Free Republic

After hemorrhaging members for decades, labor unions have hit upon a new way to shore up their annual dues revenue. Michelle Berry runs a private day-care service from her home on the outskirts of this city, the birthplace of General Motors. Her clients are mostly low-income parents who need child care to keep their jobs in a city that now has a 26% unemployment rate. Ms. Berry owns her own business—yet the Michigan Department of Human Services claims she is a government employee and union member. The agency thus withholds union dues from the child-care subsidies it sends to her...

An impassioned Labor Secretary Hilda Solis rallied Democratic party members Saturday to tell voters "elections do matter" as she gave a detailed – and political – response to the Wisconsin union fight. Solis delivered her remarks before the Democratic National Committee winter meeting, in the same hotel where conservative activists held their annual convention two weeks ago. But the message was decidedly different, as Solis accused Republicans of turning back the clock on workers' rights. The Labor Secretary told the crowd cuts in benefits isn't the issue in the dispute playing out in Wisconsin and other states. "We know, we...

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...

While several unions and a multitude of Marxist groups are involved in the Wisconsin and other state capitol protests, the lead organization is undoubtedly America's huge public sector union, the  American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). AFCSME website While ostensibly about preserving public sector union collective bargaining 'rights', the protests are really a confrontation of values. AFSCME wants to preserve and expand union power in an increasingly government dominated economy. AFSCME is confronting several, mainly 'Tea Party' backed state governors who want to roll back the power of the unions, in order to save their states from...

During the past eight days, thousands of Wisconsin teachers walked out of classrooms, shutting down schools. Tens of thousands of public employees staged an apparent wildcat strike, flooding Wisconsin's state capital in a round-the-clock protest. And Democratic legislators engaged in a most undemocratic action, fleeing Wisconsin to deny the state Senate the supermajority required for a quorum. They did this to oppose Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's efforts to require public employees to increase contributions to their retirement and health-insurance plans, and to rein in their collective-bargaining power to negotiate for higher benefits. President Barack Obama has joined labor's attacks, criticizing...

Labor unions play a diminishing role in the private sector, but they still claim a large share of the public-sector workforce. Public-sector unions are important to examine because they have a major influence on government policies through their vigorous lobbying efforts. They are particularly influential in states that allow monopoly unionization through collective bargaining. Collective bargaining is a misguided labor policy because it violates civil liberties and gives unions excessive power to block needed reforms. To provide policymakers with greater flexibility and to improve government efficiency, states should follow the lead of Virginia and ban collective bargaining in the public...

Gee, I seem to recall when violent rhetoric was the bane of political rhetoric, at least when the Left was shrieking about the latent, seething violence of Tea Party activists and Sarah Palin’s campaign maps. The media did a dog-pile on the Right when a lunatic in Tucson shot Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, spending the better part of a week scrutinizing Palin’s utterances and campaign artwork when the shooter’s schizophrenia was known well enough within hours of the massacre that killed six and wounded 14. Now one of Giffords’ Democratic caucus colleagues tells a union crowd that they need to...

CHRIS MATTHEWS: "I'm going to give you free advertising. Take a minute and speak to the unorganized private sector employees out there making 30, 40k a year, average income, maybe two people are working, making more, why should they organize? Why should they join the labor movement if it is still a movement?"

A well-funded organization contributes money to candidates and then works with those candidates to produce favorable policies, and gets people out to protest. Is that the Kochs or the unions? Answer: It depends. Does the organization also use the government to forcibly collect dues? If so, it’s the latter. To be fair, there is nothing wrong with the Times investigating the money behind the Tea Party protests in Wisconsin and elsewhere. In fact, such information should be transparent so voters can be aware of it and evaluate it. In that sense, the Times is providing a valuable service. But perhaps...

Politico reports: Sen. John Thrasher, former state GOP chairman, looks like he has filed a bill (SB830) to starve unions like the Florida Education Association, SEIU, AFL-CIO, firefighters, police unions or AFSCME by banning the Democratic-leaning organizations from using salary deductions for political purposes. The legislation also says any "public employer may not deduct or collect" union dues, etc. Lastly, it says that any public employee who didn't specifically authorize the use of his money could be entitled to a partial refund. The Florida Times Union reported last January: The University of North Florida's College of Education and Human Services...

