Free Republic

ACORN founder-turned-pariah Wade Rathke explained in late July SEIU’s and ACORN’s involvement in the push for socialized medicine. Who really wants a government takeover of health care? Labor unions and tax eaters. The question remains: if and when the Congress passes “reform,” will the American people understand who is really behind it? Video at link.

Sometimes, you find a nugget of truth on a web site that’s more valuable than anything the web site’s owner might intend to share with you. That was the case this morning when I visited the AFL-CIO web site. This video tells the story in just over a minute as does the story below.

Eight days ago, just after midnight on a Sunday morning, Mexican President Felipe Calderón instructed federal police to take over the operations of the state-owned electricity monopoly, Luz y Fuerza del Centro (LyFC), which serves Mexico City and parts of surrounding states. The company's assets will stay in the hands of the government but will now be run by the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), a national state-owned utility and the major supplier of LyFC's energy. The net effect of the move is to dethrone 42,000 members of the Mexican Union of Electricians, which had won benefits over the decades to...

Activist group ACORN started in 1970 to help the poor in Arkansas and quickly went national, growing into a multimillion-dollar conglomerate with a mission so far-flung that schools now bear its name, two radio stations are affiliates and a man it backed is the president. Oh yeah, it's also the unwilling star of a hot Internet video featuring a couple dressed as a hooker and her pimp. SNIP Many Democrats used to advertise their ACORN connections. Now, however, the Democratic-led Senate has voted to cut off its grants from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Democrat-dominated House...

Three major retailers on Saturday laid out broad details of an alternative proposal they hope will fend off a deadlock over a hotly contested bill making it easier for workers to unionize. Starbucks Corp., Whole Foods Market Inc. and Costco Wholesale Corp. are opposed to portions of the labor-friendly Employee Free Choice Act, which would take away the right of employers to demand secret-ballot elections by workers before unions could be formed. Under the legislation, unions could gain representation if a majority of workers sign cards authorizing it. Still, the companies say they recognize that simply opposing the bill might...

General Motors Chief Executive Rick Wagoner says the automaker would end up being liquidated if it enters Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Wagoner says restructuring out of court would accomplish 99 percent of what could be achieved in bankruptcy. But he says it wouldn't have the risk of scaring away customers or the huge expense of Chapter 11. Wagoner made the statements Tuesday at a breakfast in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor. General Motors Corp. has received $13.4 billion in federal loans and is seeking another $16.6 billion. The company faces a March 31 deadline to finish its...

The vast new left-wing conspiracy sets its tone every morning at 8:45 a.m., when officials from more than 20 labor, environmental and other Democratic-leaning groups dial into a private conference call hosted by two left-leaning Washington organizations. The “8:45 A.M. call,” as it’s referred to by members, began three weeks ago, and it marks a new level in coordination by the White House’s allies at a time when the conservative opposition is struggling for a toe-hold and major agenda items like health care reform appear closer than ever to passage. The call has helped attempts to link the Republican Party...

NEW YORK (CBS) ― A massive protest was held outside City Hall in Manhattan on Thursday afternoon, where it seems people have just about had it with the recession. Organizers estimate that 50,000 people have lined Broadway with a message to Gov. David Paterson that cuts are not the answer to fixing New York's budget problems. The protesters are made up of a widespread coalition of labor unions, community groups, and even families uniting to have their voices heard. Dubbing it a "Rally for New York," they are rallying against proposed state and city budget cuts to public services, education,...

California labor unions, business associations and other interest groups spent more than $558 million – about $764,000 a day – to influence California government during the 2007-08 legislative session, according to state records analyzed by Capitol Weekly. Leading the way was the Service Employees International Union which spent $10.9 million over the two-year period. The Western States Petroleum Association, which represents oil and gas companies, spent $10.5 million over the same biennial span. Rounding out the list of top five spenders was the California Teachers Association ($7.9 million), the Bromine Science and Environmental Forum ($6.5 million), and the California Hospital...

Artists' models in Paris stripped naked Monday, braving freezing temperatures to protest against a ban on tips and to demand better pay and recognition. More than 20 male and female models, some posing nude while others were draped in a colorful array of shawls, sheets and fur coats, took part in the protest that had the backing of two of France's biggest labor unions. The action was triggered by a recent decision by the Paris authorities to enforce a ban on artists' tips, known as "cornet" after the rolled-up cone of drawing paper in which painters traditionally dropped some money...

