Public Employees Unions

Budget - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Government - Jobs - Liberals - Oregon - Pensions - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Members of Oregon’s State Employee Unions Get 5% Pay Raises… as Taxpayers Lose Jobs!

September 3, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Unbelievable. In Oregon the reg’lar folks are losing their jobs right and left. And the bad luck for those actually paying the bills, the taxpayers, gets even worse because Oregon’s politicians have made sure that the state’s public employees unions get an automatic 5% pay raise starting this Wednesday!

5 percent pay increase for state union employees begins Wednesday

SALEM (AP) — A step pay increase of nearly 5 percent for Oregon state workers represented by unions goes into effect Wednesday.
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Members of Oregon’s State Employee Unions Get 5% Pay Raises… as Taxpayers Lose Jobs!”

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - DOL - Economy/Finances - Elections - Free Trade - Government - House of Representatives - Jobs - Liberals - Policy - President - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Unemployment - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Tell Obama and Congress to Halt The Assault on Small Business

September 3, 2010 by

From the folks at the Free Enterprise Alliance, a group of free market advocates backed by the construction industry.

Appearing on televisions in places near and far, ABC’s Free Enterprise Alliance this week will launch a new ad asking travelers to look around, find a representative, and tell them to Halt The Assault on free enterprise, small business, and jobs.

The FEA says they’ve booked time at on CNN’s Airport network, so this ad will appear right where our Congressmen are going to be as they make their way home for the holiday!

From the group’s About Us page:

At the heart of the Free Enterprise Alliance’s mission is the belief that while we need government for common sense regulations, the scales have tipped too far in favor of government intrusion and its advocates. The Free Enterprise Alliance believes small business and entrepreneurs grow jobs and our economy, not union bosses and federal bureaucrats.

California - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Government - Liberals - Lobbyists - Public Employees Unions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Calif. Unions Already Spent $14 Million In Elections

September 2, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The L.A. Times recently reported that in California unions have already spent $14 million to defeat Republicans in California’s coming elections. This is what any Republican has to face anywhere in the country, though not always at such a high spending rate.

The fact is that when Republicans run for office they face not only the campaign coffers of their Democrat opponent, but they also face the millions of dollars that public employee unions and other far left-wing advocacy groups will spend against them. Rarely do Republicans find much support from high-spending outside forces in anywhere near the same numbers that Democrats command.

While many of Californian’s Democrats have yet to put much of their campaign cash into the race, unions have more than made up for that lack of spending.
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Calif. Unions Already Spent $14 Million In Elections”

Budget - Business - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Government - Jobs - Liberals - Pensions - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

The Arrogance of The Public Employee Union Member

August 31, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

In a recent story detailing the efforts of 3,000 postal employee union members marching against USPS management in Detroit, one quote by a union member stuck me as wholly emblematic of the arrogance of government employee union members and it shows the disconnect between the real world and the cushy world of government workers.

As the 3,000 postal workers marched against proposed cuts in the U.S. Post office, tucked at the bottom of the Detroit Free Press piece was a quote by post office employee Kim Sauceda, of Tallevast, Florida.

“People have gone from being very confident and sure that this is a lifetime career to now not being so sure.”

Notice how this government employee imagined that her position with the USPS is supposed to be a never ending, permanent job? This shocking sense of entitlement does not exist outside of public employees unions.
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The Arrogance of The Public Employee Union Member”

Children - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Government - Liberals - Mississippi - Public Employees Unions - Religion - Teachers Unions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Miss. School: Only White Students can be Class Prez, Only Blacks Vice Prez

August 30, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

In Mississippi, Nettleton Middle School is finally doing away with its policy of portioning school class officer positions by race. As the policy stood before this month, the student officer positions were set up so that if you wanted to run for eighth grade class president you had to be white while if you wanted to be vice-president, why you had to be black.

Before you get the wrong idea, here, this is a 30-year holdover policy meant to assure that both blacks and whites were represented on the school student council in Nettleton. It isn’t a new policy by any means.

