Free Republic

University of Minnesota staff were key coordinators of the recent violent protests at the Republican National Convention (RNC). The university employees are also members of the local clerical union of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees. The AFSCME is part of the AFL-CIO union. Protests turned violent at the 2008 RNC located in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Police have arrested hundreds of demonstrators for violent attacks on police officers and bystanders and other more nuisance crimes. The Saint Paul Police have identified an anarchist group called the RNC Welcoming Committee as being at the center of the violence....

Many of you probably watched Sarah Palin accept the Republican Party's Vice Presidential nomination last night. Ironically, her husband - a member of the United Steelworkers (USW) union - is actually funding efforts to smear and defeat her.

The Service Employees International Union's top California officer has taken a leave of absence, and her former boyfriend has been ordered to return tens of thousands of dollars he received from the state council and Los Angeles local that she heads. Annelle Grajeda is the third major SEIU leader to step aside following reports in The Times about the union's financial practices. The SEIU acknowledged Saturday that Grajeda was on leave as president of the L.A. local and the union's state council, and as an executive vice president of the national organization, because of allegations that she was improperly involved...

This just gets better and better. You'll recall our recent focus on the abuse of funds and influence peddling by California Service Employee International Union (SEIU) head Tyrone Freeman being investigated in depth by the L.A.Times and how Mr. Freeman has been funneling union contracts to his family members. Now a related investigation in Michigan has revealed that one of Freeman's former associates has had to step down from a Michigan SEIU post because of similar financial misdeeds there. Once again the L.A. Times is the source for this sad tale of union bosses abusing the power so blindly handed...

California's largest union local and a related charity have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to firms owned by the wife and mother-in-law of the labor organization's president, documents and interviews show. The Los Angeles-based union, which represents low-wage caregivers, also spent nearly $300,000 last year on a Four Seasons Resorts golf tournament, a Beverly Hills cigar club, restaurants such as Morton's steakhouse and a consulting contract with the William Morris Agency, the Hollywood talent shop, records show. In addition, the union paid six figures to a video firm whose principals include a former union employee. And a now-defunct minor...

Legislation that would make it more difficult for workers to hold a private ballot vote in unionization drives, which critics say would lead to harassment and intimidation, has spurred a pitched battle between powerful labor unions supportive of Sen. Barack Obama and big business in the presidential campaign. Seen by the AFL-CIO as a way to boost union rolls by hundreds of thousands of new members, the hotly-contested bill has become this year's No. 1 election issue for organized labor. Mr. Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, has promised union bosses that the Employee Free Choice Act will become law in...

House Vote on Card-Check.

Right now, workers in business, like voters, get to choose by secret ballot on whether they will be unionized. If the Democrats pass their “Employee Free Choice Act,” what opponents rightly call “card check,” any employee will be placed at the hands of a less than merciful union representative who knows precisely whether or not the employee is supportive of unions. Under card check, instead of employees voting to unionize by secret ballot, employees will submit cards with their choice. There will be no anonymity with their choice. Because the Republican Party has enough members present right now to filibuster...

Union bosses are well aware that their days were numbered until Obama came along. And they are sparing no expense in getting him elected. The AFL-CIO and its affiliates have raised an unprecedented $250 million to put 200,000 union workers on the street campaigning for Obama in the crucial final weeks. The National Education Association has budgeted up to $50 million. The Service Employees International Union has added $100 million to pay 2,000 union members to leave their jobs and go work on Democratic campaigns. All totaled, unions are expected to spend more than $1 billion of their members’ money...

Our economic system — the market economy or capitalism — is a system of consumers' supremacy. The customer is sovereign; he is, says a popular slogan, "always right." Businessmen are under the necessity of turning out what the consumers ask for and they must sell their wares at prices which the consumers can afford and are prepared to pay. A business operation is a manifest failure if the proceeds from the sales do not reimburse the businessman for all he has expended in producing the article. Thus the consumers in buying at a definite price determine also the height of...

Recent strikes in Germany prove what many experts have long been warning: Labor unions in the country are fragmenting. Mini-organizations representing specialized employees are making strikes more frequent and more complex than ever. Revolution is in the air at Lufthansa: Last week's five-day strike by ground staff had hardly ended before 5,000 pilots, organized in the union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC), began planning the next work stoppage. They want to see pilots working for Lufthansa affiliates receive pay hikes and are also fighting to create their own works council. A warning strike is planned for sometime in the next few days...

