Free Republic

Union leaders in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) announced they will strike for three days next week, canceling classes for about 430,000 students in the nation’s second-largest school district. SEIU Local 99—the union representing 30,000 cafeteria workers, bus drivers, custodians, special education assistants, and other non-teaching staff at LAUSD—announced the strike at a rally in downtown Los Angeles March 15. At the rally, United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA)—the union which represents LAUSD’s 35,000 teachers—announced they would strike as well in support. According to organizers, the strike will begin March 21. SEIU Local 99’s executive director, Max Arias,...

FRANKFORT - A raucous crowd of Kentucky teachers who skipped school to show their disdain for a bill that would alter how members of the Teachers’ Retirement System Board of Trustees are selected was not enough to deter a panel of House lawmakers from approving the bill Thursday on a party-line vote. House Bill 525 would change the nominating process for board member, moving the nominations away from the Kentucky Education Association and spreading them among eight eduction-related professional groups. “I know of no other board, created by statute, that has its membership controlled almost entirely by one private organization,”...

A Facebook page that made it appear the Apollo Milling Co. promoted racism against blacks shopping at the North Apollo animal supply store has sparked a lawsuit by the owner of the business founded in 1849. “I was dumbfounded,” owner Dennis Reefer said about the page he contends was created in October by a member of the United Steelworkers of America Local 1196 because Reefer refused to publicly support the group during its bitter labor dispute with Allegheny Technologies Inc. The Facebook page showed a doctored photo of the Apollo Milling Co. facade with a placard outside that read: “Coloreds...

The Teamsters have begun informing retirees and current workers that their pension benefits may soon be cut, the final ironic twist to a lobbying campaign that saw the union spend its own members' dollars to win the right to shrink their retirement pay. The somber notifications began going out from the Teamsters Central States Health and Welfare Pension Fund this spring, a decision that could ultimately affect 410,000 current pension participants and a total of more than 10 million U.S. workers nationwide. Cuts could begin as early as next year.

A pilots’ strike in Germany last week has highlighted the power comparatively small groups of employees have to lay low key areas of the economy in pursuit of their own interests. And the German government is looking to draw up legislation later this year to prevent this from happening again. “One company, one wage agreement” is the motto behind a proposed “Tarifeinheit” or unified wage-bargaining mechanism masterminded by Labour Minister Andrea Nahles. Over three days last week, the cockpit pilots’ union effectively grounded the country’s biggest airline Lufthansa in a dispute over pay and early retirement entitlements. …

NEW YORK (AP) -- Fast-food workers and their supporters beat drums, blew whistles and chanted slogans Thursday on picket lines in dozens of U.S. cities, marking the largest protests yet in their quest for higher wages. The nationwide day of demonstrations came after similar actions organized by unions and community groups over the past several months. Workers are calling for the right to unionize without interference from employers and for pay of $15 an hour. That's more than double the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, or $15,000 a year for full-time employees. Thursday's walkouts and protests reached about...

A New York grand jury has indicted 15 Long Island Rail Road workers and two others accusing them of participating in the theft of copper wiring. The suspects surrendered Friday and said nothing as they turned themselves in to face charges, 1010 WINS’ Mona Rivera reported. Eight of the defendants pleaded not guilty on Friday morning. The remainder will be arraigned later in the day. … Some of the workers accused in the scheme are accused of ripping up old copper wire as it was being replaced in Jamaica, West Islip and Babylon yards and instead of handing it over...

The nation’s labor unions suffered sharp declines in membership last year, led by losses among public sector workers in cash-strapped states, cities, counties and towns. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says the unionization rate fell from 11.8 percent to 11.3 percent of all workers, the lowest level since the 1930s. …

America is approaching the point where the government employee unions are so powerful that even the liberals think they're getting out of control. It used to be that taking on public-sector unions was the job of conservative Republicans like President Reagan, who took on the federal air traffic controllers, or Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin, who passed a law curbing the ability of government employee unions in his state to bargain collectively. But it’s gotten to the point where even New York’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg—a mayor who favors tightened government restrictions on guns, tobacco, trans fats, and large bottles of...

Conservative comedian Steven Crowder on Thursday released unedited footage from the pro-union rally in Michigan where he was punched in the face. The 9-minute video, posted online, shows a chaotic scene in Michigan's capital earlier this month, before so-called "right-to-work" legislation was approved. Leading up to the incident, Crowder, a Fox News contributor, could be seen in a string of tense encounters and discussions with demonstrators. What actually instigated the physical confrontation is unclear. The protester in question could be seen falling to the ground as Crowder turned to him. He then got up and wailed on Crowder, who pushed...

