Public Employees Unions

Budget - Chicago - Children - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Elections - GOP - Government - Liberals - Lobbyists - NEA - Public Employees Unions - Republicans - Taxes - Tea Party - Teachers Unions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston - Wisconsin

Wisconsin State Senators Hide in IL to Prevent Voting

February 18, 2011 by

From the Chicago Tea Party…

Stand with Governor Scott Walker This Saturday in Wisconsin

What is happening in Wisconsin right now could prove to be a turning point in the fight against big government. Democrat State Senators in the state of Wisconsin have decided that the public sector unions are more important than representative democracy and the consent of the people. The voters in Wisconsin elected a Republican Governor, U.S. Senator and state legislature in November, but the Democrats don’t appear to think elections matter. The public sector unions are proving they are only interested in one thing: power.

Increasingly all over the country, Democrats and the unions are trying to create mayhem and disorder in hopes that hardworking taxpayers will just give up. But we’re not going to give up. We need to stand with Gov. Scott Walker in Wisconsin.
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Wisconsin State Senators Hide in IL to Prevent Voting”

Budget - Democracy - Democrats/Leftists - Government - Liberals - Pensions - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston - Wisconsin

Teachers Union Thugs Comparing People to Hitler, Shutting Down Schools, Losing Their Argument

February 17, 2011 by 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

One cannot be a leftist without being a hypocrite. It really is just that simple. The last several days in Wisconsin has again born that truism out, too, as teachers union thugs in the Badger State have indulged every manner of behavior that they have constantly condemned the right for engaging in — even as no one on the right has actually done the things the left charges them with doing.

With the protests that swept down upon the State Capitol in Madison we are seeing the sort of behavior that is the antithesis of democracy. These teacher thugs are flooding into the capitol disrupting the state senate chambers, these teacher thugs are sporting signs with Governor Walker depicted as Hitler, these teacher thugs are attempting to thwart the will of the voters that put a Republican Governor into office to do exactly what he is trying to do, these teacher thugs are even making a pig sty out of the capitol grounds with piles and piles of garbage.
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Teachers Union Thugs Comparing People to Hitler, Shutting Down Schools, Losing Their Argument”

Budget - California - Children - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Larry Sand - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions

Tempest in a Seniority Teapot?

February 13, 2011 by 1 Comment

-By Larry Sand

Does a recent court ruling in Los Angeles really signal the beginning of the end of an unjust teacher seniority system? Or does the decision amount to nothing more than a zero-sum game, favoring some at the expense of others?

A recent “landmark decision” in Los Angeles is said to have made inroads into the way staffing decisions are made in the city’s massive school district. In fact, some say the decision will have national ramifications. But are these claims valid?

When teachers lose their jobs due to layoffs, the state education code says that they must be done by seniority. Hence the last hired is the first fired. Typically, the lowest performing schools are the most impacted because they invariably have a much greater percentage of new hires.
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Tempest in a Seniority Teapot?”

Anti-Americanism - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - GOP - Government - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston - Washington D.C.

Union Boss Says Advocates for Spending Cuts are ‘Mentally Retarded’

February 10, 2011 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

In a perfect example of why unions are the biggest problem for government budget reform, John Gage, President of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), has just pronounced anyone that wants to cut the overly generous pay, benefits, and pensions of government employees are “mentally retarded.” This is the to-the-hilt fight that the unions will go to, not only to keep their cushy remuneration, but to enlarge it still more all on the backs of the working poor taxpayers that don’t have luxurious government jobs.

Gage made the statement during a Feb. 8 march on Washington, DC.

When people say well we just have to pay less in wages whether it’s private sector or public sector, I think they’re mentally retarded to say something like that.

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Union Boss Says Advocates for Spending Cuts are ‘Mentally Retarded’”

AFL-CIO - Budget - Chicago - Cook County - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Government - Illinois - Liberals - Police - Public Employees Unions - SEIU - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

More of Rahm’s Union Troubles

February 9, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

In the race for the Chicago Mayor’s office we have seen quite a lot of evidence that Chicago’s union bosses are not big Rahm Emanuelites. This week we got another hint in that direction as several more unions came out in support of Emanuel’s most serious opponent, Gery Chico.

