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Services Employees International Union (SEIU) expressly urged Democrats to keep the process moving by passing the Senate bill in hopes that President Barack Obama and congressional leaders can nudge it back toward the left during the conference committee process. The AFL-CIO did not go that far, but its exhortations that Congress not give up on healthcare reform are predicated on the legislation surviving the Senate. Labor organizations are in a bind after spending millions of dollars promoting healthcare reform during the 2008 presidential campaign and throughout the course of this year. The Senate measure, like its House-passed counterpart, includes union...

The purple people-beaters already dropped out of an event to promote the bill earlier today. Now this. Dude, it’s like the KISS army turning on Gene Simmons. Let the Democratic civil war begin. Though there’s no official word yet, early indications based on talks with various officials are that the groups will either formally oppose the legislation or, less dramatically, just not fight very hard to ensure its passage.

Thursday, the Obama Administration announced that it will rescind rules requiring the disclosure of financial information for Big Labor slush funds and front groups.  And, the Obama Administration is giving you only 11 (eleven) days to comment! At least they are consistent!  Just as they did for union conflict-of-interest disclosure reporting that SEIU’s Andy Stern may be ignoring and just as it rescinded union-boss perk disclosures, the Obama Administration continues to rollback union financial disclosures. It is not surprising that Obama’s Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis would rescind these financial disclosure rules since she is the former treasurer of the...

In the 1972 movie, “The Candidate”, Robert Redford plays the part of Bill McKay, a Senate Candidate who wins a crucial election in a huge upset. McKay has never served in public office before. Towards the end of the election, in his first quiet moment, McKay asks his campaign manager, “What do I do now?” On December 1, 2009 a number of Douglas County School Board Members are asking themselves the same thing. After a bruising off-year election in which the Douglas County voters turned their school board topsy-turvy, the December Board Meeting saw the swearing in of four board...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has made several significant concessions to organized labor in the healthcare reform bill he is preparing for the Senate floor, according to a source familiar with the legislation. Reid has increased the threshold of high-cost insurance plans that would be subject to taxation to pay for healthcare reform. Legislation passed by the Senate Finance Committee would impose a 40 percent excise tax on family plans costing more than $21,000, a provision estimated to raise $201 billion for healthcare reform. Under heavy pressure from unions, Reid has increased the threshold so that only family plans...

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka warned Senate Democratic leaders not to include a tax on high-cost healthcare plans in a bill that is expected to reach the floor in coming days. Trumka dismissed the notion that Democratic leaders could placate the powerful union by raising the threshold on plans that would be subject to the tax. Under the Senate Finance Committee’s bill, plans costing more than $8,000 for individuals and $21,000 for families would be hit with a 40-percent excise tax. “Working families struggling to pay for healthcare should not be required to pay even more in the form of a...

Sen. Max Baucus's health- care bill poses a nasty ques tion for America's labor unions: Who do they throw under the bus -- their members, or President Obama and their other pals in Washington? The top problem is the "Cadillac tax" -- Baucus' 40 percent tax on high-end insurance policies. As J. Justin Wilson of the Center for Union Facts notes, the tax would slam vast numbers of unionized workers, particularly those in "old-line," AFL-CIO-type unions -- machinists, mechanics, electricians, etc. How can these unions support the Baucus plan? The tax hits especially hard at unionized contract employees -- construction...

It is often portrayed by the Old Media that Big Labor is lining up behind Obamacare with gusto. While many unions are doing just that, the not all unions are so happy with Congress' current plans. We discussed this last month when we reported that the various propositions to tax so-called Cadillac healthcare plans has gotten some unions nervous. Now, 157 House Democrats have sent a letter to Speaker Pelosi (D, Calif.) declaring their opposition to taxing high-end healthcare plans. One of those reasons is that many unions have given away pay raises in order to enlarge their benefits packages...

Castle Rock, CO In the 1930's, labor unions got legitimacy. Under the Roosevelt administration, labor unions got protection and the ability to organize industrial laborers. The Unions then represented workers who made things. The United Auto Workers, Mineworkers, Steelworkers, etc. It was good to be a Union boss. Now we are in the 21st century and so many U.S. manufacturing jobs have disappeared. Unions have seen their membership shrink as the reason for their existence has withered on the vine. Union bosses have a good rich life, paid for by the dues of their workers. So the bosses made the...

No trucks from Mexico, no new trade agreements, a sweet deal for the United Auto Workers at GM and Chrysler, tariffs on Chinese tires, and now Big Labor has another demand of the Obama Administration: Overturn 75 years of labor policy to sandbag Delta Airlines and unionize transportation workers. Will it get that too? The latest looming political favor features the National Mediation Board, the federal agency established in 1934 under the Railway Labor Act to oversee labor relations in the air and rail industries. A department of the AFL-CIO last month sent a letter demanding that the board tear...

