Note:  You might want to start at the Organized Labor Index Page, especially if you arrived here by using a search engine.

Subtopics on this page:

    Your union dues go straight to the Democratic Party
    Unions act as manpower pools for Democrat campaigns
    The NLRB vs Boeing
    Other news and commentary about the NLRB
    Politicians and unions exchange favors constantly
    President Obama is paying back the unions for their support

Unions spent $80 million on Dems, came up short.  Critics say that spending vast quantities of membership dues on labor-friendly candidates further alienated members who don't share the unions' politics.  Lindsey Burke of The Heritage Foundation says Gov. Scott Walker's re-election in Wisconsin sends a message.  Wisconsin voters, she says, "appreciate the fact that he has stood strong against the unions and actually given teachers a choice as to whether or not to join the union."  Walker, in fact, was the target of a union-backed recall election that proved unsuccessful and he has now won three elections in four years.

Supreme Court to hear case on Obama's disputed NLRB appointments.  The Supreme Court on Monday [1/13/2014] is set to hear a bitter dispute between Republicans and the White House over whether President Obama exceeded his authority when appointing members to the National Labor Relations Board during a congressional recess.  The justices' decision could cast a legal cloud over hundreds of rulings by the board, which resolves complaints of unfair labor practices and conducts elections for labor union representation.

Big Labor Investing Heavily in Terry McAuliffe.  Labor groups are donating six-figure sums to Democratic Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe as the race draws to a close.  McAuliffe received a $100,000 donation from the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) on Friday, the latest in a series of donations from unions in his hotly contested race against Virginia's Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli.  The union has now contributed $343,530 to McAuliffe's campaign this year.

Busted Union.  One of the Democratic Party's largest political contributors must pay a former employee who was fired from his job because he refused to donate to a union political action committee (PAC).  The Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA) and Penn Line Service agreed to pay a West Virginia man $10,000, acknowledging that he was wrongfully terminated from his job after refusing to make the political donations.

California teachers sue NEA over forced $1,000 union dues.  Ten California schoolteachers on Tuesday sued the National Education Association and California Teachers Association to escape mandatory union fees in a case that piggybacks on a 2012 Supreme Court ruling against forced union dues.  The teachers, represented by the Washington-based Center for Individual Rights, claim that California's so-called "agency shop" law violates their free speech and free assembly rights and forces them to cough up $1,000 to pay for the union's mostly Democratic political activities.

California Non-Union Teachers Sue Unions Over Coercive Political Funding.  The Center for Individual Rights, a public interest legal group in Washington, D.C., filed the lawsuit Tuesday [4/30/2013] in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in Los Angeles on behalf of 10 teachers from California and the Christian Educators Association.  "The union spends millions of teachers' hard-earned monies supporting causes and candidates that many of us oppose," said Rebecca Friedrichs, one of the plaintiffs, in a statement.  "The union is free to press its agenda, but individual teachers should not be forced to pay for it.  It is shocking to me and many other teachers that union officials have the power by law to spend our wages to press for causes that many of us oppose on moral, fiscal, or philosophical grounds."

Are unions beginning to collapse?  One union worker I know recently opened his paycheck and was stunned to find a $100 deduction for union dues and a mandatory $30 "political contribution" on top of the federal and state taxes already deducted.  Just as taxes are unavoidable, union dues and their political contributions are inescapable for union workers because they are a requirement of their working contract.  To make matters worse, while polls show union members split between Republicans and Democrats, more than 93 percent of union contributions go to Democrats.

Snap, crackle...racist.  The Battle Creek, Michigan-based W.K. Kellogg Foundation funneled a staggering $5.2 million in grants to the Applied Research Center (ARC), which churned out a steady stream of propaganda aimed at convincing Americans it's somehow racist to require photo ID from a voter, Media Trackers Ohio reports. [...] ARC also took in more than $200,000 in 2011 from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) for "consulting."

Unions continue spending spree in California.  In Sacramento, the California Teachers Association, the state's behemoth education union, spent more money on lobbying in 2011 than any other group in the Golden State, according a Los Angeles Times analysis of data from the California Secretary of State's Office.  The CTA, boasting 340,000 members, spent $6,574,257 last year, a lobbying tab more than $1.5 million greater than the second-place spender (unsurprisingly, another union), the California State Council of Service Employees, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union, one of the largest and most powerful labor outfits in North America.

Unions Say They Plan To Spend $400 Million To Help Reelect Obama.  Unions say they are gearing up to spend more than $400 million to help re-elect President Barack Obama and lift Democrats this election year in a fight for labor's survival.

Wisconsin Unions Spend Millions But Fall Short in Recall.  Government workers in Wisconsin may be wondering whether their effort to recall six state senators from office was worth the price.  The government unions directly spent more than $15 million in trying to recall six Republican senators as payback for their role in reducing collective bargaining powers and the ability of unions to forcibly collect dues.  The reforms supported by the senators also made most state government workers pay more for their health insurance and pension benefits.

Teachers Union Takes First Step Toward Endorsing Obama 2012.  The National Education Association — which represents 3.2 million teachers and education professionals across the country — took its first step Thursday [5/5/2011] toward endorsing Barack Obama for president in 2012, TPM has learned.  The NEA is the country's largest union, and the news makes it the first to signal formal support for Obama's reelection bid.

The Education plantation.  [Scroll down]  From 1989-2010, 81 and 90 percent of campaign contributions made by the two largest education unions in the country, the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) respectively, have gone to that party.  In return, Democrats fight tooth and nail to prevent any changes in the status quo...

