Public Employees Unions

Budget - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Illinois - Illinois State Government - Liberals - Pensions - Peter Roskam - President - Public Employees Unions - Republicans - State Government - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Shame: Nine GOP Reps Supporting Union Bailout

May 27, 2010 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

For decades unions have mishandled their pension funds. These funds have been embezzled into the pockets of union chiefs, they have been wasted on needless expenses, and have been spent away on left-wing political causes not to mention simple mismanagement and bad investing. It has gotten so bad that few union pension funds for the rank and file members are adequately funded and retirement money for millions of union member’s is now at risk — naturally the separate pension funds for union bosses are almost universally in the black.

So, what’s the solution? What will befall the retirement funds of these poor rank and file union schlubs? As far as Illinois Representatives Aaron Schock and Peter Roskam and seven other Republicans are concerned you and I should bailout out these union thugs that have filled their pockets with their member’s retirement funds by giving them our tax dollars in a bailout plan supported by the Obama administration.

Apparently union crooks and neer-do-wells are too big to fail and Reps. Schock and Roskam think that our taxes should go to reward the criminal behavior and neglect by union bosses.
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Shame: Nine GOP Reps Supporting Union Bailout”

Budget - Chris Christie - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Government - Jobs - New Jersey - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

NJ Gov. Christie To Union Member: You Can Always Quit

May 26, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

At a public meeting New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie tells a union teacher who is whining about her pay scale that she can always quit teaching if she doesn’t like it.

I LOVE this guy!

And while this teacher was whining that she makes no where near $83,000 per year, the truth came out today that she actually makes $86,000 annually.

Anti-Americanism - Budget - Government - Judges - Law - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - Society/Culture - Teachers Unions - The Law - Unions - Warner Todd Huston - Western Civilization

The End of Our Legal System: Judges Joining Unions?

May 26, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Unions are meant for one thing and one thing only: to “get” for its members. They have one purpose and that is to take as much from an employer as they can take, to get as much money and benefits as they can get away with. Unions are not interested in assuring quality workmanship, they are not interested in offering quality to customers, and they most certainly aren’t interested in efficiency and modernization. Unions have but one purpose, to extort as many goodies as possible from an employer regardless of what it does to a business or a profession. Unfortunately, in the State of New York, judges are looking to “get” from the Empire State’s taxpayers regardless of what it might do to our legal system.

The New York Post reports that New York judges are toying with the idea of throwing in with the New York teachers union, New York State United Teachers, so that they can engage in collective bargaining.

One activist judge in particular is behind this effort according to the Post. Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Arthur Schack is a former teacher, member of the United Federation of Teachers has been agitating for a pay raise for quite some time.
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The End of Our Legal System: Judges Joining Unions?”

Business - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Government - Jobs - Liberals - North Carolina - Public Employees Unions - SEIU - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

As We Suffer, Gov’t Salaries/Jobs/Union Pyoffs Grow

May 24, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The City of Charlotte, North Carolina is still suffering an unemployment rate hovering around 12 percent. Jobs are hard to come by if you are a resident of the region, unless, of course, you work for the city government. Despite the hard times fatcats in government are still partying like it’s 1999! In fact, city salaries are likely to grow finds the Charlotte Observer.

For a whole year Charlotte City workers suffered under a pay hike freeze, but now the hard times are over as the City has announced that not only will the luxurious raises return, but more and more workers will be added to the rolls.

Let the celebration continue.
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As We Suffer, Gov’t Salaries/Jobs/Union Pyoffs Grow”

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

Our Anti-Religious, Anti-American, Arrogant Schools

May 21, 2010 by 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Two stories from this week shows how out of control our fetid schools have become. In New York a young boy is suspended because he dared to carry his Catholic rosary beads in school and in Virginia a principal refused to allow a mother to take her own child out of school to go to a doctor’s appointment scheduled months ago. Both reveal an arrogance of school administrators that is sure to outrage any liberty loving American.

In the first case in New York’s Rockland County, young Jason Laguna, a former Altar Boy and proud Catholic, faces suspension merely because he dared to carry his rosary beads in class. School thugocrats claimed that the rosary beads marked young Mr. Laguna as a “gang member” and pronounced that he should be punished for such a violation.

In the second case in Chesapeake, Virginia, a school principal told a mother that she would not be “allowed” to take her own daughter out of class to take the girl to a doctor appointment that had been scheduled for months. How did this arrogant cuss of a principal imagine he had the right to deny a parent the ability to control her own child’s appointments? Why he sent a letter home saying so, that’s why.

