Unions

Barack Obama - Budget - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Education - Elections - Government - Liberals - President - Public Employees Unions - Stimulus - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Oops. Obama’s ‘Saved Job’ Was Just Lost

October 9, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Oh, it was a thing to be celebrated when Obama’s payoff to the teachers unions back in August “saved” the job of Ohio school teacher Amanda VanNess. It was such a thing of wonder that the big guy flew the elementary school teacher all the way to D.C. for an Oval Office signing ceremony.

(Pictured: President Obama signed a bill in August aimed at saving teachers’ jobs, with Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Council of Economic Advisers chief Christina Romer and teacher Amanda Van Ness on hand. Getty Images)

Happy days were here again… and it lasted less than three months because VanNess still lost her job this month anyway.

But there is good news. VanNess’s job only cost the American people $26 billion dollars. So we have that going for us, which is nice.
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Oops. Obama’s ‘Saved Job’ Was Just Lost”

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

The Lies States Peddle on Pension ‘Savings’

October 8, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Pensions are fast becoming the time bomb that will destroy the financial well being of our state budgets. Because public employee unions have been allowed to outrageously grow their retirement benefits by supplying billions in campaign donations to compliant politicians, most state pension plans are deeply in the hole.

Many states have at last begun to realize that the golden goose (or as we call them, the taxpayers) was long ago killed by this self-serving triangle of unions, bought and paid for politicians, and similarly bought and paid for courts that implement union demands.

So states have begun to employ some fancy accounting tricks to fool the voters into thinking they’ve begun to address the problem. One is called an “actuarial trick.” But this head-fake is starting to get real actuaries worried that the sleight-of-hand trick is making matters worse by hiding rather than fixing the mess America’s states are rushing headlong into.
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The Lies States Peddle on Pension ‘Savings’”

Budget - Business - Capitalism - Chicago - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Education - Government - Illinois - Jobs - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

The Law: Bought And Paid For By Unions

October 7, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Chicago Public School system is out of money. Like every business in the real world one solution was to layoff workers, in this case some 700 teachers. In the real world that is the way the cookie crumbles. Such employees would put themselves on the market and look for new jobs. Life moves on. But in the world of public employees unions, such employees run to the judges they’ve bought and the law they wrote themselves and had passed by politicians bought and paid for. So taxpayers are forced to give them concessions, paybacks, and special favors. It all amounts to more proof of union graft and corruption at its most common.

This has happened once again in Chicago as the teachers union went to court to prevent the everyday, common cost cutting measure of laying off workers that every normal American is faced with. And, like the true Chicago Way- styled politics that Illinois is used to, the “law” that was written by unions, paid for by unions, and passed by unions was invoked by judges placed in their court rooms by union money.

And who is left holding the bag? The taxpayers, of course.
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The Law: Bought And Paid For By Unions”

Budget - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Federalism - Government - Jobs - Liberals - Right To Work - Rights - Unemployment - Warner Todd Huston

BREAKING: Democrat Introduces Legislation to End Right-to-Work States

October 4, 2010 by

From LaborUnionReport.com

[ed: yet another example of the extreme left in America trying to use the federal government to destroy local control and state’s rights.]

Back in June, we reported that California Congressman Brad Sherman (D) was circulating a letter to his fellow Democrats to introduce legislation to repeal “Right-to-Work” laws in 22 states. Now, with less than a month before the mid-term elections and five weeks before a lame-duck session in Congress, Sherman has introduced legislation to eliminate state Right to Work laws all across America.

Currently, there are 22 states in the U.S. that have laws where workers who are employed at companies that are unionized have a choice whether or not to join or pay the union. These states are known as Right-to-Work states.
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BREAKING: Democrat Introduces Legislation to End Right-to-Work States”

Anti-Americanism - Anti-War - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Government - Liberals - Patriotism - Warner Todd Huston

Leftist Pigs Make Democrat Dumpster of D.C.

October 3, 2010 by 4 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

The extremists of the left-wing had their march yesterday and now look at the garbage they left on our National Mall in Washington D.C.