Unionsdämmerung.  Unions spent in excess of $400 million in the 2008 election cycle, and nearly all of that went to Democrats, especially Obama.  The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) alone spent over $80 million.  (In January 2008, Obama told the union that he would "paint the nation purple with SEIU" as president, referring to the union's signature color.)  But if Obama doesn't consider his cozy relationship with unions corrupting, taxpayers may feel differently.  Since Obama took office, his administration has rewarded unions on three major fronts.

Big Labor Plans Nationwide Protest for 2012.  Considering the fact that its strategy didn't end well in Wisconsin, the labor movement's plan to stage nationwide protests leading up to the 2012 elections sounds like a gift for Republicans.  Politico reports that instead of focusing on Obama's presidential campaign — as labor did in 2008 — the SEIU will devote much of its energy toward building a "grass-roots movement of public protest and organization similar to the massive show of pro-labor support that overran Madison, Wis. last month".

Union members should know their leaders are betraying them.  Did you know that your very own union bosses are working against you?  Did you know that nearly every union official is out to make him or herself wealthier and more powerful — at your expense?  And did you know that this is easy to prove, if you can just assemble the puzzle pieces? ... Your money — the product of your labor, of your finite time on Earth spent working — is being stolen and funneled to the same political party bent on destroying you.  The EPA is destroying jobs.  The Department of the Interior is destroying jobs.  The Department of Labor's open borders advocacy is destroying jobs.

Union Members: Where Do Your Dues Go?  Union bosses claim to represent workers' best interests, but their spending reports tell a different story.  As union workers struggle to make their paychecks cover household costs, their union dues are being funneled to Washington.  Most union members aren't aware where their money is going.  Unions take dues directly from their members' paychecks.  In 28 states, workers cannot even say no.  But the truth is that their money is being squandered in D.C. on bloated salaries, expensive construction, and sleazy politicking.

Big Labor May Still Reap Benefits Despite Election Losses.  Ironically, the same Democrats who railed against the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision — which struck down the parts of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance legislation that limited how much unions and corporations could spend on political campaigns — are the ones receiving the greatest benefit.  The biggest spenders this election cycle were public sector unions, giving almost exclusively to Democrats.

Union boss:  'How dare you want to keep your money'.  Apparently, to qualify as a working American, you have to belong to a union that can pick your pocket and give the cash to liberal politicians who will then give union bosses like [Richard] Trumka more power.  (Card check, anyone?)  According to Trumka, allowing people to keep the money they have earned "throws away precious resources."  Throws away?!  In other words -- what you make belongs to us.  Has there ever been a more loathsome expression of totalitarian ideology?

Big unions treat workers like credit cards.  Never take investment advice from a union leader.  As usual, organized labor emptied its pockets for Democrats in the recent midterm elections, spending at least $171.5 million in an attempt to keep the electoral map blue.  Ninety-three percent of that astonishing figure went to elect Democratic politicians.  Half of those union donations came from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), which represents government workers.

Unions Give More Campaign $$ To Dems Than Corporations To GOP.  [Scroll down]  That's right, unions give politicians money to make favorable laws for unions.  Politicians then make favorable laws for unions so that unions will give them even more campaign cash and unions oblige so that politicians can then give them even more favorable laws and regulations.  It's a vicious circle from which the voters are wholly cut out.

Which Special Interest Groups are Pouring the Most Money into Elections?  [Scroll down]  What is most disturbing about this is that government is now indirectly the largest special interest group influencing elections.  How did this union get to be so powerful?  Through gradual expansion of the size of government.  Now that AFSCME has become this powerful, it has enormous influence ensuring that government remains bloated and continues expanding.

Public Employee Unions Funnel Public Money to Dems.  Who is the largest single political contributor in the 2010 campaign cycle? ... The real answer is AFSCME, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.  The union's president, Gerald McEntee, reports proudly that AFSCME will be contributing $87,500,000 in this cycle, entirely or almost entirely to Democrats.  "We're spending big," he told The Wall Street Journal.

Campaign's Big Spender.  The 1.6 million-member AFSCME is spending a total of $87.5 million on the elections after tapping into a $16 million emergency account to help fortify the Democrats' hold on Congress.  Last week, AFSCME dug deeper, taking out a $2 million loan to fund its push.  The group is spending money on television advertisements, phone calls, campaign mailings and other political efforts, helped by a Supreme Court decision that loosened restrictions on campaign spending.  "We're the big dog," said Larry Scanlon, the head of AFSCME's political operations.  "But we don't like to brag."

Obama's Phony Campaign-Cash Attack.  Team Obama's message in the closing weeks of the campaign was completely eclipsed Friday [10/22/2010] by a union official who openly boasted in a story reported by The Wall Street Journal:  "We don't like to brag," but "we're the big dog" when it comes to campaign funding.  Big as in $87.5 million.  Big as in the biggest spender of any outside group — all meant to protect the interests of unions, the new "privileged class."

Public Unions:  The 'Big Dog'.  Public employee unions are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on political campaigns while estimates of underfunded rank-and-file public employee pension plans reach a staggering $3 trillion dollars.  The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) has to date spent $87.5 million this election cycle, according a Wall Street Journal report, and has spent a total of nearly $360 million since the 1997-98 election cycle.

Aren't Unions the REAL Special Interests, Mr. Obama?  Reviewing the top donors from 1989 to 2010, we see that the leading campaign giver — AT&T — spent $46 million, 55 percent of which went to Republicans and 44 percent to democrats.  The second largest donor — the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, spent $43 million — 98 percent of which went to Dems. ... Number seven, The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, gave 97 percent of their funds to Democrats.  And so on.

