Free Republic

BUSH ADMINISTRATION ERRORS AGAIN IN LEAVING MAC LABOR SEAT COLD 10/25/2004 WASHINGTON – In a stinging, backhanded slap to the face of transportation labor just eight days before the presidential election, the Bush Administration has appointed three new members to the Federal Aviation Administration’s Management Advisory Council (MAC) while once again deliberately leaving the seat for a union representative vacant. The council advises the FAA on policy, budget and regulations. It was established by the FAA Reauthorization Act of 1996 and consists of 18 members who serve three-year terms. The president appoints 10 members and five more are appointed by...

Decades After Brando, Waterfront Still Mobbed Up   BAYONNE, N.J.  — At the headquarters of New Jersey's most notorious union, the ornate front windows are etched with an anchor-and-rope motif. They're opaque, making it impossible to peer inside International Longshoremen's Association (search) Local 1588.That hasn't stopped law enforcement. Local 1588 was historically so corrupt that mob enforcers were unnecessary, according to one veteran investigator. Kickbacks, extortion and fraud became as routine as a Labor Day picnic at the local, long a lucrative outpost for the Genovese (search) crime family. In 1954, when Marlon Brando (search) starred in the Oscar-winning "On The Waterfront," one of 1588's delegates was...

NEW YORK (AP) - David Letterman had a good excuse for missing work: His girlfriend was in labor with their first child. Bandleader Paul Shaffer filled in for Letterman as host of the "Late Show" Monday night. He told the audience: "If you're feeling that there's something wrong with this picture - you're seeing me - because Dave is at the hospital waiting for his baby to be delivered!" There was no immediate word on where Letterman, a Connecticut resident, and girlfriend Regina Lasko were, said Tom Keaney, spokesman for Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants. The talk show host was...

Nigerian nurses and midwives said on Monday that they would join the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in the planned nationwide strike that starts on Thursday, as their national association has directed them not to admit new patients and discharge those on admission at the commencement of the strike. The National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), in a statement signed by its General Secretary (Ag.), Dr. Nwugo-Nwugo, warned nurses and midwives across the country to stop admitting new patients as from tomorrow (Wednesday) and discharge those on sick bed in order to reduce deaths in hospitals during the strike....

Unions: Now that organized labor has settled into the public sector, it's less of a counterweight to private capital and more of a thorn in the taxpayer's side.A lot of history goes into Labor Day, along with a touch of irony. The holiday was conceived more than a century ago by workers who were fighting to organize for better wages and a better life. But the same labor movement that invented this delightful day off in the fading glow of late summer has itself been fading — with one notable exception.These days, most American workers to whom this day is...