State Senator Neal Kedzie says his son was attacked while trying to stop someone from stealing his Romney/Ryan yard sign. Whitewater Police tell NBC15 News this is an active investigation. Here is the statement released by Senator Neal Kedzie: Early on Friday morning, October 19th, my son Sean was awakened by noises outside his residence in Whitewater. As he went to see what the commotion was about, he noticed an individual removing a Romney/Ryan yard sign from his property. He yelled to the person that they were taking something not theirs and to return it immediately. The individual returned the...

Under the Obama Administration, Big Labor has seized control of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) to drive its self-interested agenda – a truly unprecedented development in the history of the NLRB. In the past, Board law has changed when control moved from one political party to another. But never before has a Board majority conducted itself in such unprincipled partisan manner, ramming through an extremist agenda and dissembling about it. Three examples demonstrate the point: The NLRB stripped workers of their right to a secret ballot election to challenge their employer’s recognition of a union by card...

After desperately trying everything from huge budget cuts to secret negotiations with creditors, the Stockton City Council finally ran out of options Tuesday night and voted to file for bankruptcy. The 6-1 vote was to authorize a day-to-day operating budget, called a pendency plan, that will go into effect when city officials file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection in federal court in Sacramento. That filing is expected Wednesday. Stockton, a river port with 292,000 residents, will become the biggest city in U.S. history to vote itself into bankruptcy. The previous largest bankrupt city was Vallejo, which filed in 2008 and...

To APWU represented employees who consider themselves Republicans, you should watch the Senate Hearings on the legislation to reform the Postal Service. Setting aside the disputes over Congressional culpability in the current USPS deficit through the 2006 PAEA, you should be interested in the McCain substitute amendment that proposes to liquidate the Postal Service and abrogate the collective bargaining agreements covering postal employees. If adopted, postal assets would be sold off to the highest bidders and sections would be closed with an up or down vote of Congress. The no lay off provisions would be nullified and managers would be...

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — A coalition of labor unions and community groups have announced plans for a massive march in support of the “Occupy LA” encampment. More than 1,000 protesters are planning to shut down streets in downtown Los Angeles at 7 a.m. Thursday. They will meet at the Bank of America plaza on Hope Street and march to the corner of Figueroa and Fourth streets, where they plan to shut down the intersection and drop large banners from nearby overpasses. Demonstrators say rush hour drivers should expect serious delays and street closures in downtown Los Angeles near the 110...

How very curious:   A sign that the Occupy Wall Street movement isn’t the best long-term vehicle for Democrats to connect themselves with: A new Quinnipiac poll, showing a plurality of voters viewing the group unfavorably.  The poll, released today, show 30 percent of voters surveyed view the movement favorably, 39 percent unfavorably, with an additional 30 percent not hearing enough to have an opinion.  It’s one of the first national polls to suggest voters are growing skeptical of Occupy Wall Street- and it comes as police have clashed with protesters in several cities.  Previous national polls have shown a plurality of...

Cheering Economic Terrorism – SEIU Getting Ready to ‘Terrify’ DC: Stephen Lerner at SIEU Meeting Outlines Rules for Creating a Crisis — We Want Their Kids to Hate Them, Name Enemies Like Glenn Beck, Shut Down Bridges, Long Occupations, Recruit Tea Party

New York area union members will join an expected several thousand labor activists and supporters tomorrow in a Wall Street march and rally in support of the Occupy Wall Street protesters.The grassroots-grown protest is now in its third week, with a diverse array of people from across the country camping out in the heart of the financial district to demand Wall Street is held accountable for the schemes and reckless games that led to the nation’s economic collapse.The mostly young Occupy Wall Street protesters are “speaking for the vast majority of Americans who are frustrated by the bankers and brokers who have...

ATLANTA — Educators at nearly four dozen Atlanta elementary and middle schools cheated on standardized tests by either helping students or changing the answers once exams were handed in, according to the results of a yearlong state investigation released Tuesday.The report said that 178 teachers and principals cheated, though only 82 educators actually confessed to misconduct dating as far back as 2001 and affecting thousands of school children, according to a synopsis handed out by Gov. Nathan Deal's office. More than half of the district's 100 schools were examined, and 44 of those had cheating, the synopsis said.The investigators also...

Thuggery 101: Union Official, Professor Teach College Course in Violent Union Tactics