Public-sector unions try to bail out Democrats.  Afraid for their precious taxpayer-funded largesse, public-sector unions are stepping up their campaign spending order to keep their hand in the public trough.

Dems cash-poor tale of woe ignores $250 million coming from unions.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi this week told the Huffington Post that Democrats were being outspent eight to one, in an article that said liberal groups were set to spend a mere $7 million, in comparison to $200 million from conservative groups.  But unions and liberal groups have said for months that they are spending what amounts to more than $200 million in this election cycle, and an updated count — including a verification with major labor groups that their commitments still stand — shows that amount to be more than $250 million now.

Unions Find Members Slow to Rally Behind Democrats.  A.F.L.-C.I.O. leaders say that they will spend around $50 million on races in 26 states and that unions already have 1,500 full-time campaign workers on the ground.  The service employees have budgeted $44 million for the election, while other unions will spend tens of millions of dollars more.  All told, labor strategists say their ground troops will make more than 10 million phone calls to members' homes, distribute millions of flyers at workplaces and knock on millions of doors.

Surprise!  Six of top 10 overall PAC spenders are union groups.  A new Center for Responsive Politics analysis of PAC expenditures finds that six of the top 10 such groups are associated with Big Labor.  "Among political action committee contribution this election cycle to federal political candidates, four of the top 10 entities are labor union PACs:  the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers; the Operating Engineers Union; the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees; and the International Association of Fire Fighters," said CRP's Dave Levinthal.

AFL-CIO Joins Communists, La Raza, ACLU, Other Unions in Voter Registration Drive.  Looks like the AFL-CIO is no longer even trying to hide the fact that it no longer sports a traditionally American political outlook.  The labor union has announced that it is joining a voter registration drive called One Nation Working Together.  This coalition is filled with some of the most extremely leftist groups in America today including the ACLU, Enviro extremists, La Raza, Code Pink, various anti-war groups, and the Communist Party USA.

Unions will demand aggressive labor agenda even after midterm hit.  Organized labor will press Congress for big infrastructure spending and job creation programs even if voters throw Democrats out of office in November's election, union leaders say.  After the 2010 midterm elections and anticipated heavy losses on the left, labor leaders say they expect a leaner, more aggressive Democratic Congress to push through measures to create jobs.

Union 'mobilization' plans to blast GOP, stump for Democrats.  Union leaders will unleash a concerted attack against Republican candidates and their "right-wing agenda" beginning this Labor Day weekend as they rally to stem expected Democratic losses in November's midterm elections.

True cost of the union label.  While some consider American unions a dinosaur of a bygone era, they are far from extinct.  Now instead of flexing their muscle on the picket lines, they are stuffing campaign coffers for friendly politicians and teaming up with environmental activists to seek special rules to avoid the rigors of the competitive market that has produced so much wealth.  Time after time, union bosses have held one hand out while curling the other into a fist, ready to punish politicians who don't toe their line.  (Perhaps that's why President Obama is spending the [Labor Day] holiday with his biggest special interest.)

AFL-CIO and SEIU unions team up on campaign spending.  Democrats are facing all sorts of bad news lately but will no doubt take solace in learning that the nation's two largest and most-powerful unions are teaming up to defend their interests in the 2010 elections.

Obama & State Takeover By Union:  Syndicalism.  Given immense potential for shutdown and sabotage, and for use as vehicles of propaganda and agitation, unions remain indispensable tools of Marxist ambition.  Unions contributed an estimated $400 million to Obama's presidential campaign.  Despite comprising only 9% of US workers, labor unions are still key to socialist schemes, and still have potential to badly damage our democracy.

As Obama kowtows, unions eye the private sector.  One of the interesting things about the Obama administration is the strange dominance of labor unions.  Yes, Barack Obama and other Democratic leaders do owe the unions something:  Unions gave $400 million to Democrats in the 2008 campaign cycle, and they expect to get something in return.

Unions spend $1 million to defeat candidate for CA county supervisor.  Taking on the public employee unions in California can draw massive resistance, as Shawn Nelson, a Fullerton city councilman found out when he ran for County Supervisor.

IRS asked to monitor unions' election giving.  A conservative public-interest law firm has asked the Internal Revenue Service to make sure three large national labor unions comply with tax and disclosure laws in their planned spending of nearly $100 million to save Democrats in the 2010 congressional elections.

Unions to spend $100M in 2010 campaign to save Dem majorities.  At least two influential unions will spend close to $100 million on the 2010 election, with most of those funds going to protect incumbents.  Union officials told The Hill they plan to help endangered members — particularly freshmen — who made politically difficult votes in a year during which an anti-incumbent mood has filled the country.

The Editor says...
No, they made politically suicidal votes in a year during which an anti-socialist mood has filled the country.

Which Side Are They On?  Over 20 years, the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees has donated $42 million, 98 percent to Democrats; the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, $31.5 million, 97 percent to Democrats; the National Education Association, $30 million, 92 percent to Democrats; the Laborers Union, $29 million, 92 percent; and the Teamsters, $28 million, 92 percent.  Most important, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), considered the main Obamaite union, has disbursed $28 million to politicians, with 95 percent to Democrats.

Breaking the Obama Code:  The Green Money Machine.  [Scroll down]  Obama knew he needed California to win and green billionaires knew they needed Obama.  A new loophole, the Unauthorized Independent Expenditure (IE), could make it happen.  IEs can spend and raise unlimited money as long as there is no coordination with the candidate.  An IE at its most brazen is SEIU's Committee on Political Education (SEIU COPE), formed in order to raise $26,009,685.53 in support of Obama, and $3,163,276.29 to oppose McCain.