It is amazing that we are living in an America where religious children in New York can be persecuted for their religious practices or a country where a Virginia mother is barred from taking her own child out of class for a doctor appointment. But this is the arrogance of our school administrators in stark relief. This is the Orwellian world in which we live, a world where mere school employees imagine that they have the despotic powers to summarily control the lives of the children under their care and the power to deny parental rights at any given time.

These stories prove that our mis-educational system is completely out of control and has crossed the line from a system serving the citizens to one imagining itself to be wholly unaccountable to them.
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Our Anti-Religious, Anti-American, Arrogant Schools”

Banks - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Government - Huffington Post - Liberals - Media - Media Bias - Public Employees Unions - SEIU - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

SEIU Thugs Terrorize Teenage Boy

May 21, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Nice work, SEIU. Service Employee International Union members descended upon the home of a banker to protest the banker’s work. The banker wasn’t home but his teenage son was and he was home alone and the 14 bus loads of union thugs scared the heck out of the poor kid.

This was no political protest, it was an inciting, angry mob of union thugs. The Fortune Magazine piece that reported the incident made a salient point about the whole thing.

Targeting homes and families seems to put SEIU in the ranks of (now jailed) radical animal-rights activists and the Kansas anti-gay fundamentalists harassing the grieving parents of a dead 20-year-old soldier at his funeral (the Supreme Court has agreed to weigh in on the latter). But that’s not a conversation that SEIU officials want to have.

Amusingly, Nina Easton makes another great point in the friendly coverage of this outrageous union thuggery. The Old Media didn’t even attend and the whole thing was covered by an activist Huffington Post blogger.
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SEIU Thugs Terrorize Teenage Boy”

Children - Democrats/Leftists - Government - Labor Law - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - Teachers Unions - Texas - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

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”

Barack Obama - Business - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Education - Government - Jobs - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - Republicans - SEIU - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Obama’s $23 Billion Teachers Unions Bailout

May 17, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

As the rest of us in America lose jobs by the millions, Obama wants to spend another $23 billion more of your taxes on public employees in a teacher bailout plan proposed by Senator Tom Harkin (D, Iowa).

Harkin wants this new public employees bailout in order to prevent teachers layoffs, a concern echoed by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. “We are gravely concerned,” said Duncan in a letter to Congress, “that ongoing state and local budget challenges are threatening hundreds of thousands of teacher jobs for the upcoming school year.”

Oh, Duncan had all sorts of recommendations for Congress on this newest bailout.
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Obama’s $23 Billion Teachers Unions Bailout”

Barack Obama - Business - Capitalism - Card Check - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - EFCA - GOP - Government - Jobs - Labor Law - Liberals - President - Public Employees Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Obama’s First Stealth EFCA Styled Rules Implementation

May 12, 2010 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

One of the aspects of the inaptly named Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is the card check rule that is meant to make creating a union easier for unions and harder to resist for employers. But the EFCA is stalled in Congress as too many people understand just how bad this legislation really is. So, in order to help unions, both union leaders and President Obama have aimed to begin to push union aiding policies through the back door by changing federal rules governing the relationship between labor and business.

This week, Obama tossed unions a favor by changing the rule governing the way unions are ushered into the work place in the air transportation industry. By a 2 to 1 margin the National Mediation Board changed the percentage of “yes” votes that certifies a union from 75 percent of employees to a mere majority. The 75 percent rule has been in place for 75 years. (*NOTE* This is somewhat more complicated than the simple way I put it, so do go to the Fox story and see the particulars)
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Obama’s First Stealth EFCA Styled Rules Implementation”

Andy Stern - Jobs - President - Public Employees Unions - SEIU - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

It’s Official, Henry New SEIU Prez

May 10, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

We’ve been reporting that it looked like the Service Employees International Union was going to ignore past President Andy Stern’s pick of Anna Burger to be ushered in as his replacement and would instead pick Mary Kay Henry for its new president.

Well, that has come to pass. It is now official that Mary Kay Henry is the new SEIU president.
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It’s Official, Henry New SEIU Prez”

Business - Capitalism - Card Check - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - EFCA - Government - Public Employees Unions - Senate - Taxes - Tea Party - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Union News: Card Check Not Dead Yet

May 9, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Wondering if a bad liberal idea is dead is sort of an amusing prospect. After all, liberals have been carrying around the stinking carcass of socialism and communism like a dearly beloved child still maintaining that it could work because it just hasn’t been tried right yet. So, saying that card check isn’t dead is sort of a given because bad liberal ideas never die, they just lay in wait like a highwayman ready to waylay an unsuspecting public at a later date.