Six demonstrators were arrested Monday morning at UnitedHealth Group's corporate headquarters in Minnetonka after they blocked the doors and refused to leave during a protest over health care reform. About 110 protesters sang and spoke about the need to change the way health care is organized and financed in the United States, and said that insurers such as UnitedHealth are making people sicker because the system doesn't offer proper coverage for many patients. They cited what they said is UnitedHealth's practice of "denying care and claims in order to generate record profits." The demonstration was organized by a group called...

The Man Behind the Curtain and his Drones. ...."In a November 2008 in and interview with Spiegel, Soros made some comments that accurately outlined precisely the course that President Obama's administration would eventually pursue in 2009: "I think we need a large stimulus package which will provide funds for state and local government to maintain their budgets -- because they are not allowed by the constitution to run a deficit. For such a program to be successful, the federal government would need to provide hundreds of billions of dollars. In addition, another infrastructure program is necessary. In total, the cost...

Even before U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis was sworn in, Big Labor insiders like AFL-CIO lawyer and Obama appointee Deborah Greenfield were busily dismantling useful union financial disclosures produced by former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao. It’s another Big Government – Big Labor partnership aimed at keeping individual workers, whom they claim to represent, in the dark. Why the hurry? Perhaps Union Bosses wanted to prevent the Virginia GOP and inquisitive people like Patrick Semmens from visiting DOL’s UnionReports.gov website that clearly reveals the Big Labor-ACORN collusion. Semmens discovered that teachers’ union bosses gave about $500,000 to the same Brooklyn ACORN...

Occasionally, watching the hate speech of MSNBC provides useful information. Last night, the two most influential leaders of the American labor movement clearly laid out their plan to partner with the Democratic Party in foisting the “public option� on the American people. It sounds exactly like the one I outlined two weeks ago, and it may be unstoppable. The new president of the nation’s largest union demonstrated seriousness in his interview. Richard Trumka made his first television appearance as head of the AFL-CIO on The Rachel Maddow Show last night. Maddow introduced Trumka, whom she said had been “named”...

The AFL-CIO's new president on card check, health reform and the challenges facing the union movement.Pittsburgh The new boss looks the part. There's the Walesa-esque moustache and burly former linebacker's physique. The Polish-Italian roots in the southwestern Pennsylvania mining town of Nemacolin where he went down the coal shaft at 19, following his grandfather and father, before rising up union ranks. There's the reputation for toughness, a short fuse and gruff sense of humor. To supporters, Richard Trumka boasts the right résumé to head up America's largest labor federation; to doubters, inside the movement and out, the AFL-CIO went with...

President Barack Obama’s address to the AFL-CIO on Tuesday will shed light on a precarious friendship that will be tested in the near future. Though the president is expected to celebrate his relationship with unions that fervently supported his 2008 campaign, differences between Obama and organized labor will be at the forefront during his address at the AFL-CIO’s convention. On healthcare, Obama has voiced support for a public insurance option but is not insisting on one. Organized labor wants a public option to drive down healthcare costs, and the AFL-CIO is expected to approve a resolution that backs a government...

WTAE: While it wasn't a rebellion, the crowd from inside the convention center spilled out onto Penn Avenue and marched to the Byham to see the film and to call for universal health care. The marchers didn't have a permit to occupy all of Penn Avenue, and police arrived to herd Moore and company back onto the sidewalk as they rounded the corner toward the Byham.

He is looking a bit sweaty and stressed. Must have heard his ACORN army is falling apart.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 15, 2009 Remarks of President Barack Obama's Prepared for Delivery AFL-CIO National Convention Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania September 15, 2009 You know, the White House is pretty nice, but there's nothing like being back in the House of Labor. Let me begin by recognizing a man who came to Washington to fight for the working men and women of Pennsylvania and who has a distinguished record doing just that, Arlen Specter. I also want to give my thanks, and the thanks of our nation, to one of the great labor leaders of our time, a man whose entire...

The 2009 AFL-CIO Convention just got a message from the top leaders in Congress: We stand with you and with America’s workers. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the leader of the U.S. House, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) each delivered a video message to the opening session of the convention.Pelosi thanked outgoing AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and the union movement, crediting union members with taking the lead in winning a pro-worker Congress and giving them the momentum needed to pass legislation that really changed lives. Pelosi said: On behalf of the Congress, I thank all of you for your...