Anti-Tea Party Web Site Part of Scheme to Funnel Funds.  A new Web site targeting the tea parties is a part of a complex network of money flowing from the mountainous coffers of the country's biggest labor unions and trickling slowly into political slush funds for Democratic activists.

Your union dues are being spent on political advertising.
Labor's Power Play.  Having received a tsunami warning, the purple shirts of the SEIU have sprung into action with a major ad buy trying to pull the Senate candidacy of Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley from the jaws of defeat.  The buy size of $685,000, extracted from the union dues of not-always-willing workers, is one of the biggest of the election.

Biden's holiday greeting features the Teamsters.  For the probably thousands of Delawareans who recently received Christmas cards from the vice president and his extended family (virtually everyone in the newsroom did), there's [sic] a couple things that jump out.  First is the disclaimer on the back that tells the receiver of "joy" and "peace" that the card wasn't paid for by a Biden.  It was paid for by the Democratic National Committee.

Unions, Lenin, and the American Way (Part II).  American trade unions spent almost a billion dollars in the recent election to put pro-union politicians in positions of power in Washington.  The Service Employees International Union, in the words of its own president, has "spent a fortune to elect Barack Obama."  According to the Washington Examiner, the United Auto Workers had taken a break from bringing the auto industry to its knees and gave $1.98 million to Democratic candidates, plus $4.87 million in independent expenditures to Obama's campaign.  The money came from the mandatory dues of the workers who often wouldn't have donated or voted for these people.

Follow the Money.  Unions spent hundreds of millions of dollars supporting candidate Obama's run for the White House.  And, not coincidentally, unions have been the biggest supporters of President Obama's call for a "public option," where the taxpayer money would be seized by the government in order to pay for health care coverage. ...[Why?]  Because the "public option" would create more government workers.  And the unions need more government workers.

Big Labor's Investment in Obama Pays Off.  "We spent a fortune to elect Barack Obama — $60.7 million to be exact — and we're proud of it," boasted Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, to the Las Vegas Sun this week.  The behemoth labor organization's leadership is getting its money's worth. Whether rank-and-file workers and ordinary taxpayers are profiting from this ultimate campaign pay-for-play scheme is another matter entirely.

Unions budget up to $15 million for August campaign.  Labor unions and liberal advocacy groups will spend between $10 million and $20 million this month to twist lawmakers' arms over the stalled healthcare reform effort in Congress.  Much of the grassroots activity and television ads will be aimed at persuading centrist Democrats and Republicans to support the creation of a robust government-run health insurance program.

Labor's Greed:  The Dow plunged below the 7,000 mark yesterday for the first time in 12 years — but don't expect that news to register in the fantasyland inhabited by the Working Families Party. ... Big labor kicked more than $1 million into WFP coffers last year, according to state campaign-finance disclosures — more than half the party's total intake.  Of that sum, fully $200,000 came from teachers unions around the state, while the powerful health-care workers Local 1199 — a union threatened by equally fictitious Medicaid "cuts" — chipped in more than $330,000.  So let's say it like it is:  The WFP is the tail on Big Labor's dog.

Unions see better days ahead under Obama's leadership.  Happier days are here for the labor movement in the United States.  The AFL-CIO spent $53 million and its trade union affiliates $250 million to help Barack Obama win the White House, relying mostly on "field mobilization" campaigns to turn out a favorable vote.  The excitement level already has risen at the AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington.  "The most pro-working-family president in years," noted one staffer.

Union helps non-profit groups pay for attack ads.  The nation's largest public employee union has funneled more than $5 million to a series of non-profits running ads attacking Republican congressional candidates, federal election records show.  Since July, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) has donated almost $5.5 million to three groups:  Campaign Money Watch, Patriot Majority and Patriot Majority Midwest.

Big Labor's Billion Dollar Bet on Obama.  Big Labor is launching its largest political campaign in its history, and this year, more than ever, Big Labor means Big Money.  The union conglomerate is already sending teams of canvassers to knock on doors in swing states.  Unions are distributing 1.5 million flyers and sending 500,000 targeted attack mailers to voters as well.  The two largest union coalitions — the AFL-CIO and the "Change to Win" Federation, a coalition of the American labor unions formed in 2005 as an alternative to the AFL-CIO — have publicly admitted they will spend at least $300 million combined on federal elections alone.

AFL-CIO getting ready to endorse Obama.  The AFL-CIO is preparing to give its stamp of approval to Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.  The leaders of the nation's largest labor organization started voting Tuesday [6/24/2008] on whether to endorse the Illinois senator.  The election, which is being done by fax, is scheduled to end on Thursday.  Obama's name is the only one on the ballot sent to the AFL-CIO's 56 unions.

Just one name on the ballot.  Sounds like Zimbabwe.

Barack Obama's AFL-CIO nod gives him one more potent weapon.  With just a few days left before June ends, there's a clear frontrunner for the month's least surprising political development — the endorsement Barack Obama received today from the AFL-CIO. The massive conglomeration of 56 national and international unions — comprising about 10.5 million workers — steered clear of making a pick during the primary season because there was no consensus choice among the group's various affiliates.

The Editor says...
If you are a member of a labor union, and a portion of your union dues — your money — goes to support Barack Obama, I urge you to take a look at his voting record in the Senate, as well as the Illinois legislature.  There is no US Senator who is more radically liberal than Obama.  Read about him on this page.