This disgusting video shows what a few foreign tourists found on the Nation Mall in D.C. after the pigs and slobs of the left-winger’s “On Nation” rally left that public space. A pig sty mess left for our tax dollars to have to pay to clean up. Just like a leftists to make others pa for their mess, isn’t it?

By comparison, the same space was clean as a whistle after Glenn Beck’s crowd left.

Here is a video of a Parks Dept. employee saying that this “One Nation” protest was the “worst” he sees and that Beck’s rally left the grounds clean as a whistle.

There can be no doubt that Democrats and leftists are pigs.

My Other coverage of the “One Nation” rally:

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Leftist Pigs Make Democrat Dumpster of D.C.”

Anti-Americanism - Anti-Semitism - Anti-War - Barack Obama - Business - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Fox News - Glenn Beck - Government - Jobs - Journalism - Liberals - Media - Media Bias - MSNBC - Taxes - Tea Party - Unions - Warner Todd Huston - Washington D.C. - Washington Post

Lefty Rally at Lincoln Memorial Gets Glad Handed By Old Media, But Event a Bust

October 2, 2010 by 5 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

**UPDATED WITH VIDEO of communist and socialist participants**
**UPDATED 10/03/10 PHOTO of rally from Wash. Memorial**

Naturally the Old Media is doing its level best to pump up the “One Nation” rally. The lefty protest is gathering in front of the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in Washington D.C. today, Oct. 2. But despite the glowing reports by the media there is no denying the fact that few people have turned out for the anti-Tea Party event sponsored by some 400 of America’s most extreme left-wing organizations and their associates in uniondom.

Despite months of planning the event seems like a bust. Sponsored by dozens of unions and groups such as the Communist Party USA, various socialist organizations, Code Pink, the racist Latino group La Raza and other extremist groups, organizers hoped to energize the left just ahead of the midterm elections just one month away. But the numbers that have turned out — even with the streets full of union-sponsored buses — pale in comparison to the Glen Beck rally that many feel the lefties were trying to emulate.

PHOTOS


A view of the Glenn Beck ‘Restoring Honor’ rally taken from atop the Washington Monument. This shot clearly shows the throngs of people that attended the event. (PHOTO CREDIT: Doug Schantz /CNN)


This is a screenshot of the live Ustream video just as clearly showing that the crowd attending the ‘One Nation’ rally does not extend very far down the reflecting pool at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial.


Here is a shot that jut came out on Sunday showing the rally from the Washington Memorial showing how few there were compared to the Beck rally above.

Still, the Old Media is putting a sunny face on this debacle. The Washington Post, for instance, says that the One Nation rally is “energizing Liberals,” despite that few have turned out to participate.
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Lefty Rally at Lincoln Memorial Gets Glad Handed By Old Media, But Event a Bust”

Budget - Business - Capitalism - Economy/Finances - Free Trade - Indiana - Jobs - UAW - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

More Union Resistance in Auto Industry

October 1, 2010 by 1 Comment

– By Warner Todd Huston

Here’s the scenario: The economy is in the worst shape it has been in for a generation. Your industry is in serious financial distress and people in your business are losing jobs all over the country. You happen to be working, but your union is negotiating a new contract that will affect a buyer of your plant, a buyer that might be able to keep everyone working. What do you do? Make serious efforts to negotiate or reject all offers?

If you are the UAW you cut your nose off to spite your face, apparently. At least that seems to be the case in Indianapolis, Indiana where the UAW has rejected concessions in a labor dispute at the GM plant there.

Even worse, the union recalcitrance is causing a buyer of the plant to back out putting everyone’s jobs in jeopardy.
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More Union Resistance in Auto Industry”

ACORN - Barack Obama - Budget - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Government - Liberals - Lobbyists - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Vadum: A Reminder, ACORN Funding NOT Permanently Cut Off

September 29, 2010 by 6 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Matthew Vadum, ever vigilant on the evils perpetrated by ACORN, reminds us that the criminal community organizer has not had its federal funding cut off permanently. The temporary cut off is soon to expire and Vadum reports that there doesn’t seem to be anyone in Congress taking up a reinstatement of the ban.

In his Sept. 28 piece at the American Spectator, Vadum says that many people are confused about the funding ban imagining it was permanent.