ALL Americans should learn about AFSCME and deal with the issue now.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Public workers jammed the Statehouse Thursday as the Ohio Senate continued to hear testimony on a bill that would eliminate collective bargaining rights for state employees and change the rights of local government employees. The workers, many wearing bright red T-shirts, filled the Statehouse atrium and rotunda while others milled about outside. They voiced their opposition loudly, sometimes echoing into the Senate hearing room and competing with the speakers testifying in support of Senate Bill 5. The Highway Patrol estimated the crowd at 1,800.

Law enforcement are now searching for Democratic senators boycotting a Senate vote on Gov. Scott Walker's budget-repair plan Thursday in an attempt to bring the lawmakers to the floor to allow Republicans to move forward on the bill. Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) said that Democrats were "not showing up for work" and that police were searching for them to bring them to the floor. He said the last time such an action had happened was in the 1990s and said he was not sure how much authority law enforcement officials would have to compel Democrats to show up....

Government employee unions’ class warfare rhetoric  seems out of place coming from the top union brass. The MacIver News Service has examined hundreds of pages of public records available through the U.S. Department of Labor and via the online search site Guidestar and found that many of the most prominent union advocates in the state make well in excess of $100,000 a year in salary alone. For example, Marty Beil, executive director of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME )Council 24 SEPAC, made $161,847 in 2008 according to the organization’s Form 990. That’s considerably more than the...

As state governments look for ways to cut spending and curb growing pension costs, unions fighting to turn the tide of public opinion and stop attempts to pare down wages, benefits and collective bargaining rights for public workers, the Wall Street Journal reports. Leaders of the American Federation of Government employees are asking members to increase their contributions to the organization's PAC fund. Meanwhile, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME, is devoting its political heft towards fighting plans to cut public worker compensation in states like New York and Ohio

In the 1970s, Ronald Reagan established a nationwide reputation as a friend of the taxpayer, by complaining about the large number of people on welfare. The term "welfare queen" came into popular use. However, Americans have never seriously debated the greatest burden that is on the shoulders of taxpayers. These are the millions of non-productive employees who work for the federal, state, and local governments, many of whom do nothing but sit on their butts all day. Whenever America experiences an economic recession, millions of people in the private sector lose their jobs. But the public sector employees never lose...

Changing federal bankruptcy law to allow individual states to file is an idea that appears to be gathering momentum—and opposition. Under current US bankruptcy laws, the states are prevented from filing for bankruptcy—as municipalities now are permitted to do in about half the states. But the rhetoric is heating up, according to an article in the LA Times, in the weeks since my colleague Nicole Lapin reported on the topic. On the one hand, many of those who support changing the law say they are just being realistic about the precarious finances of the states. Those who support the idea...

This is pretty bad, even by Obama administration standards. Such blatant help for union political allies certainly makes the administration's intentions clear, and tells us who really owns this White House. From a political perspective, Republicans in these states should welcome the development: The National Labor Relations Board on Friday threatened to sue Arizona, South Carolina, South Dakota and Utah over constitutional amendments guaranteeing workers the right to a secret ballot in union elections.The agency's acting general counsel, Lafe Solomon, said the amendments conflict with federal law, which gives employers the option of recognizing a union if a majority of...

Fat pensions. Big salaries. Civil-service job protections. If any group of workers never needed union representation, it’s public sector employees. Outgoing Governor Tim Pawlenty writes today in the Wall Street Journal that the moral arguments for organizing simply don’t apply to government workers, and unionization ends up putting unelected, unaccountable union bosses in control of public policy: When Americans think of organized labor, they might think of images like I saw growing up in a blue-collar meatpacking town: hard hats, work boots, tough conditions and gritty jobs. While I didn’t work in the slaughterhouses, I did become a union member...

MINNEAPOLIS -- A former auditor with the Minnesota Department of Revenue was charged Friday in Minneapolis Federal Court, by way of an Information, with creating false tax refunds and using those refund proceeds for personal benefit.