The Union Party:  At the AFL-CIO forum in Chicago this summer, Barack Obama declared that "special interests have been shaping our trade policy.  That's something that I'll end." … But Obama and his rivals have had nothing to say about the special interest that sat right in front of them at the forum — the one that really is shaping our trade policy.  That would be the labor unions.  According to the National Institute for Labor Relations Research, unions contributed $925 million to political campaigns and causes during the last presidential-election cycle.  Nearly all of that money went to Democrats.

Your union dues at work:
Donors pick up convention tab.  Labor unions and wealthy donors are helping to close funding gaps for both national political conventions, sometimes contributing more than what they could legally donate to Barack Obama or John McCain.  The American Federation of Teachers and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) each recently gave at least $500,000 for the Democratic convention in Denver.

Docking Paychecks for Politics.  The mighty Service Employees International Union (SEIU) plans to spend some $150 million in this year's election, most of it to get Barack Obama and other Democrats elected.  Where'd they get that much money?  That's a question the Departments of Labor and Justice are being asked to investigate by the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.  Specifically, the labor watchdog group wants Justice to query a new SEIU policy that appears to coerce local workers into funding the parent union's national political priorities.

AFL-CIO Falsely Attacks McCain.  It runs an ad claiming McCain voted "against increasing health care benefits for veterans," when he actually voted repeatedly to increase them.

Workers Get To Say No To Labor Bosses.  The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday [6/14/2007] that unions may not spend nonunion workers' fees for political purposes without the workers' permission.  Now the question is, will the unions obey the ruling?

Unions Allowed Back Into Utah's Payroll System.  Big Labor struck back against Utah's Voluntary Contributions Act by convincing the state's 10th Circuit Court unions have the right to collect political contributions of members through the state and local payroll systems.

FEC Fines Group Allied With Democrats.  A union-financed advocacy group that played a major role in the 2004 elections has agreed to pay a $580,000 fine after the Federal Election Commission concluded it illegally ran advertising against President Bush and in favor of Democrat John Kerry.

Conscientious Objections to Union Fee Increase.  Federal law is clear that no employee can be forced to support political or ideological causes with which he or she disagrees.  Unionized employees have the right to become religious or political objectors, either diverting their full dues to charity, or receiving a refund for the portion of their dues which would otherwise be spent for political causes.  In this way, employees can ensure that their funds are not used for purposes which contradict their beliefs.

[In one recent year, the IBEW spent $4,637,733 per year on political activities and lobbying.*]

Clinton Picks Up Union Endorsement.  The United Transportation Union on Tuesday [8/28/2007] endorsed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic nomination for president, the first national union endorsement of the 2008 campaign. … The UTU also is one of the top political donors in organized labor, contributing $1.3 million in the 2004 federal elections, with 84 percent of the money going to Democratic candidates.

Union members can opt out of dues based on religious beliefs.  An employee whose religious beliefs conflict with the political positions of their labor union cannot be forced to pay dues, a federal judge ruled.  U.S. District Judge Gregory Frost's ruling broadens the category of employees who may opt out of unions because of religious beliefs beyond Seventh-day Adventists and Mennonites.

AFL-CIO to spend $200 million on 2008.  The AFL-CIO and its unions said Friday [9/21/2007] they will spend an estimated $200 million on the 2008 elections, with the nation's largest labor federation devoting $53 million exclusively to grass-roots mobilization.  In addition, the AFL-CIO said it would deploy more than 200,000 volunteers leading up to the election, with special focus on battleground states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Here is an excerpt from the article above...

"Today the AFL-CIO is sending a powerful message that we are going to change the course of our country in 2008 by electing a president and candidates at all levels who are committed to restoring the promise of America to working people," AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said.

AFL-CIO to spend $40 million in political fight.  The AFL-CIO, a federation of 52 U.S. labor unions, plans to spend a record $40 million in an attempt to unseat Republicans in this year's congressional elections.

AFL-CIO Begins $40M Voter Drive.  The AFL-CIO launched a $40 million voter-drive yesterday [8/30/2006], targeting 21 states and hoping increased turnout among union members swings competitive races in Ohio and Pennsylvania. … The vast majority of the candidates who would benefit are Democrats in union-heavy states, especially the Midwest.

Democrats love unions, and unions love Democrats.  Whenever Democrats meet with organized labor leaders, it is a love fest.  Indeed, the love fest has been a central feature of this year's congressional session.  Few things have been more important to Democrats that pleasing organized labor.

Election 2008 — Notes on Funding and Support.  It is a well-known fact that unions invariably support the Democrat Party with cash, workers and votes but, it seems the Democrat Party has forgotten to support the unions!  The Democrat National Convention on August 25-28, 2008 is scheduled to be held in Denver Colorado.  Colorado is known as NOT being overly supportive of organized labor.  In the 2006 Mid-Term Elections, unions were very useful in putting the Democratic candidates over the top in close contests and enabling Democrats to take control of Congress.

Labor's man in '08.  While Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama soak up news media attention, John Edwards has pushed for organized labor's support.  No decisions have yet been made, but the former senator from North Carolina and 2004 vice presidential nominee is the front-runner for winning over the big, dynamic unions who left the AFL-CIO 18 months ago.

Nurse Sues Union for Failure to Accommodate Religious Beliefs.  Sacramento nurse Jennifer Le … is a Roman Catholic who objected to membership because of the union's positions on moral issues such as abortion, comprehensive sex education and domestic partnerships.  The union informed Le that she could divert her dues to charity.  However, the union insisted that Le give her dues to one of five charities such as Planned Parenthood and the AIDS Foundation.