The Chico campaign added a group of Chicago unions to its previous announcement of endorsements from the Chicago Firefighters and Police unions, a growing coalition that Chico says shows that he has “growing momentum with working families.”

Labor organizations that endorsed Chico today include the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 9, Sheet Metal Workers Local 73, Ironworkers Local 1, Laborers’ District Council of Chicago & Vicinity, Painters District Council #14 and the United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers Local 11, together whose membership encompasses more than 60,000 hard working men and women in the Chicagoland area.

It is interesting to see the unions shy from the Emanuel campaign since Rahm is the presumed heir apparent to the Daley crown not to mention that Rahm has Barack Obama’s overt support. The air of a winner coupled with the favor of a Democrat president is usually more than enough to get unions to line up like good little lemmings. But this is clearly not the case with Rahm Emanuel.
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More of Rahm’s Union Troubles”

Barack Obama - Budget - Democrats/Leftists - Government - Health - Liberals - President - Public Employees Unions - SEIU - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Union Fights to Force You into Obamacre While Getting Waivers for Itself

February 4, 2011 by 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is one of Obama’s biggest donors. Curiously enough, the SEIU is also one of the more than 700 unions and corporations that have gotten waivers from the Obama administration to get out from under some of the oppressive rules of Obamacare. Yet, even as they have been allowed to escape Obamacare’s rules, the SEIU is lobbying hard to make sure the rest of us don’t have as much luck.

The Hill reported that the SEIU lobbied hard against the repeal measure that Senate Minority Leader Republican Mitch McConnell helped bring to the Senate floor earlier this week.

The SEIU sent around a flurry of emails to senate offices.
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Union Fights to Force You into Obamacre While Getting Waivers for Itself”

Budget - Business - California - Democrats/Leftists - Larry Sand - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions

National Education Association: Big Union Bully on the Left

February 1, 2011 by

-By Larry Sand

While anti-bullying programs for students are currently in vogue in our nation’s schools, teachers need to recognize that they too are being victimized.

As president of the California Teachers Empowerment Network (CTEN), I talk to people about teachers and education all the time. Politically speaking, most people think that teachers are to the left of center. But in fact, teachers typically replicate the political population of the area in which they live. A teacher in Los Angeles is more likely to be left of center along with the rest of the local population. The average teacher in Fresno leans to the right, as is the norm for that farming community.

Interestingly, the National Education Association has done some polling on this issue. In the Fall 2010 issue of Education Next, teacher union watchdog Mike Antonucci reports, “NEA members lean no further to the left than any other large group of Americans. The national union conducts periodic internal surveys to ascertain member attitudes on a host of issues. These surveys are never made public, and results are tightly controlled, even within the organization. The 2005 NEA survey, consistent with previous results, found that members “are slightly more conservative (50%) than liberal (43%) in political philosophy.”
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National Education Association: Big Union Bully on the Left”

Budget - California - Democrats/Leftists - Government - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

As We Lose Our Jobs, Unionized CA College Profs Want More

January 28, 2011 by 3 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Without question we are living through the worst economic times in generations and Barack Obama’s policies aren’t helping alleviate the pain. Pain is, indeed, the watchword, too. Nearly everyone knows someone that has lost his job. Nearly everyone has lost money for their retirement. Everyone is feeling the pain. And no one is very sanguine that it’s getting any better. Well, no one but unionized university professors in California, anyway. They are so sure that things are better than ever that they expect constantly growing pay and even richer benefits to be borne on the backs of the taxpayers.

There’s a lesson in this somewhere.

California’s university professor union, the California Faculty Association, has looked upon the crumbling state of California in the economic disaster that is the United States and instead of seeing a goad toward austerity, the CA sees greater spending as an answer to what ails them.

The gal these unionistas have.
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As We Lose Our Jobs, Unionized CA College Profs Want More”

Anti-Americanism - Budget - Children - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Education - Government - Larry Sand - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions

Tribute, Turf Tax and the Teachers Unions

January 28, 2011 by 1 Comment

-By Larry Sand

Before the Reformation, it was common for Europeans to pay Tribute to the Church. People across Europe would have to give something to Rome as a way of submitting to, or showing allegiance to, the church.