Still, card check isn’t, dead I mean. And AFL-CIO chief Richard Trumka is reminding us of that in stark terms. He might realize that getting it passed legitimately and standing on its own like an acceptable idea is not going to work but that doesn’t mean that he isn’t still scheming to fool the public once again.
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Union News: Card Check Not Dead Yet”

California - Democrats/Leftists - Government - Jobs - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - State Government - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Unionists Threaten CA Business Owner Over His Letter to the Editor

May 3, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Apparently all one need do to cause Police and Firemen and their union supporters to violate their oath to protect the citizenry these days is to question their union. Union thugs in California proved that to be true in Napa Valley last week when a local business owner had the temerity to exercise his free political speech in a letter to the editor that was published by the St. Helena Star newspaper.

In the letter, Napa Valley Winery owner Dario Sattui of V. Sattui Winery made the mistake of “venting” about the overly generous union contracts that the public employees of his town had “negotiated” with compliant, left-wing politicians.

“I thought I was doing well in the wine business. Had I had any real brains I would have become a firefighter. What a racket they have. While I respect the work they do and the inherent dangers, they are greatly overpaid, work only two days a week (a third of which they sleep) and get to retire at 50 years old at 90 percent of their pay after working 30 years. I don’t blame the firefighters. Good for them for getting as much as they can. The blame goes to the politicians and the government administrators. What do they care? It isn’t their money.”

In response cops and firemen in California, or their supporters at the very least, let him know that they hoped his business would be destroyed both economically AND by fire. So much for these “public servants” and their oath to protect the public.
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Unionists Threaten CA Business Owner Over His Letter to the Editor”

Budget - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Government - Michigan - Public Employees Unions - Security/Safety - State Government - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Michigan Firemen Setting Fires Over Union Anger

May 2, 2010 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston


Why was this story not national news? Outrageously, firemen in Flint, Mich. went about the city setting fires instead of putting them out last month and all because their union wasn’t happy with job layoffs. In a vain attempt to stop the layoffs, these union criminals went around setting fires to try and scare Flint’s residents in order to goad them to tell city officials to rescind the layoffs.

Imagine the breach of trust that this represents between firemen and the citizenry? What next, will Flint policemen commit murders and armed robberies in like manner to the criminal activities of the union inflamed foremen of the city?

Is this where unions have taken the safety of our cities?
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Michigan Firemen Setting Fires Over Union Anger”

Budget - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Free Trade - House of Representatives - Liberals - President - Public Employees Unions - SEIU - Senate - Socialism - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Washington to Give Unions More Power to Tell Corporations What to Do

April 30, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Senator Chris Dodd (D, Conn.) wants to give unions more power in the boardrooms of our nation’s businesses. In essence, Dodd wants to force corporate boards under the thumb of unions by federal fiat.

Carefully hidden in Dodd’s new regulations are provisions that give new powers to board members, powers aimed at giving unions more say in the operations of businesses from the inside through investments of pension funds.

The Dodd bill takes away from the states the ability to make rules governing how corporate boards are established and run and for the first time reassigns that power to the federal government through the SEC. Democrats expect to use this new power to affect corporate boards to force pension fund investors to obtain more seats on those boards and that means union pension funds will suddenly have more influence on business simply because of their influence in Washington.

This will severely alter the relationship between business and labor, effectively erasing the ability of a company to operate in its own interests and will force it to serve the interests of Big Labor and Washington D.C.

This is just one more small step in the elimination of America’s private business community and the implementation of a quasi-socialist business state. One more anti-American arrow in Obama’s quiver shot over the bow of America.
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Washington to Give Unions More Power to Tell Corporations What to Do”

Andy Stern - Business - Economy/Finances - Elections - Jobs - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - SEIU - Warner Todd Huston

It’s Official Stern Protege Loses SEIU Race

April 26, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Earlier this morning I said that it looked like former Service Employees International Union head Andy Stern’s handpicked replacement wasn’t going to succeed her Svengali. Looks like that was correct.

As reported by the Wall Street Journal’s John Fund, the new SEIU head is Mary Kay Henry as we discussed earlier.