Court hears arguments in Washington state cases.  The U.S. Supreme Court has held that labor unions may collect fees from nonunion workers to cover the costs of collective bargaining performed on their behalf.  But the court has further held that's all they can take — the unions are forbidden from collecting and using additional fees from nonunion workers to finance union political activities, unless those workers grant their permission.

Unions using coerced revenues for politics.  The cases began in Washington State where teachers have been embroiled in a conflict with the NEA-affiliated teachers' union over whether the union has a right to use nonmembers' dues however it chooses.  Passed by nearly 73 percent of voters in an initiative, Washington's paycheck protection law has been on the books for over a decade.  It requires that union receive the "affirmative authorization" of workers prior to spending their mandatory dues or agency fees on politics.  The union flagrantly violated the law, even admitting to multiple violations during a state investigation.

Safeway Employee Hits Union with Federal Civil Rights Lawsuit.  Seattle-area UFCW union officials maintain discriminatory scheme, refuse to honor worker's right to religious freedom under federal law.

Where will the labor defections take us?  The dissidents want to see less money spent on politics and more on organizing and recruiting.  On an individual level, a lot of union members are conservatives, many Christian conservatives, and they are sick of paying dues to an organization that has been a rubber stamp of the left and the Democratic Party.

Should union dues back political causes?  Fred Glass is fighting Proposition 75, an initiative that goes before California voters on Nov. 8.  It would bar public employee unions from making financial contributions to political candidates or causes without its members' annual consent to do so.

State Worker Ousted for Not Joining Union.  Pat Woodward, 64, of Olympia, Washington, was recently fired from her job as a financial analyst for the Washington state Department of Licensing.  The reason?  She refused to give a percentage of her paycheck to a union.  "I decided not to join the union because it would violate my religious and ethical beliefs," Woodward said.

AFL-CIO Promotes Homosexual "Marriage".  The political activism of labor unions is growing, and drifting far from labor issues.  Recently it was learned that the AFL-CIO has endorsed and is using member dues to promote homosexual "marriage."

Metro Transit driver allowed to avoid buses with gay-themed ads.  A Metro Transit bus driver who objects on religious grounds is being allowed to abstain from driving buses that carry gay-themed ads.  Officials with the public transit system said they've made a reasonable accommodation to her beliefs.  But a union leader said the bus company is condoning intolerance, and that drivers were never before exempted from buses carrying other ads they found objectionable.

Grocery Union Hit with Federal Charges  for violating Safeway workers' right not to subsidize union politics.  Union officials refused to provide legally mandated breakdown of union expenditures.  Under the Supreme Court decision Communication Workers v. Beck and subsequent NLRB rulings, union officials must inform employees of their right to refrain from formal union membership and the right not to be forced to pay for costs unrelated to collective bargaining, such as union political activity.

Union Leader:  Labor Can't Just Back Democrats.  Organized labor should help politicians who will advance labor's cause rather than simply supporting Democrats, says a union leader pushing for changes in the AFL-CIO.

Not Your Father's Labor Union.  Most union members think their dues — which amount to an average $600 per year, allowing unions to take in some $17 billion each year — go to providing better representation at the bargaining table.  But most unions today now spend substantially more of their members' money on politics and other non-contract-related activities than they do on bread and butter issues.  Worse, most members have no say how their money is being spent and many have no idea that their dues are being diverted to far-Left causes that they would never support — everything from abortion rights to opposition to the war in Iraq.

Firefighters Versus the Media.  One of the biggest stories of the presidential campaign is being ignored by the major media.  It's how the president of the firefighters union engineered an endorsement of John Kerry for president without asking his members about it.  It turns out most of the members of the union are Republicans who support Bush.

Machinists union employees are entitled to a 25% dues refund.  For 2004, the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers admits that 26.30% of International union dues, 7.98% of district lodge dues and 29.41% of local lodge dues are spent on political, ideological and other non-representational activities for which no employee can be required to pay.

Free Pass.  Amid the uproar over the ads run by the "Section 527" political committee known as Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the Establishment media have remained eerily silent about the massive union-funded 527s that are spending exponentially more resources.

She's serious.
Should Democratic Party merge with Communist Party?  If you belong to the Democratic Party, I urge you to take the time to study the platform of your party and compare them to the goals of the communists.  They are one and the same, although this will bring shrieks from the likes of Marxist Hillary Clinton, it is the raw truth.

Union Sheep:  After eight years of Clinton in office the US steel industry was failing.  Many countries such as Russia and China were dumping steel here at below market prices to drive American companies out of business.  All under the Clinton watch I may add.  But what do union sheep do best, they vote Democrat out of habit and the onslaught continues.

Democrats' labor problem:  An aide refers to [Boston Mayor] Menino as "the last of the lunch pail Democrats," but that has not stopped him from crossing many union picket lines over the years in order to go about his business.  He realizes that only a small portion of today's working men and women belong to labor unions, and not all those members take orders from their union leaders by any means.  Nevertheless, to most Democrats, the link between the party and organized labor is sacred and indissoluble.

Looking for the Union Label:  Labor unions are taking money from members and spending it on political candidates that many, if not most, of their members oppose.

Workers don't get to know how their dues are spent.  Judge keeps union bosses' spending of forced dues on politics undercover in election year.

Union Political Involvement:  Most union members were only vaguely aware of the lengths to which their unions went to back the Democratic ticket.  And union officials carried out their activities in ways that kept members in the dark.