This confusion about ACORN can probably be blamed in part on the quirks of parliamentary procedure and the complexity of the appropriations process. The legal language prohibiting the funding is contained in spending legislation that covers only the federal government’s current fiscal year which ends this Sept. 30.

The current funding ban is due to run out soon.

So is Congress making to fix this lack of attention on ACORN?
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Vadum: A Reminder, ACORN Funding NOT Permanently Cut Off”

Andy Stern - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - FBI - Government - Jobs - Liberals - President - SEIU - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

FBI Investigating Obama Confidant and Union Chief Andy Stern?

September 28, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

This is pretty momentous information. According to two people interviewed by federal agents the FBI and the U.S. Labor Dept. are investigating former Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Andy Stern.

The two organized labor officials met with federal agents this summer to answer questions about a six-figure book contract that Stern landed in 2006 and his role in approving money to pay the salary of an SEIU leader in California who allegedly performed no work.

It should be remembered that Andy Stern has been one of the most frequent visitors to the White House and has served as a close adviser to President Barack Obama.

Stern unexpectedly resigned in April as president of one of the most powerful unions in the nation. This news might explain why. He may have known that he was being investigated.
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FBI Investigating Obama Confidant and Union Chief Andy Stern?”

Abortion - Budget - Chris Christie - Economy/Finances - Education - GOP - Government - Media - New Jersey - Republicans - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Shuttering New Jersey Abortion Mills: Another Reason Why Christie is a Hero

September 28, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Aside from New Jersey Governor Chris Christie taking the fight to the state’s greedy, education-killing teachers union the Gov has also struck a blow against rampant abortion in the Garden State by taking away state funding to abortion mills. Steven Ertelt reports that at least one Planned Parenthood office is closing down and others are looking to “creative” budgeting to stay open.

In July Governor Christie vetoed a bill that would restore the $7.5 million of state funding that the legislature tried to implement after Christie removed that funding from the budget. Democrats in Trenton thought they had enough votes to override Christie’s veto, but at the last minute state Republicans backed out of signing onto the override.

Parenthood of Southern New Jersey president Lynn Brown told the newspaper, “We are in think mode and creative mode and we are doing all that we can to try and salvage to see as many people as we need to see.”

“We all know it’s strictly ideological,” Brown said of the funding cuts to the abortion business. “This is a very frustrating and perplexing time for us.”

Perplexing? What is so hard about understanding that the state is nearly bankrupt and can’t be wasting money on killing babies?
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Shuttering New Jersey Abortion Mills: Another Reason Why Christie is a Hero”

Warner Todd Huston

Chicago News Outlets Miss That FBI Targeted Protester is Chief Steward for SEIU

September 28, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

One might think it would be big news that a Chief Steward for a Local chapter of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is being investigated by the FBI for possible connection to overseas terror networks. Apparently, though, several Chicago news outlets didn’t see a reason to add this little fact to their stories. And even if it wasn’t big news that the FBI is investigating a union member, one would think that his profession would at least make an appearance somewhere in properly formulated coverage of the story… right?

Over the weekend the FBI announced that it was investigating Joseph Iosbaker for possible connections to overseas terror groups. Iosbaker and his wife Stephanie Weiner, both anti-war activists, are suspected of activities “concerning the material support of terrorism.”

The Chicago news has been all over the demonstrations that left-wing groups have mounted in Chicago to protest the FBI’s investigation of the anti-war activists. These stories are filled with all sorts of facts, dates and names. But in a significant handful of stories one little fact seems to have escaped the notice of these hardnosed journalists. Iosbaker is an SEIU union member. And not just a rank and file member but an official.
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Chicago News Outlets Miss That FBI Targeted Protester is Chief Steward for SEIU”

Barack Obama - Business - Capitalism - Economy/Finances - Government - Jobs - Liberals - President - Stimulus - UAW - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Pot Smoking Gov’t Motors Car Builders Actually Fired

September 27, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Monday Government Motors (GM) took a hard line against the drunken, pot smoking union members that became the unwitting star of a news expose in Detroit last week firing the partiers.

All 13 employees were fired after being shown on WJBK, Fox 2 News Detroit drinking and smoking pot in a local park on their lunch break.