Pittsburgh will host the United States premiere of "Capitalism: A Love Story" tonight for union workers attending the AFL-CIO Convention, with filmmaker Michael Moore in attendance. The documentary, about the economic crash and its roots on Wall Street, is due to open in Pittsburgh and nationwide Oct. 2. Moore is planning to participate in a 6 p.m. press conference at the David L. Lawrence Center before leading a march of union workers down Fort Duquesne Boulevard to the Byham Theater, where the film is scheduled to be screened at 7. Oscar-winner Moore is known for such controversial documentaries as "Roger...

John Sweeney, stepping down after 14 years at the helm of the AFL-CIO, urged union leaders Sunday to keep up the fight to reform health care and overhaul labor laws so workers can form unions more easily. "We're on the cusp of the greatest advance in labor law reform in 70 years, but we're taking heavy fire from the corporate captains of deceit," Sweeney told about 1,000 union members at the federation's convention. He said efforts to pass health care legislation have been met with "a firestorm of meanness, stoked by politicians playing on fear, racism, nativism and greed."

The all-consuming debate over health care has effectively sucked all of the oxygen out of the policy world leaving little room for discussion, let alone action on other major elements of the progressive agenda—or so it would seem. The mammoth bills winding their way through Congress will certainly upend our health care sector, if they are enacted. Little known, however, are several provisions that will provide an enormous pay-off to one of the Democrat parties most loyal constituency—Big Labor.

A rising chorus of discontent – more a citizens uprising – shows Middle America’s deep suspicion of President Obama’s health care reform proposal. Average citizens have voiced their disapproval at townhall meetings hosted by Sen. Arlen Specter and HHS Director Kathleen Sebelius, Rep. Lloyd Doggett, Rep. Tim Bishop, and staffers of Sen. Claire McCaskill. In a burst of passion-envy, Chris Matthews asked on Monday night’s Hardball, “Where the Hell are the people who want health care, the poor people out there…the union people? Where are they? I haven’t seen one placard, let alone one protest demonstration, for health care.” In...

In a speech to the AFL-CIO, the president accuses critics and special interests of using scare tactics and spreading 'lies' in healthcare debate. Reporting from Cincinnati - In a combative Labor Day speech, President Obama said that the healthcare debate had gone on too long and accused opponents of spreading "lies" meant to persuade Americans that his proposed overhaul would cruelly deny care to the elderly. The president, speaking at an AFL-CIO picnic, said that "special interests" were determined to "scare the heck out of people.

Here is video of a combative and arrogant President Obama today speaking to the AFL-CIO where he declared the time for debating Health Care is "over." "It's time to act." Obama said in a rather condescending voice, "The debate has been good." But he went on to make his statement that Americans have debated this enough. Obama then called "lies" concerns by anti-ObamaCare opponents about the impact of Government-run Care on the seriously ill and other matters. He then said opponents have no plan of their own, which is absolutely not true, and he knows it. I don't think President...

Barack Obama declared Monday that modern benefits like paid leave, minimum wage and Social Security "all bear the union label," as he appealed to unions to help him win the health care fight in Congress. "It was labor that helped build the largest middle class in history. So, even if you're not a union member, every American owes something to America's labor movement," said Obama, whose run for the presidency was energized in no small part by unions. Obama asserted that "our recovery plan is working," but repeated that he won't be satisfied until jobs are much more plentiful. Shortly...

<p>President Barack Obama told thousands of cheering union members and activists gathered at Cincinnati's Coney Island park Monday that his economic recovery plan is working.</p> <p>"We're on the road to recovery, Ohio, don't let anybody tell you otherwise," said Obama, who took the stage as the sky cleared following a morning that threatened rain.</p>

"Thank you Cincinnati. Thank you, Ohio. Thank you labor," yelled President Barack Obama over the cheers of roughly 4,000 as he took the stage at the PNC Pavilion next to Coney Island moments ago. This followed fiery speeches by labor organizers at today'a annual AFL-CIO Labor Day picnic in Cincinnati. This is the first time a sitting president has addressed the annual picnic, the largest of its kind in the nation. White House officials estimate roughly 10,000 tickets were distributed to the speech, which was moved to the pavilion from the park grounds because of rain. "This is a unique...

President Obama's announcement of his selection of Ron Bloom as "manufacturing czar" follows the weekend resignation of Van Jones, the White House "green jobs czar" who had come under fire in recent weeks for past inflammatory statements. As one White House "czar" departs amid a cloud of controversy, an undeterred President Obama is naming a new one to advise him on manufacturing, defying conservative critics who have raised concerns about these advisory positions that do not require congressional oversight. Obama chose a Labor Day union picnic on Monday as the backdrop to announce his selection of Ron Bloom, a member...