DETROIT (AP) -- Festering animosity between the United Auto Workers and Southern senators who torpedoed the auto industry bailout bill erupted into full-fledged name calling Friday as union officials accused the lawmakers of trying to break the union on behalf of foreign automakers. The vitriol had been near the surface for weeks as senators from states that house the transplant automakers' factories criticized the Detroit Three for management miscues and bloated UAW labor costs that lawmakers said make them uncompetitive. But the UAW stopped biting its tongue after Republicans sank a House-passed bill Thursday night that would have loaned $14...

Watching Fox News with the speaker of the UAW, he is stating that the Legislators want to use the Toyota wages as the bench mark which about $28/hr. Fox News scrolled that General Motors average cost for an employee is about $74/hr. (the UAW speaker said the workers make approx. $36/hr) $74/hr. would include houly wage, insurances, sick leave, vacation pay, worker's comp, and unemployment insurance. My questions is where can you find a listing showing wage ranges for UAW workers? PS I would like to find a job making $36/hr or $75,000/yr

Organized labor sees a historic opportunity with Tuesday's election and is counting on the incoming Obama administration to back its agenda in what promises to be a landmark battle with business. At the top of labor's wish list is passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, which would make it harder for companies to fight union-organizing drives. "It is the most important issue that we have," said John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO. AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Richard Trumka, left, confers with the union's president, John Sweeney, Wednesday. Unions are counting on President-elect Obama to back their legislative agenda. President-elect Barack...

What a difference four years make. "Rarely have the stars been aligned as they are right now for (President) George W. Bush," Kenneth Walsh wrote in U.S. News and World Report in November 2004. "And he intends to take full advantage of the fact." After Bush beat Democrat John Kerry, some talked of a permanent Republican majority. Democrats were down. Paul Krugman wrote in The New York Times, "Democrats are now, understandably, engaged in self-examination." Krugman concluded, "But Democrats mustn't give up the fight. What's at stake isn't just the fate of their party, but the fate of America as...

GM to close Wyoming stamping plant Oct 13, 2008 02:22 PM EDT By 24 Hour News 8 staff WYOMING, Mich. (WOOD) -- The Wyoming stamping plant will be closed by General Motors by December 2009, 24 Hour News 8 has learned. Tim Lee, the head of GM's stamping division, made the announcement at 2:15 p.m. Monday to a stunned group of employees. The 36th Street plant has 1,400 workers at this time. Lee told the first-shift employees the work at the plant would be phased out and the plant would be closed in 14 months. Greg Golembiewski, the president of...

Hard hats, transit workers, machinists, teachers and other labor unionists railed against the U.S. government's proposed bailout of Wall Street on Thursday in a protest steps from the New York Stock Exchange. Several hundred protesters yelled their enthusiastic support as union leaders decried a proposed $700 billion plan aimed at reinvigorating the credit markets by relieving financial institutions of distressed debt. "The Bush administration wants us to pay the freight for a Wall Street bailout that does not even begin to address the roots of our crisis," said AFL-CIO National President John Sweeney. "We want our tax dollars used to...

Iran's Brutal Labor Crackdown New York Post Amir Taheri A year ago last Saturday, Ali Khamenei ordered the abduction of trade-union leader Mansour Osanloo. In so doing, Iran's top ruling mullah hoped to kill in infancy the independent trade-union movement that Osanloo had launched in '05 with the help of colleagues among bus drivers and conductors in Tehran. A year later, Osanloo is still in prison, sentenced to five years on a charge of "undermining the security of the Islamic Republic." Yet the free-union movement that he inspired has spread like wildfire. Transport workers in Tehran and its suburbs have...

http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com ***** By Jennifer Skalka The AFL-CIO is dropping a tough mailer in PA today noting that while John McCain's war service is admirable, his political views -- on the Bush tax cuts, NAFTA and overtime pay, in particular -- are out of sync with the needs and values of working Americans. "

U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot, R-OH, blamed labor unions and partisan politics for a U.S. House vote this week rejecting an amendment that could have kept the Delta Queen riverboat from having to phase out its overnight cruise packages. The historic riverboat has been operating with a special Congressional exemption from the federal Safety at Sea Act since 1968, an exemption that has been renewed eight times. The safety act bans the use of wooden vessels for overnight cruises. Backers of the exemption claim the Delta Queen deserves special treatment because of its historical significance and recently upgraded fire-safety systems. With...

