Free Republic

"Comprehensive immigration reform," like virtually any initiative containing the magic word "comprehensive," looks good on the surface. But the details of the comprehensive immigration bill passed by the Senate in June by a 68-32 margin reveal a lot gone wrong underneath. Oblivious to this, top union leaders are gearing up for an all-out blitz this fall to secure passage of similar legislation in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. Led by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka (in photo), they are obsessed with providing 11 million or more persons living illegally in this country with amnesty and eventual citizenship, and with enabling millions...

With tea party Republicans threatening to shut down the government in an effort to roll back President Obama's healthcare law, several progressive groups are teaming up in a new effort to convince skeptical voters of the benefits of the new law. During the August recess, Americans United for Change and Protect Your Care plan to counter efforts by Republicans to disparage the law. The groups will stage protests at GOP events, organize their own town halls to publicize its perks, and provide “air cover” to the law’s defenders. Republicans “have overplayed their hand and that gives us the opportunity to...

<p>WASHINGTON — With union membership on the decline, labor leaders are getting more creative - and some say more desperate - to boost sagging numbers and rebuild their waning clout.</p> <p>Unions are helping non-union fast food workers around the country hold strikes to protest low wages and poor working conditions. They are trying to organize home day care workers, university graduate students and even newly legalized marijuana dealers. Members of a "shadow union" at Wal-Mart hold regular protests at the giant retailer, which long has been resistant to organizing.</p>

Activists are pushing for an hourly wage of $15 and the ability to organize. Cinnamon Tigner, an employee there who took part in the protest instead of working Tuesday, described the work as "modern day slavery" "I love my job, I love what I do," she told Patch by phone, but Tigner said she felt disrespected by restaurant management who she said act like they have power over employees.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Barbara Buono will tap Milly Silva, a Hispanic female labor union leader, as her running mate next week, sources say. Silva, vice president of SEIU 1199, which represents 7,000 nursing home workers in 74 facilities, will be be Buono's pick for lieutenant governor, according to three sources familiar with the decision who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss internal deliberations. The announcement is expected to come on Monday.

The Obama Administration will hire tens of thousands of health care professionals, union workers and community activists as “navigators” to help Americans choose Obamacare options. The “navigators” will be paid $20 to $48 per hour plus benefits. The Washington Examiner reported, via I Own the World: Tens of thousands of health care professionals, union workers and community activists hired as “navigators” to help Americans choose Obamacare options starting Oct. 1 could earn $20 an hour or more, according to new regulations issued Wednesday. The 63-page rule covering navigators, drawn up by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, also said...

"When there's no justice done, it just hurts." That's what SEIU 32BJ member Louis Medina, a security officer in Manhattan, had to say about the not guilty verdict issued last weekend in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. Trayvon, a 17-year-old African-American, was walking back to his father's house from the store in Sanford, Florida on February 26, 2012 when he was racially profiled, shot and killed by George Zimmerman. Zimmerman, an armed Neighborhood Watch volunteer who pursued the unarmed teenager as Trayvon returned home, was found not guilty on manslaughter and second-degree murder charges by a Florida jury on...

Union bosses are not happy about Obamacare. Last week, the leaders of three major U.S. unions, including James P. Hoffa of the Teamsters, sent a scathing open letter to Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, Democratic leaders in Congress. They warn that if the law does not change, Obamacare will "destroy the very health and wellbeing of our members along with millions of other hardworking Americans." Clearly they feel betrayed. Here is the first paragraph of their letter: "When you and the President sought our support for the Affordable Care Act (ACA), you pledged that if we liked the health plans...

In response to Sarah Palin Weighs in on Yacht-gate: The 2012 election proved to me that we reached a tipping point. Why SHOULD the Regime respect a citizenry that would reelect this corrupt, scandal plagued collectivist, with his reverse Midas touch, whose crowning achievement has been described by one of its architects as a "trainwreck" that now has over a dozen implementation failures. Come on. I don't care how weak a candidate Mitt Romney was - does a rational, well informed citizenry reelect such a person? No, an irrational, on the dole, self-serving, badly informed citizenry does. Hence, the disrespect....