This year when the memo went home to parents about the racial requirements to run for class officer positions, though, the school district was questioned on the efficacy of the practice. So, after 30 years the board finally decided to get rid of the old policy. Superintendent Russell Taylor released a statement explaining the decision made at an “emergency session” of the school board.
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Miss. School: Only White Students can be Class Prez, Only Blacks Vice Prez”

Budget - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Government - Illinois - Liberals - Pensions - Public Employees Unions - SEIU - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

State Pensions are Unsustainable, Taxpayers Left with Huge Bill

August 30, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Once again Bill Zettler has a great piece on the mess that is public employee pensions in Illinois. He makes an extremely relevant point asking the question of why the taxpayers are stuck paying off government worker’s pensions to the tune of billions while the employees themselves only have to pay a measly 8% contribution to their own funds?

In the private sector, Zettler points out, pension contributions by the workers rarely dip below 11% but these government workers are asked to contribute a scant 8% for theirs leaving the taxpayers on the hook for most of the rest of the payouts.

Why is that? Well it’s because pliant politicians that have pockets full of public employee union members donations have fixed the contributions at the low 8% level.

This needs to change.
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State Pensions are Unsustainable, Taxpayers Left with Huge Bill”

AFL-CIO - Capitalism - Communism - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Government - Public Employees Unions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

AFL-CIO Joins Communists, La Raza, ACLU, Other Unions in Voter Registration Drive

August 27, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Looks like the AFL-CIO is no longer even trying to hide the fact that it no longer sports a traditionally American political outlook. The labor union has announced that it is joining a voter registration drive called One Nation Working Together. This coalition is filled with some of the most extremely leftist groups in America today including the ACLU, Enviro extremists, La Raza, Code Pink, various anti-war groups, and the Communist Party USA.

This new move by the AFL-CIO finds hearty support from the People’s World newspaper, a publication dedicated to communism and the “direct descendent” of the communist Daily Worker newspaper.

The AFL-CIO joins the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), The Center for American Progress, Green For All, USAction, and many others. The effort is being headed by United for Peace and Justice.
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AFL-CIO Joins Communists, La Raza, ACLU, Other Unions in Voter Registration Drive”

Budget - Business - California - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Government - Politicians - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Ebay, Adobe, EA Games, Many Others Leaving California For Utah Over Confiscatory Tax Rate

August 25, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Computer software giant Adobe, computer game monster EA Games, and Internet auction king ebay are abandoning California to set up shop in Utah. Why? California’s horrid business climate and high taxes.

Adobe Systems, maker of a suite of graphics programs such as Adobe PDF, Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign, have announced that they are building a $100 million facility in either Salt Lake City or in nearby Utah County, Utah. The facility will bring thousands of jobs to Utah over the next few decades.

In May the Internet auction company ebay also announced a major new facility to be built in Salt Lake City. The $287 million data center will also bring hundreds of new jobs to the Bee Hive State.

Not to be forgotten, games maker Electronic Arts opened its new facility in July in Salt Lake City where around 100 employees are already at work.
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Ebay, Adobe, EA Games, Many Others Leaving California For Utah Over Confiscatory Tax Rate”

Budget - California - Democrats/Leftists - Government - Jobs - Liberals - Lobbyists - Pensions - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Unions Destroy Calif. Pension Reform Bill

August 21, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Like most bills, the legislation meant to reform California’s failing public pension system started out stronger than it ended up. But unlike most bills the final bill has been so gutted, so defanged, that it leaves the pension system in a worse mess than it was when the bill was introduced. Not surprisingly unions are the culprits.

One of the things that the bill was supposed to stop was the practice of “pension spiking.” This is the practice of government workers getting a sudden raise in position, salary and benefits just as they are about to retire. This sudden raise, often instituted only weeks or months before retirement, allows the employee to retire at a higher pension rate than they would have with their last, normal salary.
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Unions Destroy Calif. Pension Reform Bill”

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

Now Democrats Want Another $34 Billion to Bailout Teamsters Pension

August 21, 2010 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

When will Obama’s gifts to unions (at the expense of the taxpayers) ever end? On the heels of a $26.1 billion teacher union bailout, now Democrats are attempting to get Congress to give $34 billion of the taxpayer’s money to the Teamsters because that union has mishandled its pension funds.

Senators Robert Casey (D., Pa.) and Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D., N.D.) are now pushing the bill that will bailout the Teamsters pension fund by altering the U.S. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. which currently charges insurance rates to the funds it helps to solvency. Under new rules the help the PBGC offers troubled pension funds will now just end up coming out of federal funds.