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sidestepped the superdelegate controversy as she opened the California Democratic Party convention tonight in San Jose, instead taking aim at likely Republican presidential nominee, John McCain. Pelosi noted that McCain campaigned alongside Governor Schwarzenegger during the polarizing special election the governor called in 2005. Schwarzenegger tried to pass ballot measures aimed at weakening the power of public employee unions, changing teacher tenure rules and clamping down on state spending. Californians rejected those reforms and she predicted they'd reject McCain as well. The gathering at the San Jose Convention Center continues through...

State troopers in Colorado have voted to form a union, according to Colorado WINS, a labor union coalition seeking to organize approximately 32,000 state workers. The state trooper employee organization, known as the Association of Colorado State Patrol Professionals, is the first of its kind to form since Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter issued an executive order in November supporting state worker efforts to unionize and form employee partnerships.

A lawsuit filed by seven hotels seeking to avoid paying a higher minimum wage has cost roughly 2,000 workers a combined $4.7 million in lost income, according to a report to be released today by a pro-union nonprofit group. The Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, which last year persuaded the City Council to pass a $10.64-per-hour minimum wage at hotels near Los Angeles International Airport, said the ongoing legal fight has delayed implementation of the law -- denying each hotel employee anywhere from $350 to $4,400 since the measure was approved in January 2007.

America is gap crazy. Legions of policy wonks and social scientists have carved comfortable careers exposing gaps and torturing data and logic to make these gaps seem wider or more sinister. Politicians, meanwhile, have ensured their incumbency by redirecting gobs of other people's money to fund dubious efforts to close these gaps. Connecticut, for example, has gone through several generations of plans and many millions of dollars in a futile effort to close the achievement (education) gap. But there are many other gaps: a justice gap, marriage gap, environmental-health gap, age gap and a bunch more. One thing is certain:...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Illinois Democrats close to Sen. Barack Obama are quietly passing the word that John Edwards will be named attorney general in an Obama administration. Installation at the Justice Department of multimillionaire trial lawyer Edwards would please not only the union leaders supporting him for president but organized labor in general. The unions relish the prospect of an unequivocal labor partisan as the nation's top legal officer. In public debates, Obama and Edwards often seem to bond together in alliance against front-running Sen. Hillary Clinton. While running a poor third, Edwards could collect a substantial bag of delegates...

Big Labor is growing new political muscles. Even as the number of unionized workers falls nationwide, labor unions are showing increased power in this topsy-turvy election season. By deploying new strategies to use their money, unions have regained their position as the single-strongest force in elections, outside of the presidential candidates and the national parties. That's a boost for Democrats, since labor is a pillar of the party. Many thought campaign-finance reforms enacted in 2002 would diminish the clout of labor along with that of business. The law was meant to stem the influence of big money in politics by...

The Supreme Court intervened in a dispute between organized labor and management Tuesday, agreeing to decide the validity of a state law that limits employers' ability to weigh in on union organizing. The case accepted by the justices comes from California, where a law passed in 2000 prohibits employers from using money they receive from the state to oppose or support unionization efforts.

Where did Reagan go away? Republicans help Labor unions to a major victory How could these Senate Republicans help labor unions to a major victory? Call your Senator now to stop S.2123. The misnamed and egregious "Public Safety Employer-Employee cooperation act of 2007" was introduced by Senator Gregg on October 1 with enough Republicans (11 Republicans) to invoke cloture and pass the Bill.

So, now we know. When he was running for the highest office in the state, we all heard a lot of promises from Bill Ritter: promises about consultation with Colorado’s major constituencies, collaborative government, moderation — all the “new Democrat” codswallop. Maybe you thought we had elected a “moderate.” But at this point, everyone on this side of the sod should know that we elected a weasel. The governor’s plan to unionize government flies in the face of everything he promised during his campaign. At least, everything he promised publicly. Evidently, there were other, more serious, promises made behind closed...