(Reuters) - Supporters of a U.S. immigration reform bill are launching a push for the legislation this week that includes phone calls to lawmakers from Catholic bishops, visits to Capitol Hill from high-tech lobbyists and an ad blitz sponsored by organized labor. The lobbying frenzy is aimed at overcoming resistance among many Republicans in the House of Representatives to the biggest overhaul of U.S. immigration laws in nearly 30 years. Immigration reform, President Barack Obama's top domestic priority, passed the Democratic-led Senate with bipartisan support but its prospects in the Republican-led House are bleak. While House votes could still be...

In 2009, Manuel Zelaya, a leftist thug, thief and “business partner” of Cesar Chavez was president of Honduras. He had long been mismanaging the nation via payoffs to supportive unions (sound familiar?), and was planning an illegal election to cement his power. There being no Constitutional method to remove him, both the Congress and the Judiciary asked the Military to assist in said removal. This they did and Vice President Roberto Micheletti took power as required by their Constitution. At no time did the military have power…not one second. The craven Obamites and all allies, SEIU, etc. demanded that the...

A broad coalition of advocacy groups is launching a multipronged campaign aimed at pressuring the Republican-led House to pass comprehensive immigration reform before the August recess. The Center for Community Change, a grass-roots organization based in Washington, said Tuesday that it is investing north of $1 million in an effort that includes paid radio ads, voter registration drives for the 2014 midterm election, and town hall events. The Service Employees International Union, which launched a seven-figure ad buy in advance of the Senate immigration debate, said it will continue its radio, TV and online ad campaign on immigration reform. And...

Today, the U.S. Senate overwhelmingly voted to pass immigration by a vote of 68-32, fulfilling the call and dreams of American and immigrant communities across the country. All throughout the corners of America, we celebrate this monumental step the Senate has taken to finally pass historic immigration reform. SEIU was founded by immigrant janitors over 90 years ago, and immigrants have been an intricate part of SEIU's, and America's, history. We're thrilled that our country is steps closer to finally enacting historic, commonsense immigration reform that is worthy of our values.

NEW YORK, May 28, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Archdiocese of New York must fund abortion-on-demand and contraception as part of the terms of a contract negotiated by a major donor to President Barack Obama. The archdiocese acknowledged on Monday that it funds the morally objectionable services for 3,000 medical workers in the Catholic Health Care System, known as ArchCare, under a contract negotiated with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). The national union spent more money on behalf of the Democratic Party during the 2012 election than any other PAC, union, or group in the nation.

Opponents of the new Minnesota law that could allow thousands of child care providers and personal care workers to unionize are suing to stop it. The opponents say the legislation allowing the groups to vote on whether to bargain collectively with the state is unconstitutional. "What the suit says is that the Legislature can't set up an election procedure in which employers are represented by unions. It's just not allowed under federal labor law," said Douglas Seaton, attorney for a group of child care providers opposing the union effort. But home-based child care providers are exempt from the National Labor...

Ms. Faulkner is worth two billion dollars. More than 40% of the U.S. population will have its medical information stored in an Epic digital medical record by 2013. Clients include many of the country’s top hospitals, including the Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins, and Cedars-Sinai. Faulkner largely shuns the press and leads a modest lifestyle.” From Real Clear Politics: Who is Judy Faulkner? Chances are, you don’t know her — but her politically connected, taxpayer-subsidized electronic medical records company may very well know you. Top Obama donor and billionaire Faulkner is founder and CEO of Epic Systems, which will soon store...

Labor is mounting an all-out push to fill the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) as the agency faces the prospect of being sidelined for the rest of President Obama’s second term. Unions of all stripes have told Senate Democrats that they need to move on all five of Obama's nominees to the labor board, even if it takes a controversial change to filibuster rules to make it happen. “Without this, there's nothing [to protect workers],” said Larry Cohen, the president of the Communications Workers of America. (CWA) “It's a floor and now the floor is caving in as well.” The...