As Kevin D. Williamson of National Review informs us, as the PBGC law stands now the obligations that PBGC takes on to help “orphan pensions” are not obligations of the U.S. government. “Casey-Pomeroy would reverse that,” Williamson tells us, “mandating that “‘obligations of the corporation that are financed by the [fifth fund] shall be obligations of the United States.'” Yep, another gigantic bailout.
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Now Democrats Want Another $34 Billion to Bailout Teamsters Pension”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Children - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Education - Elections - Government - House of Representatives - Jobs - Liberals - Lobbyists - Nancy Pelosi - Pensions - Politicians - Public Employees Unions - Stimulus - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Obama’s Union Bailout: A Good Crisis Going to Waste

August 20, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Even the New York Times can’t ignore the fact that Obama’s latest union bailout cash isn’t going to help anyone keep their jobs, and The New York Times is really good at ignoring things that make Democrats look bad.

A few weeks ago Nancy Pelosi called the House of Representatives back into a special session because there was a crisis in education, don’t you know. It was a crisis that she didn’t want to go to waste, naturally. As Speaker of the House she had the power — one likely to evaporate with the 2010 elections — to help Barack Obama give his union pals another $26.1 billion of the taxpayer’s money and she couldn’t resist the urge to fill pockets with other’s people’s money at least one more time.

Early in August, Pelosi triumphantly announced on her Twitter feed, “I will be calling the House back into session early next week to save teachers’ jobs and help seniors & children.”

We’re helping old people, it’s for the children, we are saving teacher’s jobs. It’s a crisis that we can’t ignore, darn it! Yes, Rahm, it’s also a crisis that we can’t let go to waste.
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Obama’s Union Bailout: A Good Crisis Going to Waste”

Budget - Children - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Government - Liberals - Lobbyists - Money - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

How Teachers Unions Abuse Non-Union Teacher Paychecks

August 20, 2010 by

From the Independent Teachers for Colorado blog…

Check out this new Independent Teachers video about what happens when a non-union school employee who is forced to opt out of paying union fees every year misses the deadline because of family medical emergencies:

Due to family medical hardships, non-union Pueblo school employee Becky Robertson missed an annual deadline to opt out of union fee paycheck deductions. The union rejected her appeal. Though she had chosen not to be a union member, Becky ended up paying the union hundreds of dollars that could have been used for medical bills and other expenses. Why do Colorado laws allow this type of abuse to continue?

Barack Obama - Budget - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - DOL - Economy/Finances - Elections - Government - Liberals - President - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

For the Third Time Obama Gives Unions A Break From Transparency Rules

August 19, 2010 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Obama administration and the Democrat Party has yet again instituted new rules to allow unions to get out of having to report their financial doings to the federal government by again rolling back reporting requirements.

Obviously as far as Obama is concerned “transparency” is one of those things that only enemies should be forced to observe. If you are an Obama friend, no transparency is required.

It is interesting to note the language that Democrats used to excuse their newest roll back of transparency requirements, too (my bold).
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For the Third Time Obama Gives Unions A Break From Transparency Rules”

Children - Dan Proft - Education - Illinois - Public Employees Unions - Teachers Unions - The Heartland Institute - Warner Todd Huston

Teacher Quality Focus of ‘Rhee-form’ for DC Schools

August 19, 2010 by

From Dan Proft for the Heartland Institute…

Programming Note: Join Bruce Wolf and me every Saturday from 12noon-2pm on WLS-AM 890 (wlsam.com) for our perspicacious perspectives on the pressing issues of the day.

Teacher Quality Focus of ‘Rhee-form’ for DC Schools

Washington, DC public schools have an acute problem with juvenile delinquency.

Trouble is, the problem isn’t with the students but rather the supposed grown-ups in charge of the Washington Teachers Union (WTU).

Once thought to be an unlikely laboratory for school reform, the District’s success with school vouchers, begrudgingly recognized even by the Obama administration, its high incidence of children attending charter schools (35 percent) and its outspoken Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee have made Washington, DC a bellwether for K-12 reform.

But none of these gains have come without incident. And the latest battle between Rhee and the WTU over the firing of bad teachers is no exception.
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Teacher Quality Focus of ‘Rhee-form’ for DC Schools”

Democrats/Leftists - Education - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - Teachers Unions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Union Member Fired by Union for… Organizing a Union?

