Free Republic

House Republicans give the wealthiest huge tax break at the expense of working families WASHINGTON—SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry issued the following statement regarding the House vote to approve the American Health Care Act (AHCA) by 217-213.  “Republicans in the House of Representatives have just voted to destroy the lives of millions of hardworking Americans by gutting Medicaid, ripping away their healthcare, and eliminating millions of jobs. “House Republicans have consciously put the profits of corporations and the wealthy over the health of 1 in 5 Americans who count on Medicaid, including seniors, children and people with disabilities. They...

Boeing Co (BA.N) handily defeated a union drive by workers at the company's aircraft factory in South Carolina on Wednesday, as almost three-quarters of workers at the plant who voted rejected union representation. The secret ballot vote, conducted by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) at polling locations throughout the North Charleston plant, was the first for Boeing and a high-profile test for organized labor in the nation's most strongly anti-union state. The NLRB said 74 percent of the 2,828 workers who cast ballots voted against joining the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM).

Out of touch special interests are manipulating government to their own benefit at the expense of average Americans. This popular sentiment has been leveled at politicians, lobbyists, and big businesses — and many of them are guilty — but there is one culprit in Washington taking advantage of the working-class that is too often ignored: government unions. A new report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office confirms that federal government bureaucrats are compensated more generously than average Americans in the private sector, the people who actually fund government. Worse yet, the discrepancy is largest for workers at the lower end...

Unions not only want a bigger cut of farm worker pay, they think increased overtime is one way to accomplish this. But the real goal is to force desperate farmers into union contracts Gerawan Farming just filed a motion with the ALRB to disqualify former Sen. Isadore Hall from making any decisions related to their pending cases. And for good reason. Not only does Sen. Hall have no experience in or related to agriculture,Hall even voted for the “farmworker overtime bill” to force more farming employers into United Farm Workers union contracts. At issue is Hall’s ability to be fair...

Throughout California, local government and school district officials are writing new budgets and confronting rapidly rising costs of pensions.

The night he locked up the Democratic presidential nomination, Barack Obama predicted that generations hence, people would look back on the historic day as "the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal." At the time, his words reeked of hubris. Today, they look positively delusional. President Obama can't stop the oil leak in the Gulf, but he can and should be held accountable for the inept government response to cleaning it up and mitigating its worst effects on the shoreline. And you can bet that if George W. Bush were in...

As the deepening crisis of the catastrophic Gulf oil disaster continues to unfold, several oil spill stories of major importance have been virtually ignored. Even the conservative media have refused by and large to cover these stories. Conservative Examiner was among the first to break these stories, yet to this day not a single major media outlet has been willing to report them, not even Fox News or conservative talk radio. These stories are explosive, conclusive, factually verified, and of utmost importance to understanding what is truly happening in the Gulf and the scenario that led to it. First, on...

A bill aimed at improving patient care and staffing at 560 California dialysis clinics that serve more than 63,000 patients is threading its way through the state Legislature despite sharp opposition from some in the industry. Authored by state Sen. Ricardo Lara, D-Bell Gardens, the measure has been fueled by dialysis workers in California who have been attempting to unionize through SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West. SB 349 calls for a staffing ratio of one registered nurse for every eight dialysis patients, one technician for every three patients and one social worker for every 75 patients. It also mandates a 45-minute...

Eight members of the graduate student union Local 33 began an indefinite, collective fast in front of University President Peter Salovey’s home on Tuesday in an effort to persuade Yale to begin collective bargaining. Local 33 Chair Aaron Greenberg GRD ’18, Co-chair Robin Canavan GRD ’19, Camille Cole GRD ’20, Charles Decker GRD ’18, Lukas Moe GRD ’19, Julia Powers GRD ’19, Emily Sessions GRD ’19 and Jifeng Shen GRD ’18 sat onstage at a rally on Hillhouse Avenue to commence the union’s “Fast Against Slow.” “What Yale could not stop, they are cynically trying to slow,” Greenberg read from...

Texas Rep. Jody Arrington has introduced legislation to require VA to track the use of official time. An estimated 346 employees in the Department of Veterans Affairs do no actual work for taxpayers. Instead, they spend all of their time doing work on behalf of their union while drawing a federal salary, a practice known as "official time." ... The lack of accountability at the VA when it comes to monitoring official time suggests it might be worse ... Pointing to the waiting list scandals at the department, Arrington said the official time situation is reflective of the "broken culture...