Now, we wait to see if the SEIU withdraws a bit from the national scene and again begins to cast its eyes inward as many think will happen under Mz. Henry’s leadership. Time will tell.

Andy Stern - Barack Obama - Business - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Free Trade - Government - Jobs - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - SEIU - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Stern’s Handpicked Replacement Not as Strong as Advertised

April 26, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston


Pictured: Barack Obama; Henry Nicholas;
Anna Burger; Andy Stern

Not long ago, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) President Andy Stern abruptly resigned from his powerful position and we still aren’t sure why. But as he headed for the exit, Stern recommended his long-time confidante and current SEIU Secretary-Treasurer, Anna Burger, to be his replacement. But shockingly it is beginning to look as if Stern’s druthers will not win the day.

Andy Stern has been one of the most powerful union leaders in America for a long time. Along with Burger, Stern was one of the most frequent visitors to Barack Obama’s White House, he’s spent years gobbling up smaller unions and placing them under the thumb of the SEIU with the result that his union has grown exponentially, and he’s succeeded in insinuating his union into the bowels of just about every state and local government office in the country. He’s wielded the power of multi-million dollar political campaign donation funds and has been involved at the highest level in U.S. labor policy. He was even named to Barack Obama’s Deficit Reduction Commission tasked with finding out ways to restructure federal budgeting.

I have my suspicions as to why he’s so suddenly stepped down (I spoke about those suspicions here) but what is beyond doubt is that Andy Stern has held in his hands an awful lot of power as the head of the SEIU. So it is a bit shocking to learn that his handpicked replacement might not be the shoo-in that might otherwise have been imagined.
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Stern’s Handpicked Replacement Not as Strong as Advertised”

Andy Stern - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Chicago - Cook County - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Government - Jobs - Media - Media Bias - President - Public Employees Unions - Rod Blagojevich - SEIU - Senate - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Andy Stern: Union Chief Fleeing Ahead of Illinois Indictment?

April 26, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Until recently, Andy Stern was the President of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), a union that has served as one of President Obama’s biggest donors as well as filling the ranks of his ground troops. In a surprise move, Stern resigned his post this month and no one is really sure why at this point.

Andy Stern has been one of the closest union chiefs to a president in history. Along with SEIU treasurer Anna Burger, he was one of the most frequent visitors to the White House. He was even chosen by President Obama to serve on his Deficit Reduction Commission — a sort of contradiction in terms that.

Upon his resignation, it has been learned that Andy Stern’s leadership of the SEIU has not brought financial solvency. As F. Vincent Vernuccio reports in the Washington Times, Stern has left the SEIU in pretty shabby shape.
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Andy Stern: Union Chief Fleeing Ahead of Illinois Indictment?”

Budget - Business - California - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Jobs - Public Employees Unions - SEIU - Senate - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Mickey Kaus, Union Fighter?

April 24, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

For the Washington Post’s Post Partisan Blog Charles Lane’s somewhat irreverent, perhaps even dismissive treatment of the admittedly quixotic Senate campaign of journalist Mickey Kaus painted the would-be candidate as a union fighter. Interestingly, he isn’t far off the mark, which is odd for the fact that Kaus is a pretty straight down the line liberal.

Could Mickey Kaus be the “harbinger” of a new, mildly anti-union Democrat that might replace the sold out, in-the-back-pocket sort of Democrats we’ve seen for decades and decades?

Recently City Journal writer Steve Malanga wrote a great piece detailing how the public employees unions are killing California. “The unions’ political triumphs,” Malanga wrote, “have molded a California in which government workers thrive at the expense of a struggling private sector.”
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Mickey Kaus, Union Fighter?”

Budget - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Government - Illinois - Illinois State Government - Public Employees Unions - State Government - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

AFSCME Official’s Threats

April 23, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees chief Henry Bayer addressed a rally of Illinois unions members on April 21. During his harangue this man revealed the exact sort of logical disconnect in which union thugs everywhere wallow.

Bayer noted that 10% of the workforce in Illinois is out of work. OK, then what was his prescription to solve this situation? More taxes! How even higher taxes on the few lucky enough to have a job could help enlarge the workforce is the $64,000 question. The answer, of course, is that it can’t.