Cities across the nation are raising property taxes, largely citing rising pension and health-care costs for their employees and retirees. In Pennsylvania, the township of Upper Moreland is bumping up property taxes for residents by 13.6% in 2011. Next door the city of Philadelphia this year increased the tax 9.9%. In New York, Saratoga Springs will collect 4.4% more in property taxes in 2011; Troy will increase taxes by 1.9%. Property-tax increases aren't unusual, in part because the taxes are among the main sources of local revenue. But officials say more and larger increases are taking hold. "This year we...

Governor Pawlenty ignited a firestorm of public employee outrage and indignation this week when he rightly called them out for their oversized paychecks and gold-plated benefits. So what's the truth regarding AFSCME employees? What kind of pay and benefits do they get? Should they indeed be exempt from furloughs?

The American Federation of Federal, State, County and Municipal Employees has launched a new campaign to "Stop the Lies" by politicians and the media that public employees' pay and pensions are sinking government. AFSCME argues in an open letter on its website that business and the media are scapegoating government workers: "The only thing attacking public service workers does is divert attention from the real culprits of our country's economic troubles and inequality: You, greedy Wall Street CEOs, politicians in Washington who turn a blind eye, and all right-wing talking heads who spin lies."

Newsweek prematurely announced after Obama's election, "We are all socialists now." Even Hugo Chavez joked that Obama was moving at a faster rate toward socialism than he did. After almost two years of the Obama Administration, it is impossible to shrug this off as hyperbole although it is more complicated than calling it just socialism. The evidence of this entitlement transformation is obvious. Sixty percent of U.S. citizens are receiving some form of government assistance in the form of housing assistance, medical care, child care, tax credits, food stamps, rent supplements, school breakfast, lunch and dinner, 99 weeks of unemployment...

Labor’s heavy hitters have even been deployed, including AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka, who has himself stumped for Reid, telling supporters, “If we’re going to keep our champion …We’ve got to fight for him.” Unions have also brought their incredibly large checkbook to bear: The SEIU alone has allocated $725,000 to help ensure Reid’s return to the United States Senate. Unions are spending like their very existence depends on liberals holding on to power in the U.S. government — which it does. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), in fact, “has spent more than any other outside...

The left's meme about campaign contributions since the Supreme Court beat down some of the McCain/Feingold Act has been that the Republicans are awash in illicit political donations from those eeevil corporations -- and unfair donations at that -- and this puts the poor Democrats at a disadvantage. Why all those evil rich corporate raiders are burying the Democrats, dontcha know? The truth is a far different animal, however, as Democrats haven't lost a step in fund raising due to the millions upon millions that their favorite special interest have given them. The fact is unions have donated far, far...

Public employee unions funnel public money to Dems By: MICHAEL BARONE Senior Political Analyst October 26, 2010 (AP) Who is the largest single political contributor in the 2010 campaign cycle? You can be pardoned if you answer, erroneously, that it's some new conservative group organized by Karl Rove. That's campaign spin by the Obama Democrats, obediently relayed by certain elements of the so-called mainstream media. The real answer is AFSCME, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. The union's president, Gerald McEntee, reports proudly that AFSCME will be contributing $87.5 million in this cycle, entirely or almost entirely...

Who is the largest single political contributor in the 2010 campaign cycle? You can be pardoned if you answer, erroneously, that it's some new conservative group organized by Karl Rove. That's campaign spin by the Obama Democrats, obediently relayed by certain elements of the so-called mainstream media. The real answer is AFSCME, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. The union's president, Gerald McEntee, reports proudly that AFSCME will be contributing $87.5 million in this cycle, entirely or almost entirely to Democrats. "We're spending big," he told the Wall Street Journal. "And we're damn happy it's big." The...

Just when we'd been told the Chamber of Commerce had bought the election, along comes the American Federation of State, Country and Municipal Employees to pour nearly $90 million into the campaign. According to The Wall Street Journal, this makes the public-sector union the biggest spender of all the outside groups. The National Education Association and the Service Employees International Union rank among the top five. Collectively, these three unions representing millions of public workers -- only the SEIU is majority private -- are devoting an estimated $170 million to an election Democrats insist that they are losing because of...

