Free Republic

Reports say that the influential Teamsters union may snub Hillary Clinton in favor of endorsing a Republican candidate such as Donald Trump for the White House in 2016.Such a move would likely be a notable boost for Republicans with Independents and “Reagan Democrats,” a critical segment of swing-voters that candidates spend millions trying to woo. These “middle of the road” type voters are crucial to winning bellwether regions like Michigan’s Macomb County.Clinton also faces snubs from other powerful unions like the AFL-CIO and AFSCME, refusing to back Hillary as they try to push Vice President Joe Biden into the race.According...

Democrats in the Illinois legislature may soon silence Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner by taking way his ability to negotiate with public unions. SB1229 was introduced in February in response to troubled labor negotiations between Rauner and the Illinois chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). The measure would allow an arbitrator to takeover state labor negotiations if a new agreement is not reached within 30 days. Some have argued, though, that the bill is a huge giveaway to state unions. According to F. Vincent Vernuccio, labor policy expert at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy,...

People who pay union dues may be donating to Planned Parenthood whether they like it or not. The Free Beacon reported on Monday that three of the biggest unions in America donated a total of $435,000 to Planned Parenthood during 2014. The three unions were the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), and Service Employees International Union (SEIU). AFSCME and SEIU both represent public sector employees.​ But the ties between Planned Parenthood and some of America’s biggest unions go far beyond donations. Almost all of the 2014 union-donated money was spent...

A hack announced last week affected all current and retired federal employees, and hackers got their hands on much more personal information than previously announced, the American Federation of Government Employees said Thursday.A December breach of government systems containing personal information of millions of federal employees was worse than originally thought. A union of federal workers said Thursday that the attack, announced last week, had stolen confidential information of every single federal employee, past or present -- far more than was previously revealed. The government disputes those claims. It's the latest in a spree of damaging hacks against the government,...

American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees -- the country’s largest trade union for public employees -- gave more than $65 million last year to politicians, lobbyists and activist groups, according to 2014 federal reports obtained by Watchdog.org. AFSCME is funded by roughly 1.4 million members and mandatory fees taken from 125,255 nonmembers. Critics argue AFSCME gets its revenue from taxpayers so its donations are essentially indirect support for Democratic politicians, political activist groups and bigger government. AFSCME’s 2014 report to the Labor Department showed $64,585,115 in Political Activities and Lobbying spending. The union also reported more than $1...

An October conference has become the first to pull out of Indianapolis due to controversy over the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) announced Monday they are pulling their 2015 Women's Conference from the city in response to the legislation Governor Mike Pence signed into law last week. The conference was scheduled from October 9-11 at the JW Marriott. "The 1.6 million members of AFSCME cannot in good conscience make such a sizable financial investment in Indiana knowing that women and men in that state are deliberately being targeted for discrimination," the...

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees has no dues-paying members on the Moriarty, New Mexico police force, but that’s not stopping the union from demanding the city negotiate with it anyway. The city’s police officers voted in 2011 to create a collective bargaining unit affiliated with AFSCME to negotiate employment contracts on their behalf, according to the Albuquerque Journal. Two officers joined, the majority did not. Those two have since left the department. The seven officers currently employed by the city are not union members, though the union still claims to represent them.

Opponent Mary Burke weighed down by jobs plan plagiarism allegationsMary Burke weighed down by jobs plan plagiarism allegations. Gov. Scott Walker is casting himself as a turnaround artist, seeking re-election with a pitch to voters that he revamped the state’s spending and business climate in just four years. For a governor with presidential aspirations, it’s a case he’s likely preparing for a national audience as well — but first he’ll have to get through a tighter-than-expected re-election race against Democrat Mary Burke, a former state secretary of commerce. As if that wasn’t enough, analysts say that his race could also...

Koch Brothers go on offensive to expose dark money in politics. The Koch brothers—taking a break from such nefarious endeavors as spending money in support of their political positions and, worse, donating to hospitals—are going on the offensive with a campaign to expose the vast web of dark money spun by the Democracy Alliance. The Democracy Alliance is a secretive left-wing organization which connects big-money progressive donors to a long list of progressive organizations. A chart mapping out all the groups financed by the Democracy Alliance was distributed by Republicans on the Senate floor on Monday, and it makes clear...

AFSCME Pres. Lee Saunders issued the following statement in regards to the situation in Ferguson, Missouri: “The thoughts and prayers of our union, AFSCME, are with the family of Michael Brown. As parents, as community members, and as members of a union that works each day for economic and social justice, our hearts go out to them. “Our union stands in solidarity with the entire Ferguson community. And we stand with our labor and faith allies to urge a peaceful resolution to this tragic situation.”