A few days ago I posted a story on a recent article in the New York Sun by Diana Furchtgott-Roth, Senior Fellow at The Hudson Institute, that focused on how the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) had not fully funded the pension plan of their rank and file members while they had over funded the pension plan of the Union's chief officers. Well, today at noon (CT) I was included as part of a conference call on the pending release of the full study upon which that earlier article in the Sun was based, written by by Diana Furchtgott-Roth. This...

Taxpayers in Contra Costa (and around the world) are closely watching the implosion of the City of Vallejo into bankruptcy and wonder at potential outcomes. This week Vallejo asked judges to void four contracts with unionized public employees. A hearing is set for July 23. The city faces its first major bankruptcy milestone, tomorrow, Friday June 27, when city and union officials present their initial arguments to the court. With an eye toward similar potential disaster in Contra Costa County, some wonder if it’s even possible to void such contracts. One observer opined that pro-union Democrat legislators have helped install...

The director of volunteers for the Democratic National Convention in Denver has resigned, saying she wasn’t “empowered” to do her job. Sondra Williams ...declined to elaborate on her reasons, saying she doesn’t want to criticize the host committee. The committee is coping with fundraising problems. It reported this week it is $11.6 short its $40.6 million goal.

<p>A dissident Iranian labour leader who is serving a five-year jail sentence has been hospitalised with a heart problem, a source close to him said yesterday. Mansoor Osanloo, leader of a union grouping bus drivers, was detained in July last year for "distributing statements against the system" and a judiciary official was in October quoted as saying he had been sentenced to jail.</p>

WASHINGTON, June 18 (UPI) -- A new television ad blasting likely Republican presidential nominee John McCain is only the beginning of liberal "independent group" ads, union officials say. The spot, produced independently of Illinois Democratic Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign, financed by the liberal activist group MoveOn.org and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, features a young mother with a baby criticizing McCain's determination to keep troops in Iraq. It began airing Tuesday in Ohio, Wisconsin and Michigan, USA Today reported. Pro-Democrat labor union leaders told the newspaper they have assembled millions of dollars for so-called independent...

More than 50 percent of Irish voters rejected the European Union Treaty meant to streamline decision-making for the 27-member union. Tendai Maphosa has this report from London. Results of Thursday's referendum trickled in throughout the day Friday and it was not looking good for supporters of the EU treaty. The official announcement was met with jubilation by opponents of the document. OFFICIAL: "Votes in favor of the proposal 752,451, votes against the proposal 862,415." Ireland was the only EU member that required a popular vote on the treaty, because it would have needed to make constitutional changes before it could...

Dear Rush, Over the last few months I've tried to call you countless times, but for some reason your line always seems busy. So please understand my use of this format, as I am obligated to reach out and answer the question you have asked your students at the Limbaugh Institute of Higher Education. Time and again you have asked "Who will speak for the Conservatives?"...

Dear Rush, Over the last few months I've tried to call you countless times, but for some reason your line always seems busy. So please understand my use of this format, as I am obligated to reach out and answer the question you have asked your students at the Limbaugh Institute of Higher Education. Time and again you have asked "Who will speak for the Conservatives?"....

Unsigned fliers in city schools urge 'job actions' . Not a single classroom teacher showed up for work at a northwest Denver school on Tuesday, an apparent "sickout" staged by teachers upset over stalled contract talks. All 16 classroom teachers plus the music teacher and a librarian called in sick... "I didn't have any warning," Kraft said. "I don't know what the goal is, so I can't really speak to whether or not that accomplished their goal. . . . (But) I'm not sure if leaving your students without a teacher is a way to address contract negotiations." DPS Superintendent...

A labor-union campaign in Colorado to tighten restrictions on layoffs and ... could put Democrats in an awkward position as they gather here in August for their presidential convention. Unions are pushing to get a total of six measures on the fall ballot, all of them opposed by small-business owners and corporate interests. "If they pass, it would be like putting a big 'Do Not Locate Your Business Here' sign on Colorado," ... Big labor groups said they will pump as much as $35 million into Colorado to pass their own measures and defeat a rival initiative promoted by business...

That $13.2 million grant Washington state won last year to enhance the teaching of Advanced Placement courses in math and science is history. It’s lost because of the financial incentives it would have provided for teachers who improve test scores. The Washington Education Association didn’t much like the idea of tying teacher pay to student performance on exams. Neither did the teachers union like the involvement of an outside party, the grant provider, in teacher-pay decisions.