Tribute in another form came about in the U.S. the 1920s when organized crime carved up cities and claimed certain areas as their turf. Any legitimate person who wanted to start a business in a gang’s territory would have to pay a street or turf tax to the thugs just to do business.

While these concepts may seem alien to many of us in the West today, people here in our own country that toil away in non-right-to-work states must pay Tribute — in the form of union dues — if they want to be employed in certain professions.

Teachers in 28 states and Washington D.C. fall into this pay-to-play category. While this type of Tribute goes pretty much unchallenged, every now and then something comes up that you’d think would enrage those who are being victimized.
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Tribute, Turf Tax and the Teachers Unions”

AFL-CIO - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Government - Jobs - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - SEIU - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Unions Realizing They Have Bad Reputation, Launch PR Campaign

January 27, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

So, what is the first thing that you do when you find out that everyone hates you? What do you do when you finally come to terms with the fact that you have the worst reputation possible? Do you sit yourself down and reassess your actions to try and pinpoint why everyone thinks you are a jerk? Well, that might be what a serious person or group might do. So, what has the AFL-CIO, the SEIU and other big unions done upon this realization? Why, hired a public relations firm, of course.

After all, the unions can’t possibly be at fault can they? Why, it can’t be the union’s fault that everyone hates them, could it? It simply must be that people out there are too stupid to understand that unions are wonderful, right?
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Unions Realizing They Have Bad Reputation, Launch PR Campaign”

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Constitution - Democracy - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Government - Liberals - NLRB - PLA - President - Public Employees Unions - Regulation - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Obama Now a Regulation Slayer? Hardly!

January 19, 2011 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

On Tuesday, President Obama had an op ed published in the Wall Street Journal. In it Obama insisted that our economy has been hurt by “unreasonable burdens on business” and that the regulatory sector had “gotten out of balance.” He promised that he’d make efforts to trim away regulations costly to business. While the sentiment is certainly a good one, it strains credulity to imagine that Barack Obama would be the one to make those cuts especially in light of the huge regulatory state that Obama has spent enlarging at every opportunity over the last two years.

To be sure Obama needs to gain the confidence of the business community. After all, as far s the business sector is concerned Obama has considered them his number one enemy since he began running for president back in 2006. The economy has stalled precisely because everyone is afraid of what punishment via his regulatory powers that Obama will next mete out to them.

But Obama claims he’s going to change all that and just in time for him to ramp up his 2012 reelection campaign, too. He’s signed an Executive Order, he says, in order to “strike the right balance” between regulation and business success.
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Obama Now a Regulation Slayer? Hardly!”

Arizona - Barack Obama - Budget - Capitalism - Card Check - Congress - Democracy - Democrats/Leftists - DOL - Government - Jobs - Liberals - Nanny State - NLRB - President - Public Employees Unions - Regulation - Right To Work - South Carolina - South Dakota - Taxes - Unions - Utah - Warner Todd Huston

Obama to Sue States to End Worker’s Right to Secret Ballot

January 19, 2011 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Barack Obama has given more payoffs, sweetheart deals, and new favorable regulations to Big Labor than any president in history. They should love him for his incredible largess. Next, in his never ending quest to harm the business community, defy the will of the voters, and give his pals in Big Labor paybacks, Obama’s National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) — a federal labor regulatory agency — is about to sue any state that dares attempt to protect the right of workers to have secret ballots in their workplace elections. The states have made the mistake of sponsoring worker’s ballot protection laws.

Recently the NLRB announced its intentions to sue Arizona, South Carolina, South Dakota and Utah because those states had the gal to implement constitutional amendments to their state constitutions guaranteeing that workers have a right to a secret ballot in union elections.

With this the Obama administration is moving to deny workers their right to a secret ballot, a right that has been sacrosanct in democracies for hundreds if not thousands of years. Why does Barack Obama want to take away the right to a secret ballot? Because his union pals don’t want workers to feel safe voting against a union.
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Obama to Sue States to End Worker’s Right to Secret Ballot”

Children - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Government - Larry Sand - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - Teachers Unions - Unions

Education Reform – Teacher Union Style

January 18, 2011 by

-By Larry Sand

Union leaders have nothing to offer in matters of education reform.