...That such public-sector labor unions top the list of 2010 donors should cause no little controversy. When groups like AFSCME empty their coffers to benefit certain politicians—in this case, those who will put union interests ahead of the public’s—they are naturally spending the dues of their members, members who have, in many cases, been forced by this kind of politician to join the union in the first place. Since state, county and municipal employee salaries are funded with taxpayer dollars, it ends up being the general public which unwittingly donates these millions of dollars to partisan political campaigns. The Left...

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees is now the biggest outside spender of the 2010 elections, thanks to an 11th-hour effort to boost Democrats that has vaulted the public-sector union ahead of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the AFL-CIO and a flock of new Republican groups in campaign spending. The 1.6 million-member AFSCME is spending a total of $87.5 million on the elections after tapping into a $16 million emergency account to help fortify the Democrats' hold on Congress. Last week, AFSCME dug deeper, taking out a $2 million loan to fund its push. The group is...

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees is now the biggest outside spender of the 2010 elections, thanks to an 11th-hour effort to boost Democrats that has vaulted the public-sector union ahead of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the AFL-CIO and a flock of new Republican groups in campaign spending. The 1.6 million-member AFSCME is spending a total of $87.5 million on the elections after tapping into a $16 million emergency account to help fortify the Democrats' hold on Congress. Last week, AFSCME dug deeper, taking out a $2 million loan to fund its push. The group is...

Two unions formed the group BASTA, the Bell Association To Stop Abuse, but it looks like BASTA wants to abuse the rest of the nation. BASTA, the group formed by the Bell Police Officer’s Association Union and the Union American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) want you to fork over your $$$$ for another Federal BAILOUT!!!! "BASTA leadership is calling on Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard to craft emergency federal legislation to create a Federal Relief Fund for the City of Bell. The Relief Fund will seek to forgive and modify Bell’s current bond obligations [$71 million] and provide...

The Reaganites who came to Washington in 1981 used to say that "personnel is policy." Flash forward to 2009 at the Securities and Exchange Commission, where Chairman Mary Schapiro handed senior roles to former union pension fund officials and last week rewarded such funds with more influence over corporate America. With another of her patented 3-2 party-line votes, Ms. Schapiro has given the big pension funds a power they have never had—the ability to force their preferred candidates for board directors on the proxy ballots that public companies must send to shareholders. Shareholders who have owned 3% of a company...

550 California residents, representing labor unions and civil rights groups, are marching in unity for Mexican-Americans. Protesters can be seen in this video wearing the trademark purple shirts of the SEIU, green shirts of AFSCME and blue shirts of the Teamsters..

A mass e-mail from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees is making waves in the governor's race, with Republicans complaining the group is using a "scare tactic" and state resources to influence the election. In an e-mail sent to state employees, an AFSCME political coordinator, Josh Anderson, wrote that Republican governor candidate Susana Martinez would lay off 5,000 state employees — read: union members — if elected. That e-mail was later forwarded by Department of Health employees using state e-mail accounts. "We can not afford to have Susana Martinez as our next governor, our members jobs literally...

Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) may have survived a primary challenge from Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, but her narrow runoff victory only exacerbated the family feud between the White House and organized labor. While the three unions that spearheaded the anti-Lincoln push — AFL-CIO, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the Service Employees International Union — were disappointed by Halter’s loss, they remain upbeat about the declaration of independence they delivered to the White House and to Democrats who don’t support their agenda. “We worked like hell to get the Senate and we worked like hell to get...

Note: The following text is a quote: www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/seniors-across-america-host-local-meetings-participate-health-care-tele-town-hall-m Home • Briefing Room • Statements & Releases The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release June 07, 2010 Seniors Across America to Host Local Meetings, Participate in Health Care Tele-Town Hall Meeting with President Obama Senior Obama Administration Officials to Attend Local Meetings WASHINGTON—On Tuesday morning, senior citizens across the country will gather at a series of local meetings to participate via phone in a national tele-town hall meeting on the Affordable Care Act with President Barack Obama. Additionally, more than a dozen senior Obama Administration officials will...

