Free Republic

HARRISBURG - A Teamsters rally today drew almost 400 laborers to the Capitol, where union leaders promised to bring thousands next time if lawmakers push through anti-worker legislation. Last week Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R-Cranberry) introduced a package of bills that would end mandatory union membership for employees of the state's schools, government and businesses. "There is a war on workers going on in Pennsylvania, sadly," said Pennsylvania AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer Frank Snyder, also of Cranberry. "We need more jobs. We don't need legislation like this." Others at the rally said Metcalfe's legislation would take resources away from unions and would dilute...

I believe there is a difference between rank-and-file teachers and the leadership of radical teachers’ unions. The trouble is, the rank-and-file sits idly by as the radicals embarrass them, time and time again. Perhaps we’ve reached the point where the rank-and-file can rightfully be accused of being complicit of such behavior. Why aren’t teachers angrily denouncing a recent resolution passed by the California Federation of Teachers in which the union "reaffirms support for death row journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal"? The American Federation of Teachers, led by Randi Weingarten, has to date issued no statement in opposition to this offensive resolution....

On April 4th across the nation, union rallies were held to protest ‘workers rights’, the Koch brothers, and honor MLK’s fight. During one in Portland, Oregon, some speakers had a unique way of doing so. One speaker called Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker a “bastard”, as the President of the AFL-CIO in Oregon was on hand and seemed to enjoy it.

With time running out for congressional leaders to reach a budget deal, the country's biggest federal workers union is taking the Obama administration to court for what it called a failure to explain how federal programs and services would be affected if there's a government shutdown. The American Federation of Government Employees announced Tuesday that it filed a lawsuit in federal court last week seeking details on the shutdown plans of federal agencies. The union's national president, John Gage, said he filed the lawsuit after the White House Office of Management and Budget failed to respond to a Freedom of...

The far left has attempted to portray their elderly hero, Frances Fox Piven, as a lonely shut-in who spends her time knitting mittens and eating Werther’s Originals in her New York apartment. But the truth is that age has not dampened Piven’s appetite for radical socialist political activities.Piven, an academic who is still on the board of ACORN-partner Project Vote, has announced that she will be co-hosting a 1960s-style “teach-in” April 5th, and she’s bringing in some heavy hitters.The national event, which will be simulcast, will also feature fellow socialist professor Cornel West and AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka.  SEIU is...

They will stop at nothing… The International Association of Firefighters is using tasteless images from the Oklahoma City Bombing to fight a state bill which changes how public safety labor unions and cities handle contract disputes. Posted by Jim Hoft on Thursday, March 24, 2011, 12:02 PM They will stop at nothing… The International Association of Firefighters is using tasteless images from the Oklahoma City Bombing to fight a state bill which changes how public safety labor unions and cities handle contract disputes. NewsOK reported: A state senator today blasted a firefighter union television advertisement as “horrific and tasteless” for...

In the wake of changes to government employee unions’ power in Wisconsin and elsewhere, The Communist Party USA is working in conjunction with national labor unions and other left wing political groups to organize protests in Madison, Wisconsin and across the nation on April 4th. Scott Marshall, Vice Chair of The Communist Party USA said his organization is working with the likes of MoveOn.org, the SEIU, the AFL-CIO and others to make April 4th, the anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., a national day of action. “Support is beginning to grow,” said Marshall in an...

“A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another.” ~ Mao We are currently in the midst of a battle for the heart and soul of America. This war is being waged at our schools, the workplace and in our communities. States struggling to moderate impossible debt and balance budgets are examining ways to free themselves from the fiscal and political shackles imposed by labor unions whose exorbitant pensions and benefits comprise the bulk of their debt. With the economy tanking and the fight over public union benefits and collective bargaining spreading across the...

Excerpting for copyright concerns... Article contains the usual "intentional misunderstandings:" The Wisconsin law "strips many public employees of their voice on the job"Republicans "rushed the bill through," even though the Democrats walked out on February 17th and the bill was passed on March 11, an interval of 22 days The article claims that a "massive rally" was held "over the weekend." Here's a video of the "massive" rally; it looks to me like maybe two or three thousand people showed up, although it's hard to tell because the camera is at ground level. The article asserts that "state and many...