The Michigan Capitol Confidential article about a leaked document from the Service Employees International Union on how the union hopes to continue its "dues skim" against home-based caregivers is interesting, but more significant is how the union explains the whole unionization scheme. The crux of the debate is over the unionization of more than 45,000 home-based caregivers. The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation, which is representing some of those forced to be in the union, maintains that the skim was illegal because the caregivers are not state employees — they work for private individuals who happen to receive public money. If...

The Senate's bipartisan "Gang of Eight" oozed confidence on Thursday that they could deliver on their promise to pass the most significant immigration bill in a generation. Organizers gathered over 20 leaders from business, labor, religious and civil rights groups in order to display broad support for their plan. In an unlikely pairing, renowned anti-tax activist Grover Norquist stood alongside AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, the leader of the nation's largest labor coalition. Senators from both parties yukked it up with jokes throughout the hour-long affair. "We'll oppose only those amendments that are intended to prevent a comprehensive solution from passing,"...

If there were any doubts that the oft-used term ‘comprehensive immigration reform' is a stalking-horse for amnesty, a new Senate proposal should dispel them. The measure, touted as a way to fix our ‘broken' immigration system, will do the opposite. Not only will it demean U.S. citizenship and rule of law, it also likely will produce adverse economic effects. The main feature of the 844-page bill is that it would allow millions of illegal immigrants to apply for legal residency and eventual citizenship. Significantly, the bill bears a strong union influence. And labor officials aren't bashful about it. Ana Avendano,...

by John HillStand With ArizonaWebsite | Facebook | Twitter Sheriff Joe Arpaio is facing a campaign to recall him from office. They are collecting signatures, and already have more than half the required amount with two months to go. This follows a re-election campaign last year which saw unprecedented amounts spent on both sides, as George Soros committed $10 million to oust "America's Sheriff". Joe was forced to spend his entire 'war chest' of $8 million to (barely) hold onto office - the closest race of his career. Why?Why is the Left in America so focused on a single county's...

Maryland lawmakers agreed this week to require public school teachers to pay union fees – a move that bolsters the state’s connection to organized labor as others move toward a right-to-work status. The bill passed Thursday in the General Assembly and is headed to the desk of Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley for signing after Monday, the final day of Maryland’s 2013 legislative session. The bill is also part of a larger progressive agenda put fourth this year by leaders of the Democrat-controlled Assembly that includes the approval of tax increases and one of the toughest gun-control proposals in the country.

According to the Communist Party USA, “the struggle for immigrant rights is a key component of the struggle for working class unity in our country today”. The Communists believe that the months ahead provide a great opportunity to extract big immigration changes from the Party’s “friend” Barack Obama. The coming months are crucial. This is a call for all progressive forces to become fully engaged at every level…The overwhelming Latino vote for President Obama has pushed the need for legislation forward, but there is a hard fight still ahead. As Congress begins to draft legislation, immigrant rights groups and the...

HERE WE GO. The game's afoot. In 2007, a critical factor which torpedoed illegal alien amnesty was the failure of labor unions and the business lobby to reach a deal on a "guest worker" program. Now, the New York Times is reporting that the sinister cabal of the AFL-CIO and U.S. Chamber of Commerce have reached a "deal". That's right, just what America's 20 million unemployed and underemployed need - MORE foreign workers to take MORE jobs and undercut wages even further. The Chamber could not give a damn if illegal aliens destroy American jobs and bankrupt schools, hospitals and...

Votes were tabulated yesterday for a Service Employees International Union election, the same group that was behind the “home health care dues skim” that took more than $34 million from the elderly and disabled in Michigan. Barring potential legal action, the SEIU Healthcare Michigan election will determine whether Marge Faville keeps her post as union president. However, some have raised questions about the election's legitimacy. Faville and challenger Johnnie Jolliffi, who is the union's secretary-treasurer, are pitted against each other in the race. At issue in the election was Faville's plan to allow the home-based caregivers to vote in the...