When Coloradans elected Bill Ritter as governor, they thought they were getting a modern-day version of Roy Romer, a pro-business Democrat. Instead, they got Jimmy Hoffa. Ritter campaigned under the guise of a moderate "new Democrat" but now we know he's simply a toady to labor bosses and the old vestiges of his party — a bag man for unions and special interests.

How could these Republicans help Labor Unions to victory? Stop S.2123 now! Call your Senator To all who read this: Copy and paste it and send it along to your family and friends. Call your Senator now to stop S.2123. The misnamed and egregious "Public Safety Employer-Employee cooperation act of 2007" was introduced by Senator Gregg on October 1 with enough Republicans (nine Republicans) to invoke cloture and pass the Bill.

MARLBORO— Gov. Deval L. Patrick yesterday signed a bill that will expand public workers’ rights to organize. The Majority Authorization bill, signed during an appearance yesterday at the Massachusetts AFL-CIO’s annual convention, will allow public employees to unionize by garnering majority support in writing, known as the “card check” option, instead of going through secret-ballot elections.

The AFL-CIO leadership just put a number on its commitment to the general election: $53 million, the federation is set to announce. That's money that can be used for unrestricted "member-to-member" communication in House, Senate, and presidential races around the country.

The battle lines are being drawn, the tear gas and the placards stockpiled. France is preparing for a political war that is unlikely to be over by Christmas. Nicolas Sarkozy, the hyperactive new President, is taking on the self-proclaimed defenders of the rights of the French worker, the unions. Not any old unions either, but the railway workers, miners, fishermen, employees of the vast national electric company and many of the country's bureaucrats who, as they have proved on numerous occasions, are capable of paralysing the country. This week Sarkozy is expected to announce that he will end the generous...

The summer that shook the American workplace The new threat and hidden agenda of Labors new Government By Will Fine, Executive Director National Alliance for Worker and Employer Rights This summer has been the summer that shook the foundations of the Employee -Employer relationship as no time has in nearly thirty years. While our national security is being defended overseas, our domestic security has become imperiled by governmental transformation at the hands of Labor Union Central Command that has deployed a government it can control. The credibility of Congress is at stake to defend a free workplace.

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards is getting the endorsement of two unions, the United Steelworkers and the United Mine Workers of America, on Labor Day. Edwards is scheduled to be in Pittsburgh, home of the Steelworkers' international headquarters, for a Monday rally and will accept the endorsements there. "The members of the Steelworkers Union and the Mine Workers union are some of the country's hardest-working, bravest, most courageous workers," Edwards said. "It is their tireless hard work which has helped build a stronger America that benefits all of us. I honor what they do every day." The former senator from...

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - Democratic presidential candidates argued Saturday night that organized labor is an essential part of the nation's economy whose troubles mirror the deterioration of the middle class way of life. "The only way to reinvigorate the middle class is to reinvigorate the labor movement," Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware told several hundred union members at a labor forum in eastern Iowa. For all the candidates, it was one stop in a busy several days leading to a Sunday morning debate in Des Moines. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York leads the Democratic field in national polls...

National Alliance for Worker and Employer Rights Demands Governor Schwarzenegger Save Secret Ballot Elections for Workers in California urges veto of Senate Bill 180 robbing our workplace freedom S. 180 is a bill denying civil liberties to the most vulnerable people in California - those who work the farms of the state. Farm workers deserve better than to loose their hard earned rights to the schemes of the labor bosses.

July 17, 2007 Honorable Members United States House of Representatives Washington, D.C. Dear Representative, You are currently considering H.R. 980, the Public Safety employer-Employee Cooperation Act. This ill conceived legislation would expand federal power into the area of local labor relations in an unprecedented and dangerous manner. We, the undersigned organizations, call on you to do everything in your power to defeat this blatant pay-off to organized labor.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - If one man's trash is another man's treasure, then one politician's old papers are potentially another politician's — or journalist's — gold mine. Which explains why Republican Fred Thompson's previously little-noticed personal papers at the University of Tennessee from his eight years in the Senate are suddenly in demand as he nears a decision on a 2008 presidential run. Thompson donated the documents four years ago when he gave up his political career in favor of acting. Academics haven't paid much attention, chief archivist Bobby Holt said, but journalists have been poring through the more than 400...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE WASHINGTON, DC / PR FREE / Jun 19 2007 -- NAWER praises the good work of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation and the people of Washington state who worked tirelessly to remove the yoke of Big Labor from the shoulders of hard- working families. The unanimous SCOTUS decision last week took away Labor's presumed intent to decide for workers who disagree with them where and how their union dues are being spent .

