/Leftists - Immigration/Immigrants - Labor Law - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - SEIU - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

L.A. Union Member’s Dues Used for Pro-Illegal Alien Bus Tour

July 28, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

A few days ago Michelle Malkin received an email from an outraged Service Employees International Union (SEIU) member in Los Angeles who was mad that his dues money was going to pay for a pro-illegal alien bus tour planned by union leaders.

The tour was supposed to start in L.A. and end up in Phoenix, Arizona and was meant to highlight the supposed evils of Arizona’s SB1070, the anti-illegal immigrant law that has been so much in the news. The union member that contacted Malkin was apparently “furious” over the union’s plans.
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L.A. Union Member’s Dues Used for Pro-Illegal Alien Bus Tour”

American Enterprise Institute - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Card Check - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Free Trade - Government - Jobs - Labor Law - Liberals - President - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Unemployment - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

AEI: More Unions Means Fewer Jobs

July 22, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

In April Lee Ohanian of the American Enterprise Institute published a paper on the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) that is a must read. But this month he published a shorter piece that is just as interesting. In it, Ohanian claims that if we increased unionism as the Obamaites want to do, we’d actually lose jobs; 4.5 million of them to be precise.

Obama has spent his entire year in office (hard to believe this much destruction only took a year) looking for ways to pay unions big dividends and despite that Congress has been dragging its feet on unions’ most cherished legislative agenda, the EFCA, Obama has been bending over backwards for them (as we discussed here).
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AEI: More Unions Means Fewer Jobs”

Business - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Government - Jobs - Labor Law - Liberals - New York - Public Employees Unions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

No Problems With Union Nap Time

July 15, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Do you get paid to sleep on the job? The union employees of New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority apparently do. And if caught sleeping on the job, the punishment seems to be just a slap on the wrist, a wink and a nod, and business as usual afterward. All at $33 dollars an hour of the taxpayer’s money.

Must be nice “work” if you can get it?

Arnold Ahlert tells us of parking lots filled with MTA employee’s cars many of which contain pillows and blankets, supervisors locking themselves in offices for a soothing nap, and unions fighting to prevent any attempt to stop the outrageous practice of union members sleeping on the job.

Ahlert is yet another voice echoing our contention that unions are antithetical to good government.
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No Problems With Union Nap Time”

Barack Obama - Business - Campaign Finance - Capitalism - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - DOL - Government - Labor Law - Liberals - Lobbyists - President - Public Employees Unions - Regulation - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Unions Violating Disclosure Rules

July 10, 2010 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

When Barack Obama took office, one of the early things he did was install Hilda Solis, a long-time union operative, as head of the Department of Labor. And one of the first things she did was to ease the reporting requirements on unions, softening the violation of disclosure rules.

In August of 2009 Labor Sec. Solis immediately let it be known that her department would no longer initiate “enforcement actions against union officers and union employees based solely on the failure to file” the LM2 disclosure forms. Since that time two major unions have been caught filing inaccurate lobbying reports and disclosure statements.

Politico reports that the Center for Public Integrity has found that the “National Association of Letter Carriers have failed to detail the group’s specific lobbying activities, as required by law.” In May the group also found that the Maritime Officers union had also violated disclosure rules and had been doing so for a decade.
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Unions Violating Disclosure Rules”

Business - Cook County - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Education - Government - Illinois - Labor Law - Liberals - Regulation - Warner Todd Huston

Worst Teachers Rewarded by Unions, New Teachers Abandoned

June 29, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Last week the Chicago Tribune published an editorial detailing the biggest reason why unions as they have operated in the U.S. for decades are an illegitimate venture. The Trib published a plea to new Chicago teachers union chief Karen Lewis not to protect the bad teachers under her charge and to help the younger teachers that haven’t yet proved to be bad for kids by allowing the bad ones to be laid off without complaint.

The Trib’s editorial called the practice of keeping bad teachers “dancing lemons,” revealing the sad practice of shuffling bad teachers around the system instead of firing merely because they may have tenure on the job. While new teachers are automatically laid off due to budget cuts, teachers that have a disciplinary problem or a troubled history are kept because they’ve been on the job longer. This is wrong and reflects badly on the union and teachers alike, not to mention that it leads to a bad education for our kids.
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Worst Teachers Rewarded by Unions, New Teachers Abandoned”

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Government - Health - Labor Law - Law - Liberals - Pensions - President - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Obama’s Healthcare Give Away to Union Special Interests

June 16, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

One of Obamacare’s new rules states that if your employer finds it necessary to change healthcare providers to a more cost effective plan they will lose their federal health plan exemptions. This will cause employers to drop employees from health plans forcing workers onto government sponsored plans. So much for Obama’s hoary idea that you can “keep your doctor if you like him.”

Of course, this harmful new rule only applies to 80 percent of America’s workforce because the other 20 percent, those that are union members, are getting a special deal from their pal Barack Obama.

At issue is the definition of the “grandfathered” health plan which is different for those plans initiated by collective bargaining and those simply instituted by an employer. The requirements for unions have been made far less stringent than those of non-union employers.
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Obama’s Healthcare Give Away to Union Special Interests”

Budget - Economy/Finances - Education - Jobs - Labor Law - Liberals - Media - Media Bias - Newspapers - Regulation - UAW - Warner Todd Huston

Just a Quick Example on How Bad Writing is in the Old Media These Days

June 14, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Here’s how bad writing is in the media. In a Reuters story about unions making concessions is this amusing line:

“Under Gettelfinger, the UAW agreed to allow new workers to be hired at about $14 per hour — about half of the $28 base rate for existing autoworkers.”