Big Labor's Massive Political Machine:  Ever wonder how much union dues cash Big Labor dumps into political campaigns?

Given labor's traditional ties with the Democratic Party, it is not surprising that labor PAC donations are largely directed to Democrats.  In 1994, for example, 96% of labor PAC contributions went to Democrats.

*

California Union and Legislators Receive Fleece Award.  The Pacific Research Institute announced in August [2004] that it has given its California Golden Fleece Award to the California legislature for its treatment of the California Union of Safety Employees (CAUSE).  The union contributed more than $350,000 to state legislators and to then-governor Gray Davis, who responded by personally negotiating with the president of CAUSE a pension increase 25 percent higher than was given to other state workers.  CAUSE lawyer Sam McCall helped write the enabling legislation, SB 183.  McCall openly admitted the deal was a quid pro quo. CAUSE gave Davis $100,000 three days before the bill was amended, $5,000 the day it passed, and $250,000 two weeks after he signed it.

Political Spending by Organized Labor:  Labor unions have traditionally played a strong role in American elections, assisting favored candidates through their direct and indirect financial support, as well as through manpower and organizational services.  While direct financing of federal candidates by unions is prohibited under federal law, unions can and do establish political action committees (PACs) to raise voluntary contributions for donation to federal candidates.

Unions Lurch to the Left in Massachusetts and Embrace "Gay" Marriage.  Pro-family coalition says unions' stance is "outside the mainstream."

Unions act as manpower pools for Democrat campaigns

When Democrats run for office, they like to be seen on television.  When TV cameras are around, the candidates like to be seen addressing large, enthusiastic crowds.  When the crowds are a little thin, a few phone calls are made, and before you know it, buses full of warm bodies arrive, often wearing professionally silk-screened T-shirts for the occasion and carrying identical signs.  That's how you can tell it's astroturf:  The crowds are just a little too uniform.

Involuntary Astroturf:
Former SEIU organizer: I was 'required' to do 'political work'.  In a case that could have wide-ranging implications for the political future of the Service Employees International Union, a former SEIU organizer told a right-to-work group and a best-selling author recently that the union forced him and other workers to volunteer their time for Democratic political campaigns.  On a video segment provided exclusively to The Daily Caller, the organizer says he and other SEIU staff "had to do some political work.  We were required as staff to do that."

Plumber says union is forcing him to attend a pro-Obama rally.  An anonymous member of the Chicago Plumbers Union is claiming the union is forcing its members to back President Barack Obama.  The plumber told Bruce Wolf and Dan Proft on "The Don and Roma Show" on WLS that Plumbers Local 130 is requiring it's [sic] members to attend a massive rally tonight [10/9/2012] at the plumbers hall at 1340 W. Washington, where Governor Pat Quinn, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, will urge plumbers to support the President.

Unions preparing to send 300,000 volunteers out to support Obama's re-election.  Labor unions plan to send out more than 300,000 volunteers later this month to canvass voters to support President Barack Obama's re-election.

Top 10 most dangerous liberals.  [#8]  Big Labor:  With pro-union Hilda Solis heading the Labor Department and the National Labor Relations Board stacked in its favor, President Obama has returned the favor for the support Big Labor supplied for his election.  He will need the unions even more in order to return for a second term.  With the rest of his base lagging in enthusiasm, it will take the dedication of paid-union goons to get out the vote.

About 200 union protesters attack Mitt Romney, call for increasing federal minimum wage.  About 200 union protesters descended on the parking lot of the Dunkin' Donuts on High Street in Carlisle [Pennsylvania] just before 12:30 p.m. today [7/20/2012] to call for increasing the federal minimum wage and to attack GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney.  The members of Service Employees International Union picked Dunkin' Donuts because the chain is partially owned by Bain Capital, the private equity firm that Romney used to head.  Some of the protesters wearing Romney masks engaged in a pseudo counter-protest, based on what the union said is Romney's opposition to increasing the federal minimum wage.

Did Union Democrats Stage a Fake Fight at Ohio Romney Rally?  [Scroll down]  First off, Al Neal claimed he was from Canton, but a search of voter records shows that there is no one by that name in Canton or anywhere else in Stark County.  In fact, he is a union organizer from Arizona. [...] And finally, what about [Richard] Brysacz himself?  He told the reporter that he was from Parma.  He is registered to vote where he claims he is, and he appears to be as very active voter indeed.  As a Democrat.

SEIU boots join Democratic super PAC bucks.  One of the nation's largest unions has teamed with a Democratic super PAC to run $20 million in advertising aimed at keeping House seats out of Republican hands, according to plans announced Monday [7/2/2012].

Caught on camera: SEIU activists discuss $20 payment for Obamacare protest.  Video footage obtained by The Daily Caller appears to show a group of women dressed in purple Service Employees International Union-branded clothing, discussing how much they were paid to attend a March 27 protest outside the Supreme Court.  The video first appeared online Wednesday [3/28/2012].

Union Thugs Threaten Citizen Election Watchdogs.  The Communist (I do not use that term recklessly) publication People's World has an article full of threats and libel from union thugs and Soros-funded voter fraud deniers directed at law abiding Americans:  "Labor raising an 'army of 400,000' for the 2012 elections."  Groups like True the Vote and Judicial Watch are working to cleanse the voter rolls of ineligible and dead voters, using federal laws Eric Holder's Justice Department won't enforce.