August 18, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Now, this story is a bit confusing (he says tongue in cheek). We have our friend Mr. Jim Callaghan who works — or used to work, anyway — for the United Federation of Teachers, America’s biggest teachers union. Yet, this happy union organizer was fired by the UFT this week. Why was he fired? Because he was organizing a union.

Ah, but it’s not as cut and dried as it seems because Mr. Callaghan wasn’t just organizing any old union, he was trying to organize a new union comprised of the nonunion workers at the UFT headquarters.

So let’s get this straight. Mr. Callaghan was a union member working for the union at its headquarters and he was fired for trying to organize the nonunion workers that work at the union headquarters?
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Union Member Fired by Union for… Organizing a Union?”

California - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Government - Liberals - Media - Newspapers - Public Employees Unions - Teachers Unions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Union To Boycott Newspaper for Exposing Union Failures

August 17, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Now usually when someone points out that one has done something badly or has failed in something, the average person would look at those accusations and assess where they went wrong in order to correct the situation for the future. Not unions, though. Unions boycott those that point out union failures. Such is the case in Los Angeles as union teachers are organizing a boycott of the L.A. Times for daring to point out that kids in the L.A. school district are all too often failing miserably.

In a series of recent articles the Times used student test scores to estimate the effectiveness of L.A.’s teachers. This infuriated the union.
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Union To Boycott Newspaper for Exposing Union Failures”

Britain - Budget - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Europe - Free Trade - Government - Liberals - Pensions - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Even The Brits Realize Pensions Are Too High

August 16, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Long ago the British stopped being a capitalist country and adopted instead a quasi-socialist system. But even they are beginning to realize that people cannot retire at 65 (or even younger) and live in luxury for another 20 or so years afterward all on the public dime. This month the Cameron government took another small and politically difficult step toward addressing the mounting pension crisis in England.

News of the newest fix to the British pension system is being sold to the public by the media as an alarming “25% cut in benefits” for pensioners. But the fact is that these pensions were too high for a long time and this new scheme was inevitable due to the falling number of workers, the rising number of retirees, and the longer life spans that retirees now enjoy — a situation nearly every western nation is confronting.
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Even The Brits Realize Pensions Are Too High”

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

Calif. Teachers Unions Endangering Kid’s Lives

August 15, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Reason Magazine explores the appalling situation in California where teachers unions were able to strongarm the legislature to deny teacher training for the use of Diastat, an anti-seizure drug meant to keep kids afflicted with epileptic conditions from dying in school.

The drug has been approved by the federal government to be administered by non-medical personnel through the delivery system approved and widely distributed, but teachers unions opposed this safe delivery system and the brief teacher training program. The unions claimed it was because they were trying to make sure that kids were “safe,” but the real reason is that the unions were just trying to increase the number of union member’s jobs in schools. Far from helping save kid’s live, the unions were trying to create jobs for themselves.

You see, the unions feared that if this drug were approved to be administered to afflicted kids by non-medical personnel then schools might fire school nurses. It isn’t about kid’s health. It’s about union jobs.


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Calif. Teachers Unions Endangering Kid’s Lives”

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

New Chicago Teachers Union Head is Same-Old-Same-Old

August 14, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

New Chicago public teachers union chief Karen Lewis could have come into office as a visionary that would bring some sanity to teachers union bloated demands in this era of the worst economy since the Great Depression. She could have seen the good sense of lowering expectations. She could have taken the stance of refusing to take pay raises for Chicago’s teachers as a motion of good faith in negotiating. Unfortunately, Lewis has proven herself to void of vision and stuck in the 1990s by continuing obscene union demands of constant raises and ever greater perks for union members.

In a day when unions are losing the last shred of good will that they once enjoyed in the public, Karen Lewis stood stiff-necked and refused to compromise with Chicago School head Ron Huberman. Lewis rejected giving up an automatic 4% raise in exchange for preventing layoffs.

She’d rather grab for the cash than save teacher’s jobs.
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New Chicago Teachers Union Head is Same-Old-Same-Old”

Barack Obama - Budget - Children - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Education - Elections - Government - House of Representatives - Liberals - Lobbyists - President - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

$26.1 Billion Union Bailout Went to States that Didn’t Need it

August 13, 2010 by 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

As I mentioned in a previous discussion on the Democrats $26.1 billion bailout for unions that Speaker Pelosi pushed through Congress at the last minute this summer, there was no need for the money for the stated purpose of “saving teachers” jobs. After all many states still had $30 billion of the previous stimulus that has yet to be used and others already have fully funded payrolls for at least this year.