This answers the question of just how much protection the union would be able to afford the employees at least initially. Many assumed that they’d get the typical union slap on the wrist, maybe a suspension, but be back to work like normal soon enough.

No word if the employees will appeal this decision.

In a statement released today, Chrysler said:

“It is unfortunate that the actions of a few people have called into question the reputation of more than 51,000 very proud, hard-working Chrysler Group employees, grateful that the American and Canadian taxpayers gave us a second chance,” they said. “We take that responsibility very seriously and will work to restore the public’s faith.”

The union has yet to address this newest development.

If Chysler thinks the actions of these 13 have been unfortunate enough to call into question the reputation of the whole kit and kaboodle, I wonder what they think of what Obama has done to them?
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Pot Smoking Gov’t Motors Car Builders Actually Fired”

Budget - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Free Trade - Government - Jobs - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - SEIU - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Unions: Democrat’s Own Extremists Taking The Local Parties Over?

September 27, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Michael Barone, one of media’s sharpest observers of America’s political scene, has noted an interesting trend in Democrat politics: unions are knocking out regular liberal Democrats in America’s big cities. Barone calls it a civil war raging in the Democrat Party.

He points to several big city campaigns in which unions rose up to defeat the “gentry liberals,” as Barone calls them, and have replaced them in primaries with union backed, ultra liberals. For proof Barone points to several races in New York, Maryland, and Washington D.C.

In each there was a split between the public employee unions that do so much to finance Democratic campaigns and the gentry liberals who provide Democratic votes in places like Manhattan, the Montgomery County suburbs of Maryland, and Northwest Washington, D.C. And in each case the public employee unions won.

The most disastrous election result, at least for school children, is the loss of Mayor Adrian Fenty whose hiring of school chief Michelle Rhee gained accolades from school reformers across the nation and an equal amount of opprobrium from unions. Fenty lost to ultra lib Vincent Gray — a wholly bought union hack — who has promised to dump reformer Rhee and kowtow to all teacher’s union demands.
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Unions: Democrat’s Own Extremists Taking The Local Parties Over?”

Anti-Americanism - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Communism - Economy/Finances - Jobs - Socialism - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Daily Show Humiliates Unions that Hire Non-Union Picketers

September 26, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) is attacking Walmart (and has been for years) and how are they doing it? By picketing, of course. Yes, they send their members down to Walmart to protest the evil, evil Walmart that refuses to hire union folks and…what? Wait.

The union doesn’t send their members to protest?

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Working Stiffed
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Ah, the Daily Show finally realized that this has been going on for a long time. Like every left-wing show they only attack their own friends when it is a last resort.

But, hey, at least Jon Stewart FINALLY got around to noticing that the unions are hypocrites, eh? So, he’s got that going for him… which is nice. Heck we had it here months ago.
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Daily Show Humiliates Unions that Hire Non-Union Picketers”

Barack Obama - Chicago - Crime - Education - Illinois - Liberals - Terrorism - Warner Todd Huston

Domestic Terrorist Denied University Accolade of Emeritus Status

September 25, 2010 by 4 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Leave it to University liberals to suddenly take strong stands just when it makes absolutely no difference at all.

Domestic terrorist William Ayers, close personal friend to Barack Hussein Obama, has finally been denied something by a publicly funded university and at this late date it is a meaningless gesture.

For decades and decades this anti-American cretin has been spreading his hatred of the United States to students at the University of Illinois in Chicago but now after spreading his maliciousness for so long he is contemplating retirement.

But the 60’s radical and bomber William Ayers wanted one more little accolade from UIC, one more little piece of paper he could frame for his wall of liberal praise. He wanted to be awarded UIC emeritus status.
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Domestic Terrorist Denied University Accolade of Emeritus Status”

Crime - Liberals - Marijuana - Teamsters - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

A Teamsters High? Dope Growers Join Union

September 25, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Can you imagine the Teamsters mellowed? Can you think of them being more interested in munchies than in beating up non-union workers? Imagine them just hanging out instead of doing some mobster’s bidding on the mean streets.

The good news today is that we may finally see the violence and agitation in which Teamsters have for so long been embroiled come to a mellow end because California’s pot growers have joined the union. Maybe the dopers will spread the mellow?

