Free Republic

A group of Republican and Democrat senators, along with the United Steelworkers (USW), are calling on President Joe Biden to hike United States tariffs on imported aluminum to save American jobs. In a letter to Biden’s Commerce Department Secretary Gina Raimondo, the senators warn that aluminum extrusion plants in the U.S. are at risk of being eliminated as a result of imported aluminum extrusions.

CHICAGO — About 300 anti-war activists crowded into the basement of the Teamsters Union’s headquarters on Saturday to hear organizers from all over the country describe their plans to disrupt the Democratic National Convention this August. Joe Biden’s backing of Israel since Hamas’s October 7 attack has turned these left-wing radicals against their own party.

Time to Change Our Language.. It is time to stop blaming “Covid” for breaking the economy, destroying businesses and livelihoods, and wreaking untold havoc upon families. It was not “Covid” that did this. It was not even the Chinese. It was our government. The government has conditioned us to blame the impersonal “Covid” for the destruction it wrought upon our businesses and families. We need to change the discussion by using the proper language to fix the blame where it belongs. Good generals can win a battle by picking the terrain upon which they fight. At Waterloo, Wellington forced Napoleon...

---SNIP--- Every day, SEPTA employees see criminal acts, fare evasion, people experiencing mental illness, homelessness, or drug addiction. The union I lead, Transport Workers Union Local 234, which represents 5,000 SEPTA workers, has been sounding the alarm that unless conditions improve, the very survival of the public transit system is at stake. In response, we have been asked by image-conscious SEPTA managers and other public officials to tone things down and not draw too much attention to the transit agency’s challenges.

President Biden vowed on Friday that the federal government would cover the cost of rebuilding the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore – and that the work would be done by union labor, potentially setting up a funding fight with the conservative wing of the House of Representatives. Biden has promised from the outset that the federal government would pay for the bridge to be rebuilt. His comments on Friday came after the House Freedom Caucus — the conservative wing of the House of Representatives — released a series of conditions for federal funding for the bridge. The conditions include...

(NEW WILMINGTON, Pa.) – Cheese processing and manufacturing workers at the Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) plant in New Wilmington have voted 125-9 to ratify their first collective bargaining agreement with Teamsters Local 261. “These workers fought hard for a good contract, and because of that, they secured the strong wages and benefits that other DFA Teamsters across the country have been enjoying for years,” said Peter Finn, Teamsters Western Region International Vice President and Food Processing Division Director. “I’d like to thank the negotiating committee for all of the hard work they did to make this contract possible,” said...

The federal government pays more than $100 million a year to employees who aren’t doing their actual government jobs, but rather working for unions representing government employees against management — with taxpayers essentially funding both sides of the bargaining table. For decades, the government has tracked and reported those figures, but the Biden administration has removed the reports. Under the policy known as “official time,” hundreds of nominal government employees haven’t done anything but full-time union work in years, yet remain on the federal payroll. Not only is the policy expensive to taxpayers, but it also props up the power...

Democrats hate the gig economy, since they can’t force independent contractors to join unions (and thus rake off their union dues). So Biden’s NLRB issued a “joint-employer standard” to force companies to treat gig employees and subcontractors as subject to union representation. Well, a federal judge in Texas squashed that rule. Last week, a federal judge in Texas issued a ruling that struck down a new joint-employer standard by the U.S. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that would have classified numerous companies as “employers” of specific contract and franchise employees, obligating them to negotiate with unions representing those workers. U.S....

Auto workers at a Toyota engine plant in Troy, Missouri, have signed up 30 percent of their 1,000 co-workers to join the United Auto Workers (UAW)—a first at Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, on the heels of the union’s announcements of organizing campaigns at Volkswagen, Hyundai, and Mercedes-Benz. Workers at the plant just outside St. Louis build 2.6 million cylinder heads per year. Should they stop building them, it would cut off supplies for all of the company’s engine plants in North America. Toyota is still working to build up its supply of chips and other inventory, following pandemic lockdowns...

... As American Airlines puts on a show for investors, proclaiming the company’s goal is “To Care for People on Life's Journey®,” its Flight Attendants will be outside, demanding to be cared for on their life’s journey. Flight Attendants picket to educate investors that AA is still waging labor war against its largest unionized workgroup. AA has thus far refused to make the improvements to wages and quality of life the way that Flight Attendants need to see, driving Flight Attendants to ask for release from mediated negotiations so they can move toward a strike. ... American Airlines Flight Attendants...