The Service Employees International Union applauded Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul for announcing that he supports an immigration bill that would include a pathway to legalization for existing illegal immigrants. In the statement emailed to reporters (it doesn’t appear to be online) SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Eliseo Medina said: The diversity behind the voices in support of commonsense immigration reform continues to grow, strengthening the call for a solution this year. The GOP should heed Sen. Rand Paul’s words today and truly join the consensus that wants Congress to pass a bill that will create a just roadmap to citizenship, boost our...

Two state universities have rejected union deals that would have averted the state's new right-to-work law. The Ferris State University Board of Trustees and the Central Michigan University Board of Trustees rejected contracts from unions that included union security agreements. Such agreements prohibit union members from exercising their right to decide if they want to pay dues or fees to be in a union, which is their option beginning March 28 thanks to the state becoming the nation's 24th right-to-work state late last year. Some school districts and some state universities have approved deals that allow unions to forcibly collect...

There’s nothing more embarrassing for union bosses than their own unionized staff striking against them or, in this case, threatening to strike. In San Francisco, SEIU staff, represented by the left-wing Communications Workers of America, has been without a contract since their contract expired last September. SEIU boss Roxanne Sanchez, according to the San Francisco Bay Guardian, is trying to get her union staff to give concessions on their pensions and health care. Last week, after months without a contract, 94% of the SEIU’s own union staff voted to strike.

Wibailoutpeople.org was one of the few website which still posted the SEIU announcement detailing the “celebration and procession” for the deceased Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez. Hugo Chávez in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Jan/26/2003 photo Victor Soares A memorial vigil was held Wednesday at the Venezuelan consulate in Manhattan, but the union march is raising eyebrows. “Bring candles will walk to the statue of the Liberator Simon Bolivar in Central Park.” – instructions included in the hispanic announcement which reached out to Fidel Castro supporters as well. NEW YORK CITY A Celebration and Procession for our Comrade Hugo Chávez Fri., March 8...

OLYMPIA – Pickets will replace performing the rounds at Olympia’s St. Peter Hospital tomorrow. 500 members of the Service Employees International Union, or SEIU, will walk off the job tomorrow in what it says is a case of health care workers striking over the rising cost of health care. “My husband has cystic fibrosis,” says Certified Nursing Assistant Abbey Bruce, who says his medication used to be covered by the Providence Plan. But now, “we’re up to out of pocket, $400 per month, for his medications he needs baseline to stay alive. So I’ve had to take a second job,”...

The SEIU "skim tracker" has finally stopped. The scrolling money ticker had been calculating the amount of money the Service Employees International Union was taking from home-based caregivers because of a forced unionization scheme that was orchestrated in 2005 when Jennifer Granholm was governor. As of today, March 1, Michigan's home-based caregivers no longer are unionized. The contract between the union and the dummy employer used for the scheme officially ended Feb. 28. According to the Michigan Department of Community Health, the February Medicaid checks it sends to home-based caregivers will be mailed on March 4. These are the checks...

In an interview with the Detroit Metro Times, United Auto Workers President Bob King suggests that the forced unionization of home-based caregivers is more important than Michigan's becoming a right-to-work state. “[T]here was a whole series of legislation that [Snyder] said was not on his agenda that he signed,” King told the Metro Times. "There were [university] research assistants being denied collective bargaining rights. There were home health care workers, who were given some really strong assurances that collective bargaining rights would not be taken away from them. “And that’s much more serious, honestly, than right-to-work; denying them the right...

<p>A Potentially explosive confrontation over Gov. Cuomo’s tough new gun law was avoided over the weekend as 1199 SEIU, the hospital workers union, abruptly canceled a Thursday rally designed to challenge some 10,000 opponents of the governor’s measure, The Post has learned.</p>

A ‘Second Amendment Rally’ is being held in Albany this Thursday the 28th, and will feature National Rifle Association President David Keene, and various other speakers opposed to new gun legislation passed last month in New York state. The Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement (SAFE) Act of 2013 currently hails as the single most restrictive assault on Second Amendment rights in the country, and was forced through the legislative process without public review – a tactic that even Governor Cuomo admits was the only way to enact the law. As a counter to the massive Second Amendment support being demonstrated...