In California, the teamsters have organized 40 marijuana workers. They work as gardeners, trimmers and cloners. It’s not clear how labor laws will apply to this situation, since medical marijuana is legal in California but is still a federal crime. Still, the workers got a new contract and a raise.

Nah. More likely the dopers will just become more militant and start beating up non-union drug dealers.

But we can dream, can’t we?
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A Teamsters High? Dope Growers Join Union”

ACORN - Budget - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Government - Liberals - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Government Report Says ACORN Spinoff Illicitly Got Federal Funding

September 25, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

A report by the inspector general of the Department of Housing and Urban Development says that the ACORN Housing Corporation improperly received millions in federal funds. The report demands that the group repay the ill-gotten gain.

The organization later changed its name to Affordable Housing Centers of America after ACRON’s name was so badly tarnished by revelations of its corruption.

The report said that more than $9 million went to the organization and that some 80 percent of the $3.25 million received between 2008 and 2009 went to salaries for ACORN employees.
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Government Report Says ACORN Spinoff Illicitly Got Federal Funding”

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

Senate Dems Pushing Another Big Union Payoff

September 24, 2010 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

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

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

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

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

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

SEIU Union Hack Admits that Local TV Stations Help ‘Get Our Message Across’

September 22, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Daniel Bice of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has a gem of a report wherein a union operative admits on tape that he and his union pals intend to launch a big campaign against Wisconsin’s GOP Gubernatorial candidate Scott Walker. That news isn’t much of a surprise, of course, but what is a surprise is that this union hack admitted on tape that Milwaukee’s local TV stations and local politicians are both sympathetic to and assisting in the union’s getting its message out.

The tape features the voice of John-David Morgan, an operative for the Service Employees International Union Local 1 (SEIU), on Sept. 10 near the Y-Not II tavern on E. Lyon St. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Morgan was recorded by a Walker campaign staffer on his cell Phone who then turned it over the Bice at the Journal-Sentinel.

The union hack admitted on tape that he is working with County Board members — such as Supervisor John Weishan — to get the goods on Walker. “I’ve got county supervisors to do this stuff so, you know, it’s not just the labor union,” Morgan said.
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SEIU Union Hack Admits that Local TV Stations Help ‘Get Our Message Across’”

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

Unions Retreat on Criticism of Dems That Didn’t Support Obamacare

September 22, 2010 by 3 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Earlier in this election cycle unions were pumped up with an assumed sense of supreme power, they had spent millions to elect their guy to the White House and they were ready to flex their muscles. Unions began to direct that assumed power against Democrats that were reticent to support Obama’s takeover of our healthcare system. In some early primaries unions spoke out against these so-called Blue-dog Democrats and said they would not support them but at the other end of this primary season unions are singing a different tune.

With the obvious downturn in support that Democrats have seen in these primaries and in the polls of American voters unions have gotten the hint (like a club over the head) that the arrogance they evinced of daring to attack Democrats for not having a pure enough devotion to union ideals was maybe not such a great idea.
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Unions Retreat on Criticism of Dems That Didn’t Support Obamacare”

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

Unions Struggling to Get Members to Rally Behind Dems

September 18, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

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

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

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

AFSCME - Budget - Business - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Government - Health - Jobs - Liberals - Michigan - Public Employees Unions - SEIU - Taxes - UAW - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Michigan Home Healthcare Workers Sue State Over Forced Unionization

September 16, 2010 by 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

So imagine that you are working out of your home or the home of a friend. Say you are helping care for your own developmentally disabled relative or that of another. You are working for a family, not a company, and you are not employed by the state. Then one day you get a letter in the mail that says you have been forced by the state to join a union and henceforth you will be paying dues by having some of your salary removed by the state and given to the union. Does this sound like you are living and working in America? It is if you are a home healthcare worker in the State of Michigan.

Because of a special deal made behind the scenes between Mich. Gov. Jennifer Granholm and two unions, the United Auto Workers (UAW) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Michigan’s 40,000 in-home healthcare workers were unionized by a shady “vote” of less than 20% of these workers in 2006 via a mail-in ballot that most workers had no idea even existed.