In an absurd editorial, two Los Angeles Unified School District teachers last Friday — both United Teachers Los Angeles chapter chairs — wrote what was supposed to be, in part, a nastygram to LA’s Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. The op-ed, entitled Pipe Down, Mr. Mayor (the name in the print version), takes the LA mayor to task for criticizing the union for which he used to organize. Referring to ed reform, he had called the union’s leadership “the most powerful defenders of the status quo” at a conference in Sacramento last month.

The two angry unionistas attempt to convince Times’ readers that the union is behind some really terrific “progressive” education reforms.

They start off with the usual whine about cuts in education funding, but in the next breath they state that Gompers Middle School “has spent thousands of dollars on classroom libraries for students who have limited access to quality books.” Hasn’t this always been the purpose of school libraries? And by the way, where are the cuts?
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Education Reform – Teacher Union Style”

Anti-Americanism - Budget - Chicago - Children - Cook County - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Elections - Government - Illinois - Illinois State Government - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Emanuel Pushing Anti-Teachers Union Line in Race for Chicago Mayor?

January 11, 2011 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Rahm Emanuel is not the union’s favorite man. He has had union detractors since his days pushing the North American Free Trade Act (NAFTA) during the Clinton administration. Since then there have been other clashes between Emanuel and unions even as he served President Obama as his Chief of Staff. Now, as he takes after the Chicago teachers union, he seems to be tweaking unions yet again as he runs for the top seat in City Hall here in Chicago.

At least he’s consistent!

On January 10, while campaigning for Mayor, Emanuel laid out a few of his positions on Chicago’s failing schools. What he said is sure to upset the unions — not just that of teachers, either.
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Emanuel Pushing Anti-Teachers Union Line in Race for Chicago Mayor?”

Budget - Business - Campaign Finance - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Free Trade - Government - House of Representatives - Jobs - Liberals - Pensions - President - Public Employees Unions - Senate - Socialism - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

In 2011 Public Employees Unions Must Be Targeted for Elimination

January 5, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

One of the biggest recurring themes in union reporting these days is music to the ears of any fiscally responsible American. It seems almost weekly that we are seeing stories that recount the ire being directed at public employee unions. Let us hope that this reporting is the first ripples of an anti-union tidal wave that will sweep public employee unions from our governments drowning in union-created red ink.

One of the latest is an editorial out of Wisconsin by the Lakeland Times’ Gregg Walker. Walker kicked off his piece with exactly the sort of sentiment that we should hope will lead to an end to public employee unions.
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In 2011 Public Employees Unions Must Be Targeted for Elimination”

Budget - Democrats/Leftists - Government - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

90-Year-Old Post Office Workers Still Getting Workers Comp?

December 29, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Years after most Americans retire, in fact years after the federal retirement age of 68, more than 100 U.S. Postal Workers in their 90s are still getting 75 percent of their salaries (tax free, yet) of federal workers compensation payments instead of having been graduated to the cheaper retirement payments at 60 percent of their salaries.

This is classic government waste.

Jim McElhatton of the Washington Times gives us this tale of government foolishness and waste as Senator Susan Collins (R, Maine) scolds the Post Office for its failed administration of the issue.
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90-Year-Old Post Office Workers Still Getting Workers Comp?”

Budget - Capitalism - Chicago - Congress - Cook County - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Government - Illinois - Illinois State Government - Jobs - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Disgusting: Chicago Firefighter ‘Priest’ Uses Fellow’s Funeral For Union Speech

December 29, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Father Thomas Mulcrone made an ass of himself at the funeral for fallen Chicago Firefighter Edward Stringer on Tuesday, Dec. 28 by delivering some union-like hectoring of the city from the pulpit during his dead comrade’s eulogy. Mulcrone’s union-centric address was as disgusting a display as I can imagine and at the most inappropriate time imaginable.

Sadly Stringer, a 12-year veteran Chicago Fireman, perished in a fire a few days before Christmas when a roof of an abandoned building collapsed on him and several other firemen. One other fireman, Corey Ankum, was also killed that terrible day.