Catch this complete lack of common sense and logic in Bayer’s spittle specked rant…

“… so they (the legislature) can’t do their job, ‘you know we can’t raise taxes because people are hurting.’ And they are absoroo…lutely right. People are hurting. But let me ask you this: if we raise revenue for senior programs will it hurt the elderly? If we raise revenue for childcare will it hurt working families? If we raise revenue for community colleges and universities will it hurt students? If we raise revenue for programs for the disabled will it hurt will it hurt those individuals who get those services? If we raise revenue for public safety will it hurt our communities? If we raise money for schools will it hurt our kids? Yes people are hurting that’s why we need a tax increase!”

If this isn’t the most stupid blather I’ve yet heard from a union tough, then I’ve never heard any. Where does this guy think all those taxes are coming from if not the very people he invokes? Does he think no one that he is interested in pays state taxes? The very people he mentioned are already losing their services because government has spent itself into a hole the size of the Grand Canyon!
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AFSCME Official’s Threats”

Budget - Business - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Government - Illinois - Illinois State Government - Jobs - Pensions - Public Employees Unions - SEIU - State Government - Taxes - Tea Party - Teachers Unions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Union Thugs at Capitol Demand Illinois Gov’t ‘Raise Our Taxes’

April 22, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

In the late morning hours of April 21 dozens of rented buses streamed into Springfield, the Illinois capitol, and began spewing out hundreds of tax-gorged union thugs. It was as if the Illinois Hog Producers association had pulled up to the capitol and thrown wide the doors to their livestock carriers.

Some estimates say the unionists mounted some 15,000 participants all there to wave their professionally printed signs and wear their gang colors… er, I mean wearing their T-Shirts bearing their union’s signature colors.

And what did they want? They wanted the Illinois legislature to raise taxes on everyone in the state so that those few union members could get even more undeserved bennies, richer pay scales and even higher pensions than anyone in the private sector could ever expect — all things they already enjoy.

But, a protest is all American, right? These guys are just like the tea partiers, aren’t they?

Not so much.
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Union Thugs at Capitol Demand Illinois Gov’t ‘Raise Our Taxes’”

Britain - Democrats/Leftists - Government - Jobs - Liberals - Pensions - Public Employees Unions - SEIU - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Brit Union Strike Over Severance Pay Might Soon Hit in U.S.

April 22, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

A few weeks ago several British civil service unions launched a two-day strike over cuts in severance pay that the government authorized for workers that were let go because of reductions in the government work force (called a “redundancy cut”).

The cap in “redundancy pay,” said British government unions, could see workers losing a third of their “entitlement.”

Government officials said that the new pay scheme could save the government £500 million. Starting in April “anyone earning £30,000 or less will be entitled to a maximum of three years’ pay or £60,000, whichever is lower.”
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Brit Union Strike Over Severance Pay Might Soon Hit in U.S.”

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

How Unions Are Destroying California

April 21, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Steve Malanga of City journal has a great piece detailing how California’s public employee unions are destroying that once great state.

Malanga starts by repeating the ominous warning to the politicos at the state capitol in Sacramento made by a Service Employees International Union chief. “We helped to get you into office and we got a good memory” the official said on to California’s pols. “Come November, if you don’t back our program, we’ll get you out of office.”

To me this is reminiscent of the warning by the old Soviet Union’s Nikita Kruchev who said that “we will bury you.” Only, the SEIU has far more power to bury our governments than the old Soviets had!
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How Unions Are Destroying California”

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

Unions Killing U.S. Post Office

April 16, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Union contracts are killing the U.S. Post Office, making it uncompetitive and driving costs through the roof according to the Government Accountability Office.

The U.S. Post Office lost $12 billion between 2007 and 2009 and has reached its borrowing limit of $15 billion already. On top of that the union pension fund is underfunded. Even as Congress cut benefits by $4 billion the agency faces a $3.8 billion loss.

The GAO report also states that one of the reasons why the Post Office has lost so much cash is because it doesn’t have the freedom to close fiscally inefficient offices. Politicians have stepped in and prevented a logical, financial sensible reassessment of the Post Office’s operations.
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Unions Killing U.S. Post Office”

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

Unions’ Big Shift to Government

April 13, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Unionism is failing miserably in this age of a greater world market and an increase in competition for business across the globe. More nations than ever have left behind the 18th century and are taking bold steps into a world made smaller by technology. No longer is but a handful of nations leading the world in manufacturing while the rest wallow in abject poverty. This greater competition is increasing the standard of living in nearly every corner of the earth but because there is so much competition, unions in the U.S. are dying out.

American unions are not conducive to the 21st century and companies shackled by them are finding that either unions have to lose their once overpowering control over production or the businesses simply have to shut their doors as foreign competitors beat them up in the world market place.