Madison — The Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld Gov. Scott Walker's signature labor legislation Thursday,delivering an election-year affirmation to the governor in one of the three major rulings issued by the justices on union bargaining, election law and same-sex couples. In addition to ruling Walker's labor law constitutional, the state's highest court also upheld the state's voter ID law and a 2009 law providing limited benefits to gay and lesbian couples, leaving liberals with one consolation to soften the sting of the two larger conservative victories. "Our courts have continued to give deference to our Legislature and in all three of...

A list of workers that was posted at Hurley Medical Center and named people who opted out of their union has been reposted at the hospital less than three weeks after it had been taken down. And it has a fifth name on it now. The list, which was posted by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 1603 on a bulletin board in a public location near the cafeteria, was up for a day or two in February before being taken down after one of the workers whose name was on it complained. The workers whose...

Democrats and many in the media routinely complain about money spent in politics, and they regularly lash out at conservatives and big business. Turns out, unions are the top spenders in politics. Twelve of the top 20 political donors from 1989 to 2014 have been unions, which overwhelmingly support Democratic causes, according to an analysis done by OpenSecrets.org's Center for Responsive Politics. Seven of the top 10 donors overall give almost exclusively to politicians or groups on the left. ActBlue, a political action committee that raises money for Democrats and progressive causes and features Michigan Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mark Schauer...

Gov. Scott Walker’s public sector collective bargaining reforms of 2011 have not prevented union officials from making hefty six-figure salaries even as some of their organizations struggle to retain members. A review of U.S. Department of Labor filings shows that at least 159 union officials in Wisconsin made six-figure salaries in fiscal year 2012. ... The SEIU has used its political clout to recently push for a minimum wage hike for some Milwaukee County employees and government contractors. While decrying the current minimum wage, the SEIU conveniently lobbied for a carve-out that exempted employers from the requirement if they joined...

AFSCME union officials posted the names of employees who opted out of the union at a Michigan hospital. EAG News reported: A top labor official told MLive recently that the public posting of names of union members who opted out of the union serves as a membership renewal reminder to other union members. Lawrence Roehrig, international vice president of AFSCME and secretary treasurer of Michigan AFSCME Council 25, made his comments in an MLive story that appeared after Michigan Capitol Confidential broke the news that AFSCME Hurley Medical Center Employees Local 1603 posted the names of workers who exercised their...

Paramedics and emergency medical technicians made it clear that they do not want to form a union at Huron Valley Ambulance. According to information obtained from the National Labor Relations Board in a Freedom of Information Act request, votes tallied by the NLRB showed that 221 EMS workers voted against forming a union while just 138 voted in favor of the petition to unionize. There were about 430 eligible voters, but only 359 votes counted and 10 others were listed as “changed ballots” and not counted in the total vote. In January, workers from HVA Workers – with the help...

Gov. Mark Dayton wants Minnesota to embark on one of the state's most ambitious and expensive public works construction programs ever. Dayton called Wednesday for borrowing nearly $1 billion this year to modernize state college and university buildings, revitalize downtown business centers and upgrade parks, prisons and other facilities while leaving enough money to complete the renovation of the deteriorating state Capitol building. He predicted his bonding bill would create more than 27,000 jobs in the state. "This jobs bill would address many of our critical infrastructure needs while strengthening Minnesota's economy and getting people back to work," the Democratic-Farmer-Labor...

It seems that the unions had good reason to fear Scott Walker. In news that is unlikely to receive wide play in the legacy media, it appears that a number of Wisconsin unions failed to achieve recertification as a result of year-end member votes. The recertification votes were a consequence of Act 10, the epoch-making collective-bargain reforms pushed through by Walker in the face of mass demonstrations, vandalism, death threats, and all but open rebellion by unions in 2011. One of act's provisions was that public-sector unions must be annually recertified by a positive vote of at least half their...

Like many northeastern cities, Harrisburg has a severe parking problem — unless you are one of about 3,200 state employees whose parking costs are picked up by state taxpayers. The little-known benefit was picked up by the Harrisburg Patriot-News in an article concerning the capital city’s manifest financial woes and its attempt to get out of state receivership. The Department of General Services rents 3,200 parking spaces at garages near the Capitol Building for some state employees. There are also 885 parking spots on two levels under the East Wing of the Capitol that are free to 253 state lawmakers,...

ATLANTIC CITY — Democratic gubernatorial candidate Barbara Buono issued a blistering attack on Gov. Chris Christie today, saying he lacks the political courage to address national issues of race and has failed to lift the state's economy from the recession. Buono chose a friendly crowd to deliver one of her most forceful challenges to the incumbent Christie: a ballroom full of members of AFSCME, which represents 30,000 public workers across the state and that has already endorsed her candidacy. Christie has yet to offer an opinion on the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision to strike down key portions of the...