At the funeral on Tuesday morning, Father Mulcrone, a Catholic Priest attached to the Chicago Fire Department for some 25 years, launched into some finger waving at all those people who claim that Firemen don’t deserve the money they make.
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Disgusting: Chicago Firefighter ‘Priest’ Uses Fellow’s Funeral For Union Speech”

Anti-Americanism - Budget - California - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Government - Jobs - Liberals - New York - Public Employees Unions - Sex Offenders/Rape - Taxes - Teamsters - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Child Molesting Teacher Can’t Be Fired Thanks to Union

December 28, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

In 1997 a Brooklyn teacher was accused of attempting to molest a sixth-grade girl at PS 138. As it happened, he admitted the behavior, but no criminal charges were filed when all was said and done. Still one would think the fact that he inappropriately fondled a teen should be enough to get him fired from his teaching position. But then again, in New York you can’t even fire a child molester if he happens to be a teachers union member.

Thanks to the fact that it is nearly impossible to fire a teacher, this lowlife has been drawing his almost $100,000-a-year salary to do nothing. You heard that right, to do nothing.

You see, even as the union agrees that this pedophile isn’t fit for a classroom, the union still won’t agree to his being fired. So, teacher Roland Pierre sits in a “rubber room” five days a week and does nothing and he’s paid $97,101yearly to do so. And that doesn’t include benefits.
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Child Molesting Teacher Can’t Be Fired Thanks to Union”

AFL-CIO - Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Campaign Finance - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Government - Liberals - Lobbyists - Public Employees Unions - Regulation - Republicans - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Obama Tells Labor, I’m On Your Side

December 21, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

They gave him hundreds of millions of dollars for his campaign for president and for that Barack Obama has given Big Labor many, many payoffs, sweetheart deals, and regulatory favors. And this week he met in the White House with members of Big Labor and told them that he was sill on their side.

Even with all the paybacks and special favors that Obama has given to the unions in the fist half of his presidency, Big Labor is suspicious of his fealty and unhappy with his apparently insufficient level of kowtowing. And I have to say, the way labor representatives were treated in this particular White House visit does send a subtle message that Big Labor is not quite the hale fellow well met that it once was.

But don’t be fooled by the artifice.
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Obama Tells Labor, I’m On Your Side”

Anti-Americanism - Budget - Capitalism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - GOP - Government - Liberals - Pensions - Public Employees Unions - Republicans - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Tim Pawlenty: Government Unions vs. Taxpayers

December 14, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty penned a great op ed in the Wall Street Journal that takes public employee unions to task for their greed and their destructive nature. I’ve said many times that public employee unions are antithetical to good government and should be outlawed. Pawlenty agrees that they make good governing impossible.

Public employees have not always had the luxury of unions. The idea that government employees should be allowed to enter into collective bargaining didn’t exist prior to 1958. The fact is, we will never be able to fix our public pension problems until we go back to a pre-1958 stance on public employee unions. They should be eliminated completely.

Now I don’t usually post whole articles. But this one is too good to just excerpt. I hope WSJ can excuse me…
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Tim Pawlenty: Government Unions vs. Taxpayers”

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - EFCA - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Jobs - Liberals - President - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Rep. John Kline & the Secret Ballot Protection Act

December 13, 2010 by

-By LaborUnionReport.com

Congressman John Kline [R-MN] has been one of the House of Representatives’ most vocal opponent of SEIU’s labor board appointee, Craig Becker, as well as a vocal defender of workers’ right to choose by secret-ballot whether or not to become unionized. In that role, he has stood strong against union bosses as they have worked to strip workers right to a secret-ballot through passage of the job-destroying (and delusionally dubbed) Employee Free Anti-Choice Act.

On Wednesday, showing the change in leadership that will begin in January, Republican named Kline to be the Chairman of the House Education & Labor Committee. The HEL committee is the House committee that must approve issues affecting union elections (like EFCA). Upon being stated for the committee, Kline stated:

“Job creation and American competitiveness are vital national priorities. As Chairman, I will ensure they are at the forefront of the Education and Labor Committee agenda.”