ALBANY LOBBYING FOR "NY SAFE ACT" (Day of Action) Governor Cuomo and our legislature passed the "NY SAFE ACT." It will reduce gun violence in our state. Predictably, it is under attack by the National Rifle Association and allied groups. :::We are joining with the SEIU 1199 to lobby in Albany. This free bus trip will last from 8:00 to 4:30 with breakfast and lunch included. Meet up at 250 S Clinton St. Park in the M Lot at the corner of W Fayette and S Clinton Sts. (Parking in that lot may be validated. No sure yet.) Show your...

Ex-SEIU Local Exec Convicted of Stealing From Low-Income Members Paul Pringle and Hailey Branson-Potts January 28 A onetime rising star in national labor circles who headed California's biggest union local was convicted Monday on federal charges that he stole tens of thousands of dollars from his low-income members. Tyrone Freeman, who represented about 190,000 homecare workers as a leader of the Service Employees International Union, was found guilty on 14 counts after a 10-day trial... Jurors deliberated two and a half days before returning their verdict. The trial followed a nearly four-year investigation triggered by a series of Times reports...

The former president of California’s largest union local was found guilty by a federal jury in Los Angeles on Monday of stealing from the low-wage workers he represented. Tyrone Freeman, who led Local 6434 of the Service Employees International Union, was convicted on 14 criminal counts, including embezzlement of union funds, violating tax laws and mail fraud. As president of SEIU Local 6434 -- the second-largest SEIU chapter in the nation -- Freeman, 43, represented 160,000 low-wage healthcare workers who cared for the elderly and people with disabilities. He also represented 30,000 workers as president of the California United Homecare...

It's not often a state workers' union representative complains about the state adding government jobs. But that's what happened when the Detroit Free Press published an article with the headline: "Michigan right-to-work law creates at least two jobs; taxpayers to foot bill." The article said there will be one new specialist position and one or two clerical positions in the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs in response to the enactment of the state's new right-to-work law. It quoted one union official critical of the hiring. "It's ridiculous," Ray Holman, legislative liaison for UAW Local 6000, the largest state employee...

This is...about a coordinated effort by about 36 different interest groups with reported revenues of no less than $1.69 billion, pledging millions of dollars to work together to attack conservative supporters and organizations, to intervene directly in Democratic politics, to push for filibuster reform to better enable a push through their agenda without any input from the opposition, and expanding "voting rights" and fighting voter registration laws to further grease the skids for their legislative agenda. 1. Who belongs: Here are a few of them: ...the AFL-CIO, the Center for American Progress, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, Common...

Joy Tiz interviews Dave Bego, author of The Devil is at Our Doorstep, a true David vs Goliath story. Andy Stern and the SEIU tried to take over Dave's small business, harassing his familiy and employees. Dave pushed back and he won! Here his remarkable story today at 2 pm PST.

The president says right-to-work laws mean "the right to work for less money." So how does he explain the fact that incomes are up in RTW states while forced unionism is a proven job killer? Campaigning Monday in Michigan as it stood poised to become the nation's 24th right-to-work state, President Obama spoke the exact opposite of the truth to union workers at a Daimler Detroit Diesel plant in the birthplace of organized labor. "What we shouldn't be doing," he told the small crowd, "is trying to take away your rights to bargain for better wages. We don't want a...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_F3oev06i0&list=SP85933DBA7E52B5B6 Check out the latest video from Lansing. Steven Crowd punched in the face multiple times.

