Free Republic

The AFL-CIO, along with some public sector unions, announced a campaign finance freeze in March. Unions hoped the threat of withholding contributions would scare Democratic lawmakers out of supporting President Barack Obama’s Trade Promotion Authority, or “fast track,” to negotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership — a trade agreement labor groups say would hurt manufacturing jobs in the U.S.

Loretta Lynch's DOJ looks to further federal control of elections in ways that benefit the Democrats. The Obama Justice Department has quietly launched an effort to erode traditional state powers over elections. In the first instance, Attorney General Loretta Lynch has drafted and sent a bill to Congress which would force state election officials to turn over power to tribal governments to determine the location and number of polling places on Indian reservations in state-run elections. In the second instance, the DOJ is seeking to erode the power of states to prohibit the mentally incompetent from voting, as long as...

Reflections on the "minimum wage hike" protests today at McDonald's Oak Brook headquarters... On a cool May morning, as McDonalds’ shareholders met to determine the fast food giant’s future course, some 2000 protesters, hailing from as far as Kansas City and New York, descended upon them to present a list of demands. Raise the starting wage to $15/hour, they threatened, lest the company be forever branded with such monikers as Exploiter, Villain, Robber Baron and Tyrant! The Chicago Tribune, newspaper of record in the blighted metro area that McDonald’s calls home, was happy to give front page coverage to these...

Let all decent human beings this day remember Werner Foerster, a New Jersey state trooper slain in 1973 - for tonight there will be a nauseating gathering to celebrate (yes, celebrate) the armed prison break that freed one of Foerster's convicted killers. An organization that should know better, the big public employee union SEIU Local 1199, has opened an auditorium at its headquarters to a group that lionizes fugitive Joanne Chesimard, aka Assata Shakur, as a heroine whose "liberation" from prison 27 years ago it considers a bright moment in American history. Sponsors of the Hands Off Assata Campaign include...

While the term “school choice” is often perceived as a decision between public and private institutions, magnet schools offer an opportunity to introduce another option for parents and families within their public school district. With almost 3,000 magnet schools nationwide in 2012, the trend embracing more public school choice continues to rise. Originally conceived as an approach to decrease segregation in school districts, today magnet schools encourage more hands-on learning by tailoring instruction around a central theme. Various magnet schools focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM); arts; business; culinary studies; medicine; languages and more. Magnet schools increase parental...

Jonathan Hoenig @JonathanHoenig Several folks protesting McDonalds pick up dinner from McDonalds. pic.twitter.com/iEWoZDh4c1

The fight to redefine a McJob is heating up. Protests for pay of $15 an hour and a union for fast-food and other low-wage workers are set to take place around the country Wednesday, marking the biggest effort yet in an ongoing campaign by labor organizers. The Fight for $15 campaign is being spearheaded by the Service Employees International Union and began in late 2012 with fast-food workers. Since then, organizers have used the spotlight to rally a variety of low-wage workers, including airport workers and home care workers. On Wednesday, adjunct professors will be the latest to join in...

Two of the country’s most powerful and politically influential labor unions are backing President Obama in the recent court challenge to his 2014 executive action on illegal immigration, saying they support the president’s effort because "undocumented workers" need more workplace protection and their participation helps the U.S. economy. The AFL-CIO and the National Education Association on Monday each filed so-called amicus briefs in a federal appeals court case in which Texas and 26 other states are challenges the president’s 2014 memorandum on illegal immigration. The memorandum essentially expands work authorization and delayed-deportation programs for illegal immigrants. And it provides similar...

Labor giant SEIU spent more than $100 million on union overhead and political activities in 2014, according to federal labor filings released Tuesday evening. The union collected about $320 million from its 1.8 million members, who are primarily government employees and health care workers. For every $3 that a union member contributed to its coffers, $1 went to functions outside of membership services. The union spent about $55 million paying union administrators and covering overhead costs, including more than $276,000 to president Mary Kay Henry.

On a recent Friday, Kwanza Brooks, a $7.25-an-hour McDonald’s worker, climbed into a 14-person van to take a four-hour ride from Charlotte, N.C., to Atlanta. As she and other workers headed south, Ms. Brooks, a short, fiery woman, swapped stories with her companions about unsafe conditions and unfair managers. Upon arriving, they joined more than 400 other people — including home care aides, Walmart workers, child care workers and adjunct professors. The gathering was a strategy session to plan for the fast-food movement’s next big wave of protests, which is now scheduled for April 15. But the meeting was also...