Although the United Auto Workers (UAW) union voiced their support for Biden as an organization, some current and retired members claim they’re leaning the other way. "Donald Trump speaks our language. He came in and speaks directly to us," one UAW member told FOX Business’ Grady Trimble outside the union headquarters in Detroit. "I would say, among the people I work with across all demographic spans, really, there's a lot of support for Trump," a second member added on "Varney & Co." on Friday.

Michigan Democrats’ repeal of right-to-work took effect this month, forcing unionized employees to belong and pay dues to their unions as a condition of employment. This marks the first time in 58 years a state has repealed a right-to-work law, which exists in 26 states and allows workers to opt out of union membership and dues. Eliminating right-to-work is Michigan Democrats’ payback to the unions who fund their political campaigns. But don’t expect anti-worker Democrats in the pocket of Big Labor to wait another half-century for their next victim. They’ve already set their sights on Wisconsin. Last week, Wisconsin Democrats...

WASHINGTON — The Teamsters union's political action committee donated $45,000 to the Republican National Committee's convention fund in January, according to federal election commission disclosures, but an RNC official told NBC News that "we haven’t received any contribution." The Teamsters PAC’s donations overwhelmingly go toward Democrats, but the $45,000 donation would be the first significant donation to the RNC in years. The fund is specifically designated for the convention rather than general usage.

A United Auto Workers (UAW) local union, UAW Local 62, and Ford have reached a deal to avert a strike at a Louisville, Ky., truck plant. The deal comes as the UAW union said nearly 9,000 autoworkers threatened to strike Friday at Ford’s most profitable plant that produces SUVs and pickups. Ford was “pleased to have reached a tentative agreement on a new labor contract,” according to a statement provided Wednesday to The Hill. The UAW said “local issues” related to “skilled trades, ergonomics and health & safety” were addressed with the deal. The union added that contracts with three...

Michigan autoworkers are worried that President Joe Biden’s policies pushing for a transition to electric vehicles (EV) will cost their jobs, according to The New York Times. Some autoworkers represented by the United Auto Workers (UAW) union are not pleased with the president’s support of EVs due to the products needing less manpower to produce, which could eliminate tens of thousands of jobs not just in manufacturing, but also in supporting services like insurance and trucking, according to the NYT. Biden has made union support a key part of his campaign and presidential policy, but his push to have half...

The United States must focus on helping American children to develop an understanding, appreciation, and love for math.. The most recent results of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) highlight a concerning trend for U.S. students in the field of math. In comparison to their counterparts in other industrialized nations, American students are falling behind. The rather sobering results revealed a 13-point decline for U.S. students when compared to the 2018 exam. In stark contrast, 28 countries and economies managed to either maintain or improve their 2018 math scores, with countries such as Switzerland and Japan leading the way—and...

Ford CEO Jim Farley suggested the company may have to rethink its “manufacturing footprint” in the United States after last year’s conflict with a worker’s union. Speaking at the Wolfe Research Global Auto Conference in New York on Thursday, Mr. Farley said that Ford always took pride in its relationship with United Auto Workers (UAW), according to the Associated Press. Since the 1970s, the company has not experienced any strikes involving the union. However, this relationship changed last year when Ford’s Louisville factory in Kentucky was shut down by the UAW. As the company seeks to transition to electric vehicles...

resident Biden's administration and liberal supporters in Washington are bracing for a possible Donald Trump victory in November by installing "roadblocks" to limit the latter's ability to fire thousands of government workers, according to a new report. The Associated Press reported that a cabal of left-leaning experts, legal advisers and others are confident Biden will be re-elected but are urging him to prepare for the worst: another Trump presidency beginning in 2025. "My impression is the Biden administration is taking very seriously that potential threat and is trying to do things now," Michael Linden, former executive associate director of the...

In St. Johns County, on the Atlantic shore of Northeast Florida, more than 55% of public school teachers paid their union dues this last year. Despite that, nearly 3,500 teachers are facing the threat of having their union representation revoked. At the same time, in Southwest Florida, only 16% of law enforcement officers of the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office paid union dues last year. Their union is under absolutely no threat of being decertified. A year after Governor DeSantis signed into law a sweeping anti-union bill requiring most public sector unions to boost the rate of members paying dues or...

Hundreds of fast-food workers met in Los Angeles on Friday to kick off the launch of the California Fast Food Workers Union, a statewide union aimed at organizing cooks and cashiers at fast-food companies across the state. The new union comes in the wake of a victory at the end of 2023 to boost pay for California’s more than 500,000-strong fast-food workforce to $20 an hour. ... In California, over 80% of fast-food workers are people of color and two-thirds are women. In recent years, workers at fast-food chains throughout the state have held strikes in response to poor workplace...