Exploiting the battle between the governor and public employees in Wisconsin, frequent White House visitor, AFL-CIO Chief Richard Trumpka has been trying to resuscitate a critically ill labor movement by setting up the entire conservative movement as the “enemy." Trumpka argues that the $14+ trillion dollar deficit is no big deal and that the GOP is trying to take money away from the middle class, only give it to those rich Wall Street CEOs. As Trumka’s participation in the public workers’ union protests grew, so did the number of incidents of union violence and thuggery associated with the them. This...

Yelling even during the prayer, that is disgusting!

Video seizes on union leader's boast of daily contact with White House By Michael O'Brien - 03/09/11 10:22 AM ET A pro-business group on Wednesday seized on AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka's boast that he meets at the White House several times a week and talks with someone from the White House "every day." Amid a push by conservatives to depict President Obama as being especially cozy with organized labor, a group produced a new video featuring the labor leader talking about frequent contact between himself and the administration. "I'm at the White House a couple times a week — two...

Our continuing look into the public school system and what is being taught to our children generates another surprise today. Kids in New York are being taught to be like Van Jones! Today, we learned on the Glenn Beck radio program (video clip at the end) that the public schools in New York state have a special program in their curriculum on Police Brutality that prominently features Van Jones, a former White House Green Jobs Czar who stepped down from that plum position after his deep roots in many radical organizations were exposed on both Beck’s TV and radio programs....

Glenn Beck dedicated a whole show last night to showing the attitude of distrust being bred against police officers by a variety of leftist groups. On radio today, he talked more about the anti-cop curriculum being developed in New York State and funded by the AFL/CIO and some of the other proponents of an anti-police attitude. “This isn’t just a little thing that you need to make sure you know about. This attitude of distrusting police cost lives. It cost lives. People teach their children. They get this in their head that the police are against them, that they should...

BOSTON — Union members accounted for 14.5 percent of wage and salary workers in Massachusetts last year, down from 16.6 percent in 2009, according to federal data released Tuesday. It was the lowest Bay State union membership rate since 2007, when unions eclipsed membership rates from the late 1990s. The data, released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, showed 415,000 union members in Massachusetts last year, down from 476,000 in 2009 but up from a modern low of 379,000 in 2007. Union members accounted for 11.9 percent of employed wage and salary workers in the United States during 2010,...

Hundreds to Risk Peaceful Arrest to Defend Rights MADISON— Continuing his unprecedented power grab Governor Walker ordered the State Capitol cleared on Sunday, closing the building to Wisconsinites protesting his plan to gut civil rights for tens of thousands of Wisconsin's citizens. Dozens of ministers, rabbis, and priests joined workers and students from across the state, risking arrest to protest the closing of the State Capitol to the public. “First Governor Walker tried to take away workers’ rights, now he is trying to take away our Constitutional right as Americans to peacefully assemble,” said Steelworker Roy Vandenberg. “I have a...

NJEA president at rally accuses Gov. Christie of trying to start a 'middle-class civil war' Published: Friday, February 25, 2011, 2:30 PM Updated: Friday, February 25, 2011, 3:25 PM Matt Friedman/Statehouse Bureau TRENTON — In front of a crowd of thousands of protestors, the president of the state’s largest teachers union accused Gov. Chris Christie of trying to foment a civil war within the middle-class. “All of New Jersey’s middle-class is hurting, but this governor and his right-wing supporters are trying to start a middle-class civil war,” said New Jersey Education Association President Barbara Keshishian. As she spoke, thousands of...

Last fall, leftist ideological groups of socialists and communists teamed up with American labor unions to march together for “One Nation.” Now, as labor leaders struggle to maintain a stranglehold on collective bargaining privileges in Wisconsin, the same groups are once again marching together under a banner claiming unions are the heart of the American dream.As we’ve reported, former White House green jobs czar Van Jones this week issued a rallying call for the progressive movement to “renew itself and become again a national force with which to be reckoned.” On Saturday, progressive groups and labor unions are reportedly planning...

What's the best way to get Americans back to work? Raise taxes, according to AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. Specifically, he wants to raise the federal gas tax as a means to fund infrastructure spending. "We need a dedicated source of revenue to create infrastructure in this country," he tells Aaron Task in the accompanying clip. "We need to create jobs. The best way to do that is through infrastructure development." Simply maintaining the existing infrastructure in this country will cost $2.2 trillion over five years, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers. That doesn't include Obama's objective of high-speed...

Not that I really look forward to another counter rally, but I feel there must be some people present with a reply of some sort. Please join me Saturday noon at the Colorado state capitol. http://hearus-now.org/?p=1622 Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=196217553739751