Over three days, some of the wealthiest people in Chicago, if not the nation, dumped more than $1.3 million into the political re-election campaign of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.. Among the donors was Citadel founder and billionaire Ken Griffin, who donated $250,000 to Emanuel. The mayor is battling to keep his seat against a surging Cook County Commissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia. Others who donated from March 3 to March 6 include: Groupon co-founder Eric Lefkofsky, $200,000; Richard Melman, $100,000; and Jay B. Pritzker and M.K. Pritzker, who tossed in $50,000 each. Garcia recently took in a a $250,000 contribution from...

Warren, who is closely aligned with progressive union groups, ripped Walker in a tweet Saturday for what some saw as a comparison between union members and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria: "If Scott Walker sees 100,000 teachers & firefighters as his enemies, maybe it's time we take a closer look at his friends.” In a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday, Walker said, “If I can take on 100,000 protestors, I can do the same across the world.” Walker, a possible 2016 presidential candidate for the GOP, tried to walk back his comments after his...

At CPAC, Scott Walker made a remark that caught the attention of many of the left, and some on the right: OXON HILL, Md. (AP) — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said Thursday that his experience taking on thousands of protesters in his state helped prepare him to take on terrorists across the world. The likely Republican presidential contender sparked pointed criticism from labor union leaders across the country after remarks delivered on the first day of the Conservative Political Action Conference in suburban Washington. The annual conference features more than a dozen potential Republican presidential contenders over three days hoping...

Gerardo Hernandez, a spy for Communist Cuba and the man responsible for the murder of four humanitarian workers (three of whom were American citizens) over international waters, was freed from prison last year by the Obama administration, due in part to the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). This was revealed at a February 6, 2015, celebration of Hernandez’s release, along with two of his fellow Cuban agents (collectively known as the “Cuban 5.. At the beginning of the event, an IPS official thanked all who who took part in the 17-year campaign and singled out a number of organizations that...

tates: Illinois entrepreneur turned governor Bruce Rauner ends the practice of forced union dues for government workers who don't want to join a union as he pursues right-to-work zones to promote growth. In Illinois, they're called "fair share" dues collected from workers said to benefit from the collective bargaining of the unions they're in thrall to, whether they want to join or not, moneys collected by force to pay for that representation. "Fair share" is a favorite mantra to liberals, but not to newly elected Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner. He believes that there's nothing fair about extorting money from people...

With all the protests by labor activists over the minimum wage and pay at retailers and restaurants this year, chances are you have become familiar with so-called worker centers. Unlike labor unions, these new models of labor activism don’t have regulations on length of picketing or filing spending reports. . . Research by the Center for Union Facts (managed by my firm, Berman and Co.) shows just how deeply national labor unions like the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) are involved in the worker center agitation.Remember those fast-food strikes? The SEIU thought them...

WASHINGTON--In response to reports that H.R. 30 will be taken up by the House of Representatives, SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry issued the following statement: "A bill (H.R. 30) to be voted on by the House tomorrow (Thursday) would put 6.5 million workers at risk for part-timing by increasing the Affordable Care Act's hours threshold used to determine full-time employment from 30 to 40 hours. "This proposal would make it easier for bad-actor employers to manipulate the work hours of working women and men, depriving them of both benefits and wages. This bill would give employers a huge incentive...

Washington, D.C.-- President Obama has announced a proposal to make two years of community college free for responsible students. Below is SEIU President Mark Kay Henry's statement about the president's proposal: "Access to affordable education for America's students is essential to building a vibrant future for our economy, workforce, and communities. Today, too many hard-working students face skyrocketing tuition bills from poor quality for-profit institutions. President Obama's community college proposal is an important step in the right direction toward expanding access to affordable education for more students. [....] "Sixty-one percent of faculty at America's community colleges are part-time and often...

Adjunct faculty at Washington University in St. Louis voted narrowly to unionize this month, in a campaign marked by accusations of union intimidation and administration pressure tactics. . . . SEIU was accused of harassing adjuncts at home and generally riding roughshod over them. Mark Manteuffel, a biology instructor, told St. Louis Public Radio that union representatives showed up at his house when he wasn’t home and were “very pushy and rude” toward his wife. They asked her for his cellphone number without introducing themselves, and came back again when he wasn’t home, Manteuffel said: “And they kind of huffed...

The United Food and Commercial Workers Union is a heavyweight on the labor scene. It pays its president $350,000 a year. It’s holding its next executive board meeting in February at a swanky beachfront resort in Hollywood, Florida. And it just doled out nearly $8 million to influence the last election and lobby Washington. But when it comes to standing by the obligation unions made to provide pensions to retirees, UFCW pleaded poverty in persuading Congress to let chronically underfunded union pension plans cut the benefits of workers, including those already retired.“Declining participation and factors like the Great Recession have...