Chris Moody confirmed my claim in his Daily Caller column today. He found that states like Arkansas, North Dakota, Tennessee, Alaska and others didn’t need this new “stimulus for their educational sector. They’ve got plenty already.

Not only that but Moody notes that none of this new money will even reach the schools until a month after school starts all across the land. So, how this new money will save anything after the tough decisions have already been made and the school year fairly begun is a bit hard to understand.
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$26.1 Billion Union Bailout Went to States that Didn’t Need it”

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

Pensions That Exceed Base Pay, Blame Unions

August 12, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

For the New York Daily News Eileen Norcross and Todd Zywicki penned a piece taking public employees pensions to task for being “too rich for America’s blood.” Of course, they rightly blame unions and compliant politicians for the disaster.

The do, however, give the actual public employees a pass. On one hand you might think that the employees are practically innocent, but you can;t avoid the simple truth that they allowed their unions to run amuck. In fact, the members insisted that the unions grab all they could whether it was good for the nation or not.

The writers focus on cops and firemen and still deny that these workers had any part in the mess. But as public servants, cops and firemen especially should have realized that they were going badly off track and were not serving the public but raping them.
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Pensions That Exceed Base Pay, Blame Unions”

Budget - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Government - Jobs - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Win The Lottery, Work for the Government

August 11, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

It’s settled. People that play the lottery should lay down their scratchoff coins and take up an employment application to work for the government. After all, winning the lottery is a one-in-a-million proposition but if you get a job with the government your hitting the lottery seems to be a sure thing.

USA Today is reporting that federal workers are earning double their private sector counterparts these days. So, you see, all you have to do to get rich, apparently, is to go to work for government.

The reports tells us that federal workers have been the lucky recipients of bigger than average pay and benefit increases than those of the private sector for the last nine years in a row. It also finds that “the compensation gap between federal and private workers has doubled in the past decade.”
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Win The Lottery, Work for the Government”

AFL-CIO - Budget - Card Check - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

AFL-CIO Prez Says We Don’t Have Any Deficit Problem??

August 11, 2010 by

President of the AFL-CIO Richard Trumka says we “don’t have a deficit crisis” in this country. Obama has spent us trillions into debt and this hack claims we don’t have a deficit problem?

We are approaching 100% of federal debt to GDP, and this union thug says we have no deficit problem?

Click image to enlarge…

Why anyone thinks that this man has any credibility is beyond me.

AFL-CIO - AFSCME - Budget - Business - Delaware - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Government - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

$26.1 Billion Union Bailout Bill Passes

August 10, 2010 by 4 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Pay close attention, Delaware. Your Congressman, Mike Castle, just voted for the $26.1 billion union bailout. Castle was one of only two Republicans to vote yes on this bloated union pay off (the other was Louisiana’s Cao).

On a 247 to 161 vote, the House passed the $26.1 billion Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act. Democrats claimed that it would “save” the jobs of teachers, police and firemen across the country. In truth this is just a union payoff.

AFL-CIO union chief Richard Trumka was thrilled with Tuesday afternoon’s vote. “Today’s vote means that hundreds of thousands of teachers, firefighters and public safety officers will keep their jobs,” Trumka claimed. “It will prevent layoffs and provide aid to struggling state and local governments so that critical services aren’t cut … With today’s vote, House Republicans showed they value Wall Street and tax cuts for the rich over teachers, police and firefighters. This is yet another example in the laundry list of anti-jobs votes they’ve taken.”

Why the states needed this new money is hard to understand. They still have $30 billion in the last teachers bailout that has yet to be allocated. Well, maybe it isn’t so hard to understand when you realize that unions will be the biggest recipient of this money and we are just ahead of an election. Now Democrats can tout their payoff to said unions to pander for votes.

In fact, it is obvious that this was a union payoff in another way. The House was already on recess for the Summer when the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) pushed Speaker Pelosi to reconvene the House in order to push this massive payoff.

In return, the unions promised to kick their campaigning for Democrats into high gear in the coming months.

No, this wasn’t much of a back-room, sweetheart deal between pliant Democrats and grasping unions, was it?