Uh, per my math, 14 IS half of 28. It isn’t “about half.” Nice writing there al Reuters!

Now, a better way to say it would have been:

“Under Gettelfinger, the UAW agreed to allow new workers to be hired at about half the $28 base rate for existing autoworkers.”

More precise, less wordy and makes sense. It was pretty poor work by Reuters. I know I make my share of mistakes, but then again, I’m just blogging here. I don’t have editors!

Barack Obama - Business - Democrats/Leftists - Free Trade - Government - House of Representatives - Immigration/Immigrants - Jeff Lukens - Labor Law - Law - Liberals - Mexico - President - Security/Safety - Senate - Taxes

Just Finish the Dang Fence

June 14, 2010 by

– By Jeff Lukens

Why did building the fence along our southern border stop? Instead of building the fence, Barack Obama would rather build a political party of illegal aliens and their supporters. Unless we want to be dealing with immigration problems in perpetuity, the fence must be completed.

In a recent commentary, Sen. Jim DeMint reported:

“Four years ago, legislation to build 700-miles of double-layer border fence along the Southern border was supported by then-Sen. Barack Obama and signed into law by President Bush. Yet, only a fraction of that fencing is in place today.”

“According to staff at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), only 34.3 miles double-layer fencing has been completed along the Southern border.”
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Just Finish the Dang Fence”

Budget - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Free Trade - Government - Jobs - Labor Law - Liberals - New Jersey - Public Employees Unions - State Government - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Teachers Union Extorts Parents for Campaign Cash

June 10, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The indispensable Mark Hemingway of the Washington Examiner recently caught another union outrage. This time it’s the teachers union in New Jersey trying to extort cash from parents directly, as opposed to merely extorting cash from parents through their taxes.

Hemingway alerts us to a New Jersey parent that was aghast that the NJ teachers union would be so blatant as to send a letter home with her child suggesting a novel new way to raise funds for teachers.

As both she and the letter she handed me stated, my daughter was to accomplish chores around the house with the goal of being paid by me for those chores the sum of $20. She would then have to hand the full $20 over to the school to make up for the shortfall in their overall budget which, ultimately, disallowed the kids to go on yet another class trip.

This parent was so incensed at the “mandatory” aspect of the fund raising letter that she called the school to complain. She was assured that despite all the rhetoric about it being mandatory, it was just a “suggestion.” The parent was, of course, skeptical of the later claim.
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Teachers Union Extorts Parents for Campaign Cash”

Anti-Americanism - Business - Children - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Education - Freedom - Government - Labor Law - Liberals - Marines - Massachusetts - Military - Public Employees Unions - Regulation - Teachers Unions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Union Bullies U.S. Marine

June 9, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

In the upside down world of unions, if you aren’t on their side you are an enemy to the country… even if you are U.S. Marine of 20 years service and have been a highly recognized teacher in a ROTC program for 14 years. Because he refused to become a union member and has accrued $500 in unpaid dues the union thugs at North High School in Worcester, Massachusetts had retired Major Stephen L. Godin fired from his ROTC teaching position.

“It just seems crazy that they’re gonna fire me over $500,” said Maj. Stephen L. Godin, senior naval science instructor at the Naval Junior ROTC Unit of North High School. “Everyone’s talking about finding good teachers – I haven’t missed a day in 14 years.”

It is crazy, especially considering the reason why Major Godin refused to join the union. He isn’t just a hide-bound, anti-unionist — not that these aren’t good reasons themselves. He has a dang good reason for not wanting to join the union.
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Union Bullies U.S. Marine”

Children - Chris Christie - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Government - Labor Law - Liberals - New Jersey - Pensions - Public Employees Unions - Teachers Unions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Gov. Christie Knows Teachers Unions are the Schoolyard Bullies

June 4, 2010 by

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has decided that to protect our children’s futures beating the schoolyard bully is the way to go. But who is the bully? Is it the sign carrying, whiney teachers? No, it’s their powermongering, kid unfriendly unions pushing teachers to act like bullies.

The unions are the bullies and THAT is who Christie is staring down!

So far THIS governor is the real deal.

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Texas Prohibits Unions Taking PAC Money from Teachers’ Paychecks

May 18, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Well, here is a victory against union thuggery. The Texas Attorney General’s office has released an opinion (GA-0774) that prevents school districts from implementing automatic payroll deductions as directed by teachers unions from the paychecks of teachers for union spending on political action committees.

Here’s the most relevant paragraph as it appears in the summary at the end of the decision. (download .pdf file)

Because the Legislature has not expressly or impliedly authorized school districts to process payroll deductions for contributions to political committees such as TSTA-PAC and NEA-Fund, Texas laws prohibits school districts from processing such contributions.

So teachers unions in the Lone Star State will no longer be allowed to forcefully remove money out of teachers’ paychecks to that they can spend it on left-wing political causes. This decision will not prevent teachers from individually sending their dues to political causes nor will it prevent unions from spending on PACs and political causes but it will prevent the schools from using school resources to make the deductions and for using school accounting departments to keep track of those deductions.
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Texas Prohibits Unions Taking PAC Money from Teachers’ Paychecks”