May 1, 2008 Dear xxxxxx, The 2008 Legislative Session officially ended on April 23rd. A special session on transportation will follow. We will need to work in that session to protect the General Fund and make sure that dollars that should go to schools don't go to roads But, we can reflect and hopefully learn from the most difficult 2008 session. VEA bills fared poorly; in many cases because there was no money. There is new money for education, on a per-pupil basis 7.4% in 2008-09 and 1.5% in 2009-10. Considering the budget constraints, this is remarkable and reflective of...

LOS ANGELES -- An arbitrator has ordered the union that represents dockworkers at West Coast ports to tell members they must report to work Thursday and not take the day off to protest U.S. military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. A wide enough walkout could cause a slowdown at West Coast ports -- the nation's major gateway for cargo from the Far East. Arbitrator John Kagel issued his decision today after holding a hearing by phone with the employers' group, Pacific Maritime Association, and International Longshore and Warehouse Union, according to a document outlining the ruling. The union previously asked...

PORTAGE, IN - Hillary Clinton's campaign has worked hard of late to portray her as the fighter in the race, someone with the determination to see her plans through no matter what the obstacles. In North Carolina yesterday, Gov. Mike Easley raised some eyebrows when he said Clinton was so determined she made "Rocky Balboa look like a pansy." Well, this afternoon, a local labor leader introducing Clinton pushed the envelope further, saying the nation needed a leader "that has testicular fortitude." While defending Bill Clinton's role in the passage of NAFTA, Paul Gipson, president of a steelworkers local, said...

The California Public Employees Retirement System Chief Executive Officer may leave by the end of the year amid tensions with the board, marking the third top level executive at the $244 billion retirement fund to depart in 2008... Calpers is in the middle of an internal debate over whether to require infrastructure projects that receive Calpers investments to use union employees... In February, Christianna Wood, senior investment officer, stepped down ...

LONDON (Reuters) - A pipeline carrying nearly half of Britain's oil was closed on Sunday as a strike over pensions began at the neighboring Grangemouth refinery in Scotland, operator BP said. The refinery, owned by international chemical company Ineos, produces a tenth of Britain's petrol and diesel but also supplies vital steam to BP's Kinneil plant that starts to process the crude oil coming ashore from 70 North Sea fields. Unions have rejected pleas to operate the steam plant at the level necessary to keep Kinneil functioning during the two-day stoppage which began at 6 a.m. (1 a.m. EDT)....

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...

Members of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union are proceeding with plans for a work stoppage at 29 West Coast ports on May 1 to protest the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, despite the fact that union leadership has withdrawn its request to waterfront employers that they accommodate closure of the ports. Planning for the protest began in February when the Longshore Caucus, the highest decision-making body for the 25,000 members of the longshore division within the ILWU, overwhelmingly approved a resolution in support of a day of protest. According to its contract, the ILWU is entitled to schedule a...

If the Democratic National Convention failed to produce a bounce for John Kerry, the same cannot be said of Illinois State Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic Party’s candidate for United States Senator from Illinois. While this rising star in the Democratic Party spouted some conservative themes during his speech, the rhetoric may be deceptive. While Obama spoke of individual responsibility – such as stating that the government cannot teach kids to read, parents must – his ideology and voting record is quite different. Obama is very liberal. Among his campaign contributors are George Soros, People for the American Way, pro-abortion...

In a further sign of weakening demand for large, gas-guzzling SUVs, GM has announced it is idling its 54-year-old Arlington, Texas plant for three weeks. This comes only two weeks after a GM spokeswoman said this about Arlington: "We are currently running at full production and foresee continuing to run at full production indefinitely..." Workers at the plant had been producing 900-1000 Chevrolet Tahoes and Suburbans, GMC Yukons, and Cadillac Escalades a day. Ten months ago, Autoblog reported large SUVs were holding their own. Now, these models are seeing reduced sales compared with last year as consumers react to...

The unions that pushed the hardest for Gov. Bill Ritter's executive order granting them a larger voice in state government could soon see a nearly four-fold increase in membership. They are also circulating among prospective members a report that recommends increasing state worker wages and health care benefits to attract and retain a higher-quality workforce. Opponents of the executive order say it's proof that Ritter has unnecessarily opened the door to future wage disputes and, ultimately, higher taxes. The unions, which had fewer than 6,000 dues-paying state workers on their rolls before the Nov. 2 order, could soon exclusively represent...