So come on, Delaware, vote ChristineO’Donnell in November. Let’s get rid of the corrupt bargains for which Mike Castle is famous.

Rep. Michelle Bachman had a few words about this raw deal today, too…


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$26.1 Billion Union Bailout Bill Passes”

Budget - Business - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Government - Illinois - Illinois State Government - Jobs - Liberals - Lobbyists - Pensions - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Outrageous Pensions Turning Ill. Teachers into Millionaires

August 10, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Over at Champion News Bill Zettler has been doing a fantastic job of following and chronicling the completely out of control pensions of Illinois public employees and this week he asks why Governor Quinn wants to raise taxes just to make millionaires of retiring teachers.

Zettler found two teachers that will be making in excess of a million dollars in pension payouts.

Check out this obscene total:
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Outrageous Pensions Turning Ill. Teachers into Millionaires”

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”

AFL-CIO - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Government - House of Representatives - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - Senate - Socialism - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

AFL-CIO Chief Pleading for Union Support of Dems in Nov.

August 5, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The AFL-CIO plans to spend another $50 million coming to the aid of Democrats during this campaign season for the 2010 midterms. But all is not well in uniondom as many unions are very, very unhappy with various and sundry Democrat candidates across the country.

Still, AFL-CIO chief Richard Trumka has issued a call to arms for the Democrats anyway. “We know you’re angry,” Trumka said to his membership. “We know you’re frustrated. We know we haven’t achieved everything that we worked for. But we’ve made progress, and we have to keep it going.”

Unions are a smaller political constituency than ever before, however, with only about 12% of America’s workforce being unionized. Despite the hundreds of millions that unions gave Democrats in the 2008 election cycle, their diminished numbers may have made some small dent in the once Pavlovian response that Democrat politicians had to the union beck-and-call. Despite the money, the votes are not there like they once were.
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AFL-CIO Chief Pleading for Union Support of Dems in Nov.”

Budget - Chicago - Chicago Tribune - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Education - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Even The Left Getting Tired of Teachers Unions?

August 4, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

An interesting article appeared in the Chicago Tribune lamenting the fact that teachers unions are standing in the way of good education for our kids by constantly and in knee-jerk fashion opposing school reform efforts all across the country.

Penned by the Tribune’s Leonard Pitts, no arch righty he, the piece scolds teachers unions and postulates that we may be at the edge of a new day in education where the whining of backwards and uncaring teachers unions may be properly ignored as school districts, backed by parents and voters, launch into a new wave of reforms that will finally have a positive affect on America’s schools that have been failing for decades.
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Even The Left Getting Tired of Teachers Unions?”

Budget - California - Economy/Finances - Government - Jobs - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Schwarzenegger Again Orders Furloughs for State Workers

July 31, 2010 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

California has been ground zero in the war between over paid state employees unions and government budgetary concerns and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has leveled yet another salvo in that battle by again ordering more furloughs for state workers.

After ending the previous program to furlough 200,000 state workers the Governor has introduced a scaled back plan after the state controller reported that state accounts would be in the red by October.

Unlike the last time, Schwarzenegger’s newest attempt is open ended and will end “when lawmakers pass a 2010-11 budget.” There are other differences in this scaled back plan including thousands of new employee exemptions.
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Schwarzenegger Again Orders Furloughs for State Workers”

Crime - New York - Public Employees Unions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

NY Carpenters Union Boss Pleads Guilty to Racketeering

July 31, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Remember the good old days? Remember the days when union thugs were just normal, everyday, criminals, creeps, and crooks? Well, they still are, at least in some corners of uniondom.

After years of fighting criminal charges, the former head of the union that represents carpenters in New York City pleaded guilty on Wednesday to taking part in a racketeering scheme stretching back over a decade, the authorities said.

The former leader, Michael J. Forde, was accused along with nine other union officials and contractors of stealing millions of dollars from the union and its benefit funds.

The men were named last year in a 29-count indictment that charged that in exchange for bribes, Mr. Forde and the others allowed contractors to pay union members cash wages below union scale with no benefits, to hire illegal and nonunion workers, and to skip benefit contributions.

Unfortunately the quaint days of mere criminality are in the past. Now unions are in charge of government and increasingly getting the benefit of the help their brethren in politics can give them. As Mark Hemingway of the Washington Examiner reminds us:
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NY Carpenters Union Boss Pleads Guilty to Racketeering”