The gleaming UPMC letters atop the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s corporate offices downtown might as well be a bull’s-eye for all the attention being generated by the biggest labor organizing effort in the system’s history. The Service Employees International Union represents janitors at Harvard University, home care workers in Los Angeles and employees at HCA, the biggest for-profit hospital chain in the country. Now, the union is going after UPMC, Pennsylvania’s biggest hospital network. To prevail, the health system has to convince employees they’re better off without a union at a time when the health care industry is undergoing

Michigan Republicans touched off a firestorm Thursday with an abrupt push to pass right-to-work legislation, in what would be a blow to organized labor in the home of the U.S. auto industry. Right-to-work legislation prohibits unions from forcing workers to pay union dues. Unions and their Democratic allies adamantly oppose these laws -- but with little warning, Michigan Republicans on Thursday laid the groundwork to, in a matter of days, make their state the 24th with right-to-work legislation. "This is all about taking care of the hard-working workers in Michigan, being pro-worker and giving them freedom to make choices," Michigan...

A progressive foundation and a labor union have combined to pour millions of dollars into a “racial justice” group that was hostile to voter ID laws during the 2012 campaign season, according to a conservative watchdog group in Wisconsin. While True the Vote and other right-leaning campaigns were promoting ID requirements for voters and monitoring the implementation of ID laws at the state level, the Applied Research Center (ARC) was pushing back with claims that photo ID requirements at polling places were thinly veiled expressions of racism. Media Trackers, the conservative Wisconsin group, reported Monday that the W.K. Kellogg Foundation,...

The protest, supported by the UAW, was for 'decent pay, regular hours, affordable healthcare and respect.' Saying their walkout on 'Black Friday' had shown the world's largest retailer their determination to fight against all odds, Walmart workers hailed their wage protest Saturday. Hundreds of protesters targeted Walmart stores across the United States on Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year, accusing the bargain superstore of ripping off its own employees. The protests were designed to disrupt the Black Friday shopping frenzy, after Thursday's Thanksgiving holiday, when deep discounts pull in waves of customers. "Today's protests at Walmart stores across...

Michigan’s home-based caregiver dues skim should be on its last legs with the rejection of Proposal 4, but a similar forced unionization plan exists in Connecticut. Michigan Proposal 4, which would have locked a scheme orchestrated by the Service Employees International Union when Jennifer Granholm was governor, was rejected 56 percent to 44 percent on Election Day. This comes seven years after the SEIU used a mail-in election to forcibly unionize Michigan home-based caregivers.. As a result of that scheme, the SEIU has taken nearly $33 million from dues taken out of Michigan caregivers’ Medicaid checks. The SEIU convinced home-based...

SECAUCUS, New Jersey - Walmart workers hailed their wage protest Saturday, saying their walkout on ‘Black Friday’ had shown the world’s largest retailer their determination to fight against all odds. Hundreds of protesters targeted Walmart stores across the United States on Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year, accusing the bargain superstore of ripping off its own employees. The protests were designed to disrupt the Black Friday shopping frenzy, after Thursday’s Thanksgiving holiday, when deep discounts pull in waves of customers. “Today’s protests at Walmart stores across the country are a reminder of the enormous power of working people...

Unions played an important role in American history. At the turn of the last century, a lot of workers encountered awful and dangerous conditions on the job. The workers banded together, demanded changes and got them. After that, Americans joined unions and the dues began to roll in. Riding that wave of compulsory money, union bosses rose. With that much money flowing, corruption wasn’t far behind. Times have changed. The economy, country and world have changed. But unions haven’t. Union membership among non-government employees has fallen off a cliff. But although membership is down, their power remains large. Why? Because...

Black Friday always brings out the worst: long lines, short tempers and random outbreaks of shoppers’ rage. This year, Big Labor will ratchet up the Strikesgiving tension with professional grievance-mongers and workers picketing at 1,000 Wal-Mart stores nationwide. Attention, Wal-Mart directors: Mob appeasement never works. They’ve tried repeatedly to stave off union thuggery through political “partnerships” and capitulation. It has failed and failed and failed. As you may recall, the discount retail giant shocked many observers in 2009 when it announced it was embracing the principles of President Obama’s federal health care mandate. The nation’s largest private (and non-union) employer...