Proponents deliver their petitions to the secretary of state a day early. A right-to-work ballot measure cleared another obstacle Wednesday as backers turned in almost twice as many signatures as needed to put the controversial issue on the ballot in November. Delivering nearly two dozen boxes of petitions a day ahead of schedule, supporters of the initiative sent a clear signal they intend to press ahead with their campaign to outlaw arrangements that require nonunion workers to pay union fees ... "This amendment will give Colorado workers the freedom to decide for themselves whether or not to join a union...

This reads like something from The Onion: That’s why Mexican immigrant Jacinto Vasquez has joined the Houston Network of Day Laborers, formed over the weekend by approximately 200 day laborers.Their goal is to improve working conditions, set a minimum wage they’ll agree to work for and fight wage theft. Next month, the Houston network will convene to form a leadership group, drawn from representatives of various street-corner hiring locations. There’s also an interesting contradiction in the article. From the first graf: The housing market’s slowdown has made work scarce. From the wannabe-union’s organizer: What you have to understand is they...

Charlton Heston played one of his most effective cameo roles in Idaho - and it wasn't in a film. Heston...was a critical figure in Idaho's Right to Work law, approved by voters in 1986 after the most expensive ballot-measure campaign in state history. Heston's TV ad in support of (the) law...ran for five months. "It really did get people's attention," said Lorna Auld, co-chairwoman of the campaign. "His voice was so memorable and for him to stand there like Moses and say, 'This is what I believe,' was good for us and good for Idaho." ...Gary Glenn, who ran the...

BUFFALO, N.Y. - A dozen leaders and members of a construction union were arrested Tuesday and charged with a decade of attacks against nonunion workers and their families, and prosecutors said some of the crimes were aided by the local's access to state motor vehicle records. The president of Operating Engineers Local 17, Mark Kirsch, was among those charged with extortion and racketeering after a five-year investigation. The union, headquartered in Buffalo, operates in six western New York counties. At job sites where non-Local 17 members were hired, union members caused more than $1 million in damage to more than...

Charlton Heston in a TV ad supporting voter approval of a state Right to Work law on Idaho's 1986 general election ballot: "I've played men like Tom Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Lincoln, all of them heroes defending American freedom. There are Americans still carrying on that fight in Idaho, where citizens want the Right to Work without being forced to join a union. Now, as a former union president, I believe Americans should be free to choose. We're all watching, Idaho. Strike a blow for freedom. Vote YES on Referendum One."

As Gov. Bill Ritter continues his efforts to make his coalition with Big Labor look reasonable, one Colorado union is showing just how out of touch with reality union bosses really are. United Food and Commercial Workers union Local 7 had introduced five statewide ballot initiatives that if approved for the November ballot and passed by voters, would collectively and significantly raise the cost of hiring new workers. At a time when the U.S. economy continues to shed thousands of low-skilled jobs each quarter, the timing of the Local 7’s proposal is extremely questionable. One of the initiatives would require...

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.

Pasco detention deputies give union the boot By Times Staff Writer Published Wednesday, March 19, 2008 8:44 PM LAND O'LAKES Detention deputies give union the boot Pasco County detention deputies voted 132-62 to decertify the bargaining unit that has been representing them in contract negotiations with Sheriff Bob White. In balloting Tuesday and Wednesday, the jail's sworn deputies overwhelmingly voted out the Fraternal Order of Police, less than two years after voting to unionize. The union had yet to finalize a labor contract. Although not at an official impasse with White, it had been stalled in contract talks over the...

In 1863, Pittsburgh fortified against Confederate army By Salena Zito TRIBUNE-REVIEW From mid-June through early July of 1863, the citizens of Pittsburgh prepared for an invasion by the Confederate Army under Gen. Robert E. Lee. It marked the only time that Pittsburgh would become militarily involved in the Civil War. The "Emergency of 1863" began when Major Gen. William Brooks, who commanded the U.S Army's Department of the Monongahela in Pittsburgh, received a dispatch June 11 that outlined a probable invasion of the city. Since the start of the Civil War, there was always uneasiness that Pittsburgh, known as the...