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is tapping a member of his auto industry task force to advise him on manufacturing. Obama chose a Labor Day union picnic as the backdrop to announce his selection of Ron Bloom as senior counselor for manufacturing policy. Bloom planned to travel to Cincinnati with Obama for an afternoon announcement at the AFL-CIO event. Bloom was senior adviser to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner as part of the auto industry task force since February. Bloom, a Harvard Business School graduate, previously advised the United Steelworkers union and worked as an investment banker. Bloom will work with...

President Barack Obama is addressing one of his key constituencies — organized labor — on Monday as union members gather to celebrate the holiday named for their movement. As Obama prepares for a critical speech Wednesday to Congress and the nation about his efforts to overhaul health care, a supportive audience at the AFL-CIO’s annual Labor Day picnic in Cincinnati should provide welcome relief from the highly charged partisan atmosphere surrounding the issue. Besides addressing health care, Obama will tell the assembled union members he has named Ron Bloom as senior counselor for manufacturing policy. Bloom has served since February...

After the federal government put up hundreds of billions of dollars to bail out Wall Street, the largest labor union in America wants those firms to return the favor. The AFL-CIO reportedly is promoting a proposal to tax every single stock transaction, and it's gained some support among Democrats. According to The Hill, the tiny tax would be about a tenth of a percent -- but it could mean a lot of money for companies, like Goldman Sachs, that are making billions and conducting a high volume of trades. Union policy director Thea Lee told the newspaper that the tax...

A new report from the AFL-CIO shows some stunning statistics about young workers. * More than one in three young workers say they are currently living at home with their parents. * 31 percent of young workers reports being uninsured, up from 24 percent without health insurance coverage 10 years ago. * One-third of young workers cannot pay the bills and seven in 10 do not have enough saved to cover two months of living expenses. And perhaps the most telling finding: When asked who is most responsible for the country's economic woes, close to 60 percent of young workers...

President Barack Obama will speak at the AFL-CIO convention in Pittsburgh next month. Obama will address the labor convention on Sept. 15. The organization endorsed Obama during last year's presidential election. Labor unions have been vocal supporters of Obama's proposed health care overhaul. However, the incoming AFL-CIO president has expressed frustration with the president's wavering support of a government-run public option to cover those without health care insurance. Obama will also travel to Pittsburgh later in the month for the economic summit of the world's top 20 industrial and developing economies.

Organized labor is betting big in Virginia and New Jersey, where two critical off-year gubernatorial races are taking place in November. In New Jersey, where Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine trails Republican Chris Christie in the polls, the AFL-CIO earlier this month unveiled a web site slamming Christie for promoting an “economic agenda threatens the middle class.” The New Jersey Laborers’ Union, another Corzine backer, is set to open an on-the-ground offensive that will include assistance from affiliates in other states as well. In Virginia, Creigh Deeds has been flooded with more than $600,000 in campaign contributions from unions since winning...

The Federal Reserve Board’s decision today to elevate Denis Hughes, a New York labor union leader, to the role of chairman of the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York is an unusual choice, and also shines a light on a sometimes cumbersome law overseeing the governance of the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve Act (section 4, paragraph 20) says that chairmen of boards overseeing regional Fed banks need to have “tested banking experience.” Mr. Hughes, who is head of the New York branch of the AFL-CIO labor union, doesn’t seem to have that kind of banking experience...

Fresh on the heels of rumors that former union hatchet man Ron Bloom may become "czar" of US manufacturing policy, the AFL-CIO is crowing about the appointment of one of their own to run the most powerful regional Federal Reserve bank. Former electricians union boss Denis Hughes, top dog in a state where a forced unionism stanglehold has crushed the economy and employee freedom, has just been named chairman of New York's powerful financial oversight board: Denis Hughes, president of the New York State AFL-CIO, was named chairman of the powerful Federal Reserve Bank of New York today. -- Hughes,...

The Federal Reserve chose a labor leader to succeed a former Goldman Sachs executive as the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of New York's private-sector board of directors. Columbia University President Lee Bollinger, shown in July, was named deputy chairman of the New York Fed. Denis Hughes, president of the New York state branch of the AFL-CIO, had been serving as acting chairman of the New York Fed board since May, when Stephen Friedman stepped down from the position. Mr. Friedman, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. chairman and adviser to President George W. Bush, had faced questions about...

By Greg Robb, MarketWatch WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- A labor leader has moved into a high-profile position as chairman at a regional Federal Reserve bank. The Federal Reserve Board of Governors in Washington has selected Denis Hughes, president of the New York State AFL-CIO, to serve as chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York until the end of the year, the New York Fed announced Monday. Hughes is the first labor leader to head the New York Fed. A spokesman at the AFL-CIO office said Hughes was not taking questions.