Eddie Ybarra and Francisco Martinez, both in their 40s, work side by side building the walls of two of the newest condo buildings in downtown Los Angeles. They drive pickup trucks to work, park in adjacent lots and both take their lunch break around 10 a.m. That’s about all they share. Ybarra, born in Los Angeles, has built a solidly middle-class lifestyle on more than two decades in the carpenters’ union, earning $40 an hour on top of a pension, healthcare and unlimited vacation days.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Tuesday that he wants a long-term fix for miners’ healthcare benefits in the next government funding bill, moving Congress closer to a deal on the issue. “I’m in favor of a permanent fix on miners’ healthcare. It’s my hope that that will be included in the final package,” McConnell told reporters Tuesday after meeting with the GOP caucus. The question of what to do about the government-backed healthcare benefits for coal miners has complicated congressional spending debates in the past.

Millions of Americans are expecting to receive a pension from the city or state that employs them. Many will be in for a terrible surprise, according to the nonprofit organization Truth in Accounting. It surveyed 237 municipal pension plans across the country, using newly required reporting data about pension underfunding. Although it has taken decades for many of these pension funds to get into such bad shape, only now are the details being revealed, says Sheila Weinberg, president of Truth in Accounting and a CPA who has dedicated her life to requiring full and useful disclosure of federal, state and...

With stinging criticisms cloaked in humor, late-night hosts Stephen Colbert, Samantha Bee, Trevor Noah and the whole cast of “Saturday Night Live” have provided American audiences a way to laugh off their political anxiety. But on May 2, we may have to say goodbye to them for now. That’s because the day before marks the expiration date for the current contract between the Writers Guild of America, the organization representing 12,000 Hollywood film and TV writers, and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the writers’ employers. (The Huffington Post is unionized under the WGA-East.) The current...

Of all the attacks on our civil society, the attacks on evidence-based science pose perhaps the greatest existential threat. Decisions being made about climate science and environmental protection at this critical time will shape the future of our planet. Advances in research are produced by the twin pillars of dedicated scientists and an activated citizenry who demand that the best science be applied to today’s most pressing problems. Because scientists produce the facts that expose the lies currently being purveyed, the tip of the spear is pointed at the heart of science-based policy and research. But the imminent threat also...

Early this year, Missouri became the 28th state to enact a Right to Work statute, thereby preventing workers from being fired just because they won’t pay dues to the union that officially represents them. (It’s worth noting that very few of the workers who are in unions have ever had the opportunity to vote yes or no on union representation, a point Akash Chougule of Americans for Prosperity makes in his Wall Street Journal op-ed, “A Union Card Shouldn’t be an Heirloom.”) As has been the case in every instance when a state has adopted Right to Work in recent...

Taxpayers spent $162.5 million on federal employees performing union activities in 2014, according to the Office of Personnel Management's most recent data. The Competitive Enterprise Institute used official budget documents and Freedom of Information Act requests to validate how many federal employees worked under such conditions . . . The union workers included "nurses, therapists, pharmacists, a physician, and even a prosthetic limb specialist," according to Hice. "Rather than helping our heroes, these individuals spend all their time engaging in union activities such as collective bargaining, filing complaints or grievances, and even grassroots lobbying," Hice said. "This is unacceptable and...

California cities and counties will see their required contributions to the largest U.S. pension fund almost double in five years, according to an analysis by the California Policy Center. Including the costs paid by cities and counties that run their own systems, the fiscal 2018 tab will be at least $13 billion to meet retirement obligations for public workers, according to the analysis, which is based on actuarial reports and audited financial statements. Barring any changes to pensions, "several California cities and counties will find themselves forced to slash other spending," the group wrote in its report. "The less fortunate...

WISN 12 News ✔ @WISN12News Janesville council approves $75K settlement for former teacher who was drunk on school trip http://bit.ly/2dGqoPf 7:01 PM - 25 Oct 2016 1 1 Retweet 1 1 like It didn’t take long for the other teachers to realize that Maria Caya, one of the chaperons on a school field trip to a bowling alley, was seriously drunk. As elementary-school students bowled in June 2013 in Janesville, Wis., Caya tried to order more drinks from the bar, city officials said. At one point, Caya disappeared, worrying school officials. They found her in the bathroom, passed out. Alarmed,...

After spending big on Clinton, Obama, SEIU now facing steep budget cuts Labor giant Service Employees International Union spent $60 million on politics and lobbying as well as $19 million on the Fight for 15 movement in 2016, and now finds itself laying off headquarters staff. The union's federal filing to the Department of Labor reveal that it experienced marginal growth in 2016, adding about 15,000 members from 2015. However, that increase did not correlate with financial growth as revenue fell by $17 million, fueling a $10 million budget deficit. The union, which represents healthcare and public sector workers, spent...