Given the five year push by union bosses to rid employees of their right to vote by secret-ballot, as well as this week’s NLRB decision institutionalizing card-check by collusion, Kline and his fellow Republicans are well suited to re-introduce the Secret Ballot Protection Act….

Please read the rest at LaborUnionReport.com.

Budget - Business - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Government - House of Representatives - Liberals - Pensions - President - Public Employees Unions - Senate - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Lame Duck Threat to Bailout Union Pensions

December 2, 2010 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Connie Hair has an informative piece at Human Events about what Democrats are hoping to do in the next few weeks in this lame duck session by pushing another big union bailout.

In October, Sen. Tom Harkin (D, Iowa) heard witnesses advancing the “Guaranteed Retirement Account” (GRA) idea authored by left-wing activist and purported “labor economist” Theresa Guilarducci.

As an aside, Guilarducci being called an “economist” is an hilarious conceit. She is nothing of the kind but is merely a big labor activist disguising herself as an “economist.”

Anyway, the Democrats would love to slip this budget busting nonsense past the American people in this zombie congress. Here is how Hair defines the policy:
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Lame Duck Threat to Bailout Union Pensions”

Budget - Democrats/Leftists - Government - Liberals - President - Public Employees Unions - Social Security - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Teacher Union Chief: Big Boss, Big Hypocrite

November 23, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

What was it that our apologizer in chief and his minions have told us? Wasn’t it that we all have to sacrifice because the U.S. is less than she used to be? Well American Federation of Teachers union chief, Rhonda “Randi” Weingarten, says phooey on that. Sacrifice if for the unwashed masses, not her.

Weingarten was full of dire warnings for Obama’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. Even though the commission said that funding for education should not be cut Weingarten wanted to warn the commission that she and her union would attack them anyway for their recommendations on cutting Social Security and Medicare. What this has to do with teaching is anybody’s guess.

She boldly asserted that “shared sacrifice means holding millionaires responsible” for footing all the bills. I’m sure she feels everyone else should be left off scot-free.
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Teacher Union Chief: Big Boss, Big Hypocrite”

Budget - Business - Capitalism - Chris Christie - Conservatives - Elections - GOP - Government - Public Employees Unions - Republicans - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

GOP Guvs Ready to Take on Greedy Public Employee Unions

November 23, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

This is a story that warms the anti-union cockles of my free-market heart. At the recent meeting of the Republican Governors Association in San Diego those governors gathered made a point to discuss angles of attack to take down the budget-busting, anti-democratic public employees unions.

In attendance was the ever present former Speaker of the House of Representative, Newt Gingrich, and he whipped up the crowd with the policy goal of taking down those Public Employee Unions with ideas centered on limiting union gains and cutting benefits to bring them more into line with reality.

Newly elected Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker had a great quote: “We cannot and should not maintain a system where public employees are the haves and the taxpayers footing the bill are the have-nots.”

I love it.
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GOP Guvs Ready to Take on Greedy Public Employee Unions”

Business - Capitalism - Competitive Enterprise Institute - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Government - Jobs - Liberals - Lobbyists - Public Employees Unions - Right To Work - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Video: CEI’s Vincent Vernuccio on Where Union Dues Go

November 20, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Vincent Vernuccio of the Competitive Enterprise Institute appeared on Fox Business Channel’s “Follow the Money” show and talked a little bit about where the dues that union members pay goes.

Fox Business only gave a snippet of the video that CEI made so here is the full video.

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Video: CEI’s Vincent Vernuccio on Where Union Dues Go”

Budget - Congress - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - Republicans - Senate - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

States that Force Union Membership Losing Population to Those that Don’t

November 19, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Americans for Tax reform have done a study (download .pdf) that shows a very interesting trend. States that are losing population the fastest are predominantly those that force employees to join unions as a condition for employment while those that are growing are mostly states that feature right to work rules.

Because congressional representation is measured by population, those states whose population has shrunk will lose seats and those that are growing will gain them. ATR looked at those states losing congressional seats in the coming reapportionment and compared them to states that are gaining seats and found some interesting things where it concerns taxes and unions.