WASHINGTON -- A largely unreported meeting held at the State Department discussed integration of the U.S., Mexico and Canada in concert with a move toward a transatlantic union, linking a North American community with the European Union. The meeting was held Monday under the auspices of the Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy, or ACIEP. WND obtained press credentials and attended as an observer. The meeting was held under "Chatham House" rules that prohibit reporters from attributing specific comments to individual participants. The State Department website noted the meeting was opened by Assistant Secretary of State for Economic, Energy and...

March 11, 2008 Dear xxxxxx, Your efforts paid off again. Despite efforts on the part of the House conferees to give no raises whatsoever to teachers, a small raise is included to teachers in year two of the budget. 1. First, we are glad some increase, 2%, all be it small, was included for teachers. Fortunately, the Senate prevailed in this regard. 2. We are very pleased that this budget starts the teacher raise on July 1. That reflects the teacher contract and makes a 2% raise real. The past practice of giving teachers a raise for part of the...

Unions in worldwide protests over detention of Iranian labour leaders 6 March 2008 Trade unionists and human rights activists in towns and cities across the world are today voicing their opposition to the continued imprisonment of Mansour Osanloo and Mahmoud Salehi. The two Iranian trade union leaders, respectively representing Tehran bus workers and bakery workers, have been in prison for several months. Protesters are participating in an ITF campaign day, backed by the trade union movement and Amnesty International. Actions included: protests outside the Iranian embassy and the Houses of Parliament in London, UK, and the delivery of letters of...

Iran's Union Heroes March 06, 2008 The Guardian Today is Free Osanloo Action Day, which will be marked by protests worldwide to demand the release of the imprisoned Iranian trade union leaders, Mansour Osanloo and Mahmoud Salehi. Independent trade unions are banned in Iran. Only state-sponsored labour councils are permitted and, to ensure their loyalty to the state, there are restrictions on who can stand for election to these councils. They are, in effect, instruments of the state for the purpose of controlling and pacifying worker discontent. This corporatist, anti-union character of the Iranian state bears many of the hallmarks...

School Board Union Label by: Malcolm A. Kline, March 06, 2008 If you think that you can go to your school board with complaints about teacher union efforts to block education reforms, think again. You might find yourself pleading with the very people who you are trying to avoid. “On the Los Angeles School Board, elections are decided by how much money you can raise,” former Colorado Governor Roy Romer said Tuesday. “Because the union could raise the most money, they won the seats so I was facing the union on both sides.” Romer, who spoke on a panel at...

Tensions between French and German leaders seem to have eased following an announcement from Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel that they have found common ground on a proposal for a new Mediterranean Union. A cold snap in Franco-German relations may be thawing -- at least on one serious issue that has been dividing Berlin and Paris. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced jointly on Monday that they had reached a compromise regarding Sarkozy's proposed Mediterranean Union. Merkel had repeatedly criticized (more...) the project in recent weeks. But on Monday, the leaders appeared to have forged a...

Bus Workers Go On Strike in Prison Bahram Rafiee Feb. 5, 2006 Iran’s domestic media have been banned from publishing news on the government crackdown of the strike of bus drivers who again took to the streets in protest of their conditions. There are news reports that many arrests have followed the government clampdown and that those arrested had been transferred to the harsh 209-ward of the notorious Evin prison in northern Tehran. There are also reports that the prisoners have gone on a hunger strike to protest their imprisonment. Khedmat, an internet news site close to hardline president Ahmadinejad...

This winter’s strike by television writers interrupted the TV-watching habits of millions of people worldwide. But why did it happen, and did the writers get what they want or need? With the uncertain direction of the “new media revolution,” no one seems quite sure..... On Tuesday, February 12, Hollywood’s TV studios and writers averted disaster. With only 12 days to go before the entertainment industry’s biggest TV extravaganza of the year, the Academy Awards, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the member studios of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) reached a tentative three-year agreement, which...

Congratulations to six U.S. senators and 23 members of congress who scored perfect zeros from SEIU, the George Soros lackey union who wants to turn us all into government employees or gulag slaves to support them.These are, by no means, the only good members of congress, but they deserve special applause for their perfect scores against this, one of the most sinister and corrupt of unions. Perfect congresspeople. Arizona John Shadegg Trent FranksCalifornia Dan Lungren George RadaovichColorado Tom Tancredo Doug LambornFlorida Connie Mack Tom FeeneyGeorgia Lynn Westmoreland John Linder Tom Price Nathan Deal Phil GingreyIowa Steve KingNew Jersey Scott GarrettNorth...