State lawmakers on Monday approved a bill that would make it easier for workers in public sectors -- already a labor stronghold -- to join a union. Congress this week is debating a similar measure for U.S. private sector workers

JEFFERSON CITY — Overturning a 60-year legal precedent, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that teachers and other public employees have a constitutional right to engage in collective bargaining with their government employers.

Missouri Right to Work: Thank you Rep. Hunter By Will Fine, Executive Director National Alliance for Worker and Employer Rights Courageously, Rep. Hunter (R) and like-minded Missouri Representatives who supported him on March 1 passed the first Right to Work Law (H.B. 439) out of committee in recent Missouri History. Rep. Hunter's RTW Bill is now 54th on the Calendar for a full vote. The people have spoken: with pro-worker and employer majorities in the Senate, House and with Governor Blunt there has never been a better time to pass a right to work law in Missouri and pass it...

The Employee Free Choice Act would be more aptly-named the Employee No Choice Act. This misnamed bill would actually eliminate the freedom of employees to vote in a private, secret-ballot election on whether or not to form a union. The House already passed it in a 241-185 vote and the companion bill has been introduced in the Senate. Under card check, there is no private choice -- and no clear end to the election process. Union organizers can take as much time as they want to push someone into signing a card -- and they can go into the employee's...

With Democrats in control of both Houses of Congress for the first time since 1994, a top priority will be to eliminate the right of employees to vote for or against unionization in secret ballot elections and to dictate contract terms to employers.

Governor Romney's Initiative To Protect American Workers: Governor Romney Believes Hard Working Americans Have The Right To Not Pay Union Dues If They Do Not Belong To A Union. A bill working its way through the Iowa Legislature would allow public employee unions to charge union fees to nonunion workers. - Governor Romney Believes This Legislation Is Bad Policy. Employees - whether in the private sector or the public sector - have a right to choose whether to contribute to a union. This bill would force tens of thousands of school teachers and city, county and state government employees to...

The state House gave final approval Monday to a proposed law that would make it easier for workers to organize... House Bill 1072...changes Colorado's Labor Peace Act, which has been on the books since 1943. Business groups oppose the measure, saying making it easier to require all workers to pay union dues will deter prospective employees and employers looking to locate in Colorado. The full House passed the bill 35-29 Friday, with almost all Democrats for it and all Republicans against... A main sticking point among Republicans: All-union agreements require all of a company's employees to pay union dues as...

Nearly 90 percent of American workers do not belong to a labor union, according to new data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. Yet when reporters for The New York Times and Associated Press reported the development, they relied heavily on labor union sources to push a biased storyline about why so few Americans look for the union label. AP’s Will Lester quoted four men in his January 25 story, two labor union activists and two college professors, all of whom lamented the historically low 12 percent of Americans who pay union dues. None of Lester’s sources suggested that...

When Cy Thannikary left India to come work at the UN in Manhattan, he settled in Flushing, Queens, and loved the excitement of living in the city. After starting a family, though, he traded New York’s hubbub for Freehold, New Jersey, a quiet suburb with lower taxes and affordable housing. That was 25 years ago. These days, Thannikary sometimes feels like he’s back in Gotham as he watches his taxes soar and hears neighbors grumble. He has started a new group, Citizens for Property Tax Reform, to fight the special interests that have turned both state and local government into...

Perhaps you've heard those mean-spirited, hyper attack ads on Denver radio slandering Colorado Secretary of State Gigi Dennis. They're sponsored by Clear Peak Colorado, one of those free-wheeling 527 groups that sprang up to get around campaign finance reform laws like McCain- Feingold. This one is bankrolled by Pat Stryker and Tim Gill, a pair of liberal Democrat fat cats who lavishly support a cornucopia of partisan and left-wing causes. According to Clear Peak's most recent IRS filing, through June of this year Stryker and Gill have poured in just under $180,000 to the cause. Former Colorado Democratic Party Chairman...