The average top personal income tax rate among gainers is 116 percent lower than among losers. The total state and local tax burden is nearly one-third lower, as is per capita government spending. In eight of ten losers, workers can be forced to join a union as a condition of employment. In 7 of the 8 gainers, workers are given a choice whether to join or contribute financially to a union.

As ATR notes, this shows that conservative fiscal policies spurs economic growth, creates jobs, and helps a state grow.
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States that Force Union Membership Losing Population to Those that Don’t”

Budget - Chris Lauzen - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - GOP - Government - Illinois - Illinois State Government - Liberals - Pensions - Public Employees Unions - Regulation - Republicans - Senate - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Carnival Shell Game with Illinois State Pensions

November 17, 2010 by

From the office of State Senator Chris Lauzen (25th District)…

On November 4, 2010, all State Senators were called to Springfield ostensibly to vote on a $4B proposal to pay into state employee pension plans. The Democrat leadership had a political caucus off-site, but no vote was taken on the important fiscal matter, nor any other substantive issue.

Last year I believed Governor Quinn’s promise that he would spend approximately $3.5 Billion in borrowed funds wisely and, incredibly (for me), I voted “yes” to give him broad borrowing and spending authority. Unfortunately, that promise was broken and nearly all of that debt was used to pay for public employee pension deposits, while our schools languished and social service agencies were decimated.

Fool me once, shame on you – – fool me twice shame on me.

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Carnival Shell Game with Illinois State Pensions”

Campaign Finance - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Government - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - SEIU - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

SEIU’s Shady Political Cash

November 12, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Marc Theissen recently asked some very important questions about where the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is getting the mountains of cash that it spends on Democrat political campaigns. He finds that it is coming from foreign sources, but the SEIU is refusing to yield to requests for transparency.

If the SEIU is getting the millions of dollars it is spending on Democrats from foreign sources, this should put a major dent in the alarmist claims that Obama has been making about the U.S. Chamber of Commerce supposedly getting its money from outside the country — a charge that was resoundingly refuted. After all, if one of Obama’s biggest left-wing campaign supporters is suffused with foreign cash, why should it be such a big deal if anyone else is?

Sadly, the Old Media will never play up this aspect of Obama’s hypocrisy, but that is another subject.
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SEIU’s Shady Political Cash”

AFSCME - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Ethics - Government - Jobs - Liberals - Pennsylvania - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

We Need More of This: County May Break Union Picket Line

November 10, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Officials of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania may be about to indulge some union busting. A proposed strike by American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 86, Local 2016, prompted officials to seek bids from private companies to replace the recalcitrant public employees union members threatening a walkout.

County Chief Commissioner Vinny Clausi is unrepentant about pushing the plan to bust the union.

“If they go on strike, we want to make sure we have service,” he said. “The union will not put the government out of business.”

AFSCME union members recently rejected the County’s contract offer of a three-year contract. Naturally, the reason these greedy union thugs wanted to strike is because the county offered a smaller package rather than all the perks and raises the unionistas wanted.
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We Need More of This: County May Break Union Picket Line”

AFL-CIO - AFSCME - Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Business - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Government - History - Journalism - Law - Liberals - Media - Media Bias - Public Employees Unions - SEIU - Taxes - The Law - UN - Warner Todd Huston

U.N. Pushing Card Check on U.S.?

November 8, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The U.N. is at it again, trying to use its “power” to control the U.S.A. Naturally that control leans toward the extreme, anti-American, left-wing of the political spectrum. In a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council, those that stand against America had a gripe session where supposed violations of human rights were leveled against the United States. And what sort of force was at the forefront of these calumnies? Unions, of course.

One of the reports that was entered into the “evidence” against the U.S. was prepared by the AFL-CIO and other American unions.

The USHRN position paper on U.S. labor relations, however, was submitted by much better-known mainstream organizations. Among them: the AFL-CIO, the Teamsters, the United Steelworkers and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). None are listed as USHRN members.

Among other things, the labor paper points to declining U.S. union membership as a function of discriminatory U.S. labor laws, including the National Labor Relations Act, and declares that “core internationally established labor rights are not adequately protected by state and federal laws that govern the American workplace” and adds that “workers have resorted to international fora to seek redress.”

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U.N. Pushing Card Check on U.S.?”