But these antiquated, jobs killing unions won’t go quietly into the night and they’ve found their path to existence: government. Unions are growing wildly in the public sector because there are no market forces to curb their excesses.
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Unions’ Big Shift to Government”

Democrats/Leftists - Elections - North Carolina - Public Employees Unions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Unions Now Starting Their Own Political Party

April 11, 2010 by 4 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Apparently the Democrats in North Carolina aren’t sufficiently leftist enough for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). It appears that the SEIU, one of the largest and most powerful public employees unions in the nation, don’t have their hand deep enough in the taxpayer’s pockets so it is starting its own political party in the Tar Heel State, by passing the Democrats altogether.

The party is being called North Carolina First, by which they actually mean North Carolina’s Taxes to the SEIU First. Here is what the union says about their new party:

For too long parties and politicians in Washington have worked more for their own political self interest, or worse, corporate special interests, instead of the hard working families of North Carolina.

That’s why members of progressive groups across North Carolina, including the State Employees Association of North Carolina (SEANC) and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) began work to form North Carolina First to ensure that politicians put middle class families first and not their own special interests.

I mean imagine what this faux political party means, here. It means that we could have an elected official whose first loyalty is to the members of a union that makes its living off the backs of the taxpayers!
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Unions Now Starting Their Own Political Party”

Banks - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Government - Jobs - Liberals - Pensions - Public Employees Unions - SEIU - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Pot Calling the Kettle… Unions Say Banks are Corrupt

April 9, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Hill Newspaper is reporting that unions are “amping up” for a battle against America’s big banks when Congress is next in session. Uniopns want Congress to institute financial regulatory reform because they feel that banks need to be “held accountable.”

The first thought that comes to mind is to wonder when Congress will ever hold unions accountable for anything! Perhaps unions should avoid throwing stones in that glass house of theirs!

Service Employees International Union (SEIU) head Anna Burger railed against the “greedy actions of the financial industry” and announced that the SEIU was scheduling protests against banks in San Francisco, Kansas City, Charlotte and on Wall Street.

It is a hoot to see the SEIU saying that other people are “greedy.” Seriously. A union thug railing against other’s greed! It’s just a hypocrisy beyond belief.

The SEIU is also upset at the executive pay of several bankers. One wonders that if the SEIU is so against high salaries, when they will cut the salaries of their own chiefs that make hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars a year?
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Pot Calling the Kettle… Unions Say Banks are Corrupt”

Anti-Americanism - Banks - Barack Obama - Democrats/Leftists - Energy - Entertainment - Government - Health - Hollywood - Liberals - Lobbyists - Media - Military - Movies - Oil - President - Public Employees Unions - Teachers Unions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Obama’s Biggest Lobbyist Winners from Left-Wing Advocacy Organizations

April 1, 2010 by 3 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston


On the campaign trail, now President Obama regularly excoriated lobbyists. He said he’d make the government “open and transparent” and said he’d make it hard for lobbyists to “curry favor” with his administration “based on how much they can spend on a fancy dinner.” Once elected, John Podesta, a member of his transition team, said that Obama would be implementing the “strictest ethics rules ever applied” to those scoundrel lobbyists. In his 2009 State of the Union address Obama puffed up his chest, proud of himself that he “excluded lobbyists” from important jobs in his administration.

With all that bombast and populist wind from Obama and his cohorts, then, one would expect to see a dearth of lobbyists in important positions in Obama’s Washington. One’s expectation, however, would easily be dashed by the truth.

Remember the rarefied air of Obama’s campaign for president? Wanna see some, shall we say, “broken promises”?
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Obama’s Biggest Lobbyist Winners from Left-Wing Advocacy Organizations”

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

PROillinois: New Pension Plan Idea Debuts

March 30, 2010 by

MADIGAN PENSION BRIDGE NOT FAR ENOUGH

PROillinois New Grassroots Campaign to Unshackle Local Governments From Unfunded State Pension Mandates

(March 30 – Northbrook, IL) Runaway government employee pension costs is the hot topic, with average taxpayers and the press starting to take notice of this looming public finance disaster. A more dramatic, yet simple pension reform effort known as “the PROillinois plan” is gaining momentum, and is being promoted by a grassroots group of Illinois residents and local government leaders who want to put an end, once and for all, to the unworkable Springfield practice of dictating to local governments the retirement benefits paid to local government employees.
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PROillinois: New Pension Plan Idea Debuts”