The forced unionization has been in and out of courts since 2006 and now it is about to go back in again as a group of in-home healthcare workers is suing the state for driving them into a union against their will.
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Michigan Home Healthcare Workers Sue State Over Forced Unionization”

Business - California - Economy/Finances - Elections - Liberals - SEIU - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

SEIU and NUHW Goes Head-To-Head in Big Labor Death Match

September 15, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

For more than a year I’ve written off an on about the vicious fight between the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and offshoot union the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW). The NUHW left the SEIU in a huff several years ago when the SEIU implemented a hostile takeover of the California-based NUHW that it had been affiliated with.

This month that fight has fallen upon the workers of Kaiser Permanente in the Los Angeles Medical Center where a vote is soon to be taken by KP employees to decide which of the rival unions will represent them.

Starting this week the 43,000 KP workers will be making their choice known and the vying for votes by the two unions has been “hostile,” as NUHW member Edvin Hakopian said.
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SEIU and NUHW Goes Head-To-Head in Big Labor Death Match”

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

SEIUs Anna Burger to Retire

September 12, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The New York Times gave a glowing review of Ana Burger’s career as a most divisive member of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). But how could one be less arrogant and pushy than would seem natural for a union that set out to fashion itself an “international” union?

Burger, 59, was supposed to be the heir apparent to former President Andy Stern, himself a petulant and arrogant figure. But it was not to be. When Stern stepped down from heading the SEIU, Burger was passed over for another by the membership.

And now she is retiring from her 14-year-long position as secretary-treasurer of the SEIU after 38 years in Big Labor.

Apparently, though, Burger retires “frustrated,” as the Times has it. She leaves as the power of Big Labor seems to be on the wane. Fewer unions, fewer members, and fewer political supporters seem to be the immediate future of Big Labor.
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SEIUs Anna Burger to Retire”

Budget - Business - Capitalism - Card Check - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Government - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - Socialism - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Obama’s Favors to Unions

September 11, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Washington Examiner asks a few substantive questions about unions this Labor Day weekend. Why do they seem to have such an outsized power when their dues paying members are fewer than ever, when they work in fewer industries than ever, and when they have such money troubles?

Ah, but the answer is what we all know. They have a president in Washington that’s bought and paid for.

Here are just some of the favors that Obama has given to his patrons in Big Labor as the Examiner notes:
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Obama’s Favors to Unions”

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

Majority of Union Members Now Work for Government

September 9, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

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

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

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

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

Andy Stern - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Government - Jobs - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - SEIU - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

A Reminder of What Union Leaders Feel About Our Political System

September 8, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Back in 2007 Andy Stern, the now former President of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), attended a forum sponsored by the NDN Globalization Initiative and during the question and answer period after his remarks he said that he was “totally involved in distorting the political system.” Here the president of one of America’s most powerful unions just said that he feels his job is to purposefully subvert America’s political system.

Sadly, this union thug doesn’t care much about the integrity of our political system, eh?

It should also be remembered that since Democrats are the handmaiden of Big Labor this, by extension, is the same way that Democrats feel about our American political system. They have no interest in its integrity and will “distort” it whenever they feel like it..

See the full, hour-long video here.
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A Reminder of What Union Leaders Feel About Our Political System”

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

SEIU’s Illegal Fund-Raising Scheme

September 7, 2010 by 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

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

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

AFL-CIO - Business - Capitalism - Free Trade - Jobs - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - SEIU - The Heritage Foundation - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Hypocrisy Is Big Labor’s Big Problem

September 7, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Deroy Murdock over at the National Review has a great column detailing a dozen or so instances of rank hypocrisy perpetrated by unions. Deroy says that for all of Bog Labor’s yammering about worker’s right: “Such class-warfare sloganeering would be easier to stomach if Big Labor were internally consistent.”

Murdock gives all sorts of examples of unions violating their own supposedly closely held tenets. From unions firing employees for trying to organize the union’s own office workers, to unions using non-union labor to build their own offices, unions prove to be filled with liars and hypocrites.

Check out Deroy Murdock’s piece, “Hypocrisy Is Big Labor’s Big Problem .”
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Hypocrisy Is Big Labor’s Big Problem”