At least two influential unions will spend close to $100 million on the 2010 election, with most of those funds going to protect incumbents. Union officials told The Hill they plan to help endangered members — particularly freshmen — who made politically difficult votes in a year during which an anti-incumbent mood has filled the country. And the number will be even higher since the AFL-CIO declined to give its figures. While the labor movement has displayed an aggressive tack in Democratic primaries, including supporting some challengers over incumbents, it remains concerned about the party retaining its congressional majorities. As...

Saying the University of California's sharply misguided priorities call for unprecedented and unified action, two University of California employees represented by the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 3299 have joined students in a hunger strike at the UC Berkeley campus. Today's action comes after workers last week called on prominent graduation speakers at UC campuses statewide to refuse to deliver their commencement addresses unless workers' demands are met (see list of demands below). Abel Salas, a gardener at UC Berkeley, and the latest addition to the hunger strikers, said, "It is the most important thing...

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...

One of the state's largest unions has reached out to police after getting what it considers threatening voicemails at its main office Tuesday night. The public service employees' union says it doesn't get too many phone calls from the public until it starts airing television ads. It says its latest "Tax the Rich" ad has prompted more than 1,000 phone calls. For every 10 supportive ones, AFSCME says one is negative. They also say one caller crossed the line.

With unemployment still stubbornly high despite last year's $800 billion fiscal stimulus, a top House Democrat and Bay Area lawmaker on Wednesday proposed sending cities $100 billion over the next two years to forestall predicted layoffs of hundreds of thousands of city workers, teachers and other local public employees. The bill by Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, is part of a welter of legislation, including a major extension of unemployment benefits in a jobs bill that passed the Senate on Wednesday, that Democrats are trying to enact to boost employment. About 8 million jobs have been lost since the recession began...

It's not news that too many government workers get way too sweet of a deal in comparison to those in the private sector. It's no different in cash-strapped Detroit, one of the country's hardest-hit economic areas. Mayor Dave Bing today criticized leaders of the city's largest union [American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME] for foot-dragging on contract negotiations, saying it's costing the financially strapped city $500,000 a month and could result in more layoffs. "Either they can't read, they can't add or they can't comprehend," Bing said at a press conference this morning in his office...

When Scott Brown stunned the Massachusetts establishment, some state Democrats said it was time to hit the panic button. But I didn’t know they meant that literally. According to yesterday’s Herald, Boston City Hall has been testing ePanicButton software. “[City] workers would be able to hit a button on their computer or push a pedal on the floor to summon help if an angry taxpayer storms into City Hall or if someone arguing a parking ticket gets out of hand,” the Herald reported. “Angry taxpayers”? Aren’t those the people who showed up at those dangerous Tea Party rallies, too? I...

For the first time in American history, a majority of union members are government workers rather than private-sector employees, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced on Friday. In its annual report on union membership, the bureau undercut the longstanding notion that union members are overwhelmingly blue-collar factory workers. It found that membership fell so fast in the private sector in 2009 that the 7.9 million unionized public-sector workers easily outnumbered those in the private sector, where labor’s ranks shrank to 7.4 million, from 8.2 million in 2008. “There has been steady growth among union members in the public sector, but...

For decades, America’s public-sector workers have been coddled and spoiled. The recession may change that THE American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council 25, occupies a hulking building in downtown Detroit. Deep in its basement is the office of Local 207, one of the city’s most aggressive public-sector unions. John Riehl, its president, has taped a poster to the wall carrying an old war cry: “No Contract No Work”. The sign dates from a strike in 1986. Mr Riehl hopes to revive the old battle spirit. Detroit’s mayor, Dave Bing, is urging unions to make concessions. Several have...

The president of one of America’s largest labor unions, Gerry McEntee, has emerged as a major obstacle to the White House’s efforts to maintain a unified front in the health care debate. The veteran president of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) has crossed lines that few labor leaders – even those who quietly agree with him – would go near.

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...