By Michael Corkery Is organized labor gaining power in the U.S. or are its leaders being co-opted by the federal government and corporate America? The question is at the heart of today’s appointment of Denis Hughes, the New York state AFL-CIO president, as chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. It is believed to be the first time that a union boss has been named chairman of a Federal Reserve bank. While Hughes has served as a N.Y. Fed director since 2004 and currently is the bank’s acting chairman, the appointment still carries symbolic importance. Hughes will sit...

Well it's not a ACORN, but pretty damn close, the Obama influence is clear with this choice. A top labor union leader, Denis Hughes, has become the chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Board of Directors. The New York Fed’s board comprises nine members, and is set up to reflect banking and community interests. Hughes has been on the board since 2003, but a union leader as New York Fed Chairman? Hughes is president of the 2.5 million member New York State AFL-CIO. According to the New York state AFL-CIO site: As President of the New York...

New York—The Federal Reserve Bank of New York announced today that Denis M. Hughes has been designated chairman of the New York Fed’s board of directors by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System for the remainder of 2009. Mr. Hughes is president of the New York State AFL-CIO and has served as a Class C director since January 2006. He has served as deputy chairman since January 2007 and as acting chairman since May. He joined the board as a Class B director in January 2004. The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System has designated...

It isn’t just out of the goodness of their hearts that Big Labor is gearing up to spend millions to help President Obama to jam Obamacare down the throats of the American people. The unions stand to get a big payoff of $10 billion to supplement their failing pension plans. The President of the AFL-CIO recently announced that the union would jump into the healthcare fight to help out “working people.” John Sweeney also said that the healthcare fight is “the next big step in our march to turn around America.” But unions already have their own healthcare plans and...

Americans are finally getting a good look at the man in the White House. They've been thrilled by his speeches, love his kids, and almost desperately want to believe he was who they hoped he was when they elected him. It turns out, however, that he simply can't tolerate disagreement. In his view, those who disagree with him really ought to just shut up. His critics, after all, are the people responsible for the problems he was elected to solve, dupes and hirelings of those responsible, or dangerous kooks. The administration has moved to discredit those who oppose his health...

Big labor jumped into the healthcare fray Thursday, calling on union members to counter "far-right and corporate-backed" opponents of reform. "In the past several days, loud, shouting and rowdy mobs have been disrupting congressional town hall meetings across the country," the AFL-CIO said in a message to members. "They're organized by far-right and corporate backed anti-healthcare reform and anti-government groups." John Sweeney, the AFL-CIO president, urged members to attend the town hall meetings and other gatherings on healthcare. In a union memo first reported in the Huffington Post, Sweeney said the "principal battleground" will be such meetings. "We want your...

"They have asked us to send people that support health care reform to counter the ones who will try to disrupt the meeting. Please let your staff, members, friends, family all know and encourage them to attend. They can RSVP to: RSVP - sean_mckew@cardin.senate.gov Thank you! Denise Denise Riley Political Director Maryland State and District of Columbia AFL-CIO"

Ah, democracy! It never works better than when informed citizens gather in town hall meetings to discuss and debate the issues of the day. But, oh, democracy! It's never more damaged than when partisan zealots plot to disrupt town hall meetings in order to prevent any honest debate of the issues. And that's exactly what's happening in health care forums held across the nation by members of Congress. We've seen it in Philadelphia; Austin, Texas; Georgetown, Del.; Salisbury, Md; and other communities. Taking a page right out of a Nazi playbook, organizers bus in professional protestors and arm them with...

Remember kids, it's the health care protesters who are being organized in a top-down manner. Because whatever Team Lightbringer says during their afternoon unicorn rides must be true. To recap: anyone who protests at a health care pimping rally is is part of a well-funded, super organized mob, according to our friends on the left. (You can practically feel the hopenandchange permeating the entire process now, right?) And on the other side...it's just a sincere, merry band of innocents. Top White House officials counseled Democratic senators Thursday on coping with disruptions at public events on health care this summer, officials...

Almost nobody doubts that come September, Richard Trumka will become the AFL-CIO's next president, replacing the retiring John Sweeney. Having occupied the labor federation's secretary-treasurer position for nearly 14 years, he's done everything his boss and the ideological faithful could ask of him. That's a major reason why he and his slate are running unopposed. But more than Sweeney, Trumka, a trained lawyer, has a palpably combative edge, much of it honed during his tenure as head of the United Mine Workers of America. His far Left populism was on display Thursday in his written denunciation of the "mob rule" allegedly...