Labor unions push for Santorum win: Ultimate aim is to aid Obama.  Rick Santorum has not run as a friend of labor unions, going so far as to reverse himself and embrace a national right-to-work law, yet the social conservative got a major boost Monday [2/27/2012] in Ohio from the big-money intervention of an unlikely source:  one of the country's premier unions.

Big Labor's Democratic Convention.  Local businessmen in the least-unionized state in the country are worried that organizers of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., are putting the Democratic Party's alliance with organized labor ahead of local businesses — as well as state law.  As the Charlotte Observer has previously reported, the Democratic National Convention Committee's (DNCC) master contract with the city of Charlotte mandates that union labor be maximized with respect to convention-related work.

Public Sector Unions & Political Spending.  When assessing public sector union influence on politics, there are in-kind contributions that, while reportable, cannot be objectively quantified.  What would it cost a private sector interest to send busloads of activists to events to demonstrate for the TV cameras, or use other assets such as existing office resources, in order to wage a political campaign?  Whenever a public entity does this, they are required to register this as an "in-kind" donation, and assign a monetary value to this.  But these in-kind values can be understated in the mandatory disclosures, and more significantly, these are contributions that are in addition to the hard costs that are funded through collection of union dues.

Is the Democrats' Attempt To Recall Scott Walker A Mistake?  The national labor unions have accumulated more than 500,000 signatures on their petition to recall Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin, so they are getting close.  There is no process, apparently, for validating the signatures, so it is impossible to say how many are fraudulent.

Unions back Occupy D.C. by providing showers, amenities.  Some of the country's most powerful unions are providing the infrastructure and amenities to keep the Occupy D.C. encampment fortified going into the winter.  The camp's portable toilets are being provided by the Service Employees International Union, the 2.1-million-member organization that helped Barack Obama win the presidency and recently backed his re-election bid.  The estimated 100 demonstrators staying each night in McPherson Square, just blocks from the White House, can take a hot shower at the AFL-CIO headquarters on 16th Street Northwest.

Federal union workers join Occupy protesters.  "I definitely support Occupy D.C.," said Eugene Hudson Jr., a national vice president of the American Federation of Government Employees from Escondido, Calif.  "I believe there is a lot of greed and lots of money going to the 1 percent."  The union members made a direct connection between the loosely defined goals of the Occupy movement and federal employees.

Occupy Wall Street, unions get their activism together.  The Occupy Wall Street protests that began as a nebulous mix of social and economic grievances are becoming more politically organized — with help from some of the country's largest labor unions.  Labor groups are mobilizing to provide office space, meeting rooms, photocopying services, legal help, food and other necessities to the protesters.  The support is lending some institutional heft to a movement that has prided itself on its freewheeling, non-institutional character.

Alinsky Rules Return For Obama.  The hippie horde attempting to mob and "occupy" Wall Street this week has a method to its madness.  It's all about getting President Obama re-elected by employing classic Alinskyite tactics. ... To some, it may be a stretch to see the hand of the Obama political machine in what is claimed to be a grass-roots effort.  But the facts on the ground point to it.  For one thing, the organizers of these protests are the same ones who got Obama elected in 2008.

Organized labor expected to join Wall Street protest.  Organized labor will serve notice today on the bankers and the politicians that the young protesters of Occupy Wall Street speak for millions.  Tens of thousands of transit and city workers, teachers, and maintenance and hospital workers are expected to march to Zuccotti Park late today [10/5/2011] in a show of solidarity.

Labor crowd surrounds Sarah Palin's Tea Party rally.  Speaking at the tax day rally outside the Wisconsin Capitol, Palin called the crowd in Madison courageous for having stood up to "death threats and thug tactics" of those who opposed Gov. Scott Walker's collective bargaining bill.

Sarah Palin praises Wisconsin governor for taking down 'rent-a-mobs'.  Tea Party darling Sarah Palin fought over jeers, protestors and snow as she encouraged GOP leaders to take a page out of Wisconsin governor Scott Walker's playbook and ignore "violent rent-a-mobs".  The former Alaska governor spoke at a Tea Party Tax Dally rally in Madison, Wisconsin which earlier this year had been the site of virulent protests over Walker's dismantling of the union's collective bargaining agreement.

In Wisconsin, it's the unions vs. the people.  The ferment in Wisconsin is no workers' uprising against the rich and powerful.  It is instead political muscle-flexing by a well-funded special interest group, which is limbering up for President Obama's re-election bid.  Obama's campaign, operating as Organizing for America, is bussing protesters to the state capitol and manning phone banks to apply pressure to state legislatures.

Obama joins Wisconsin's budget battle, opposing Republican anti-union bill.  The president's political machine worked in close coordination Thursday with state and national union officials to get thousands of protesters to gather in Madison and to plan similar demonstrations in other state capitals.

Big labor mobilizing Tea Party alternative.  "Wanted: unemployed voters."  That's the message from one of the nation's biggest labor unions, the AFL-CIO.  Between now and Election Day, the union's community outreach organization known as Working America will be recruiting jobless Americans for a new political movement.  The idea?  To match the energy of the conservative Tea Party movement.  The goal?  To keep Democrats in power in Washington.

If you belong to a union, you live under tyranny:
Man Fired for Wearing Bush Sweatshirt at Obama Rally.  Don't try wearing a Bush hat or sweatshirt at an Obama rally.  Duane Hammond says it's what got him fired.  Hammond is a union stagehand who was part of the crew that built the platform for the Obama event on campus. ... James Wright, a business representative from IATSE Local 33, says the union is still investigating what happened.  "If he was sent home because of the sweatshirt, he will be paid for the day," he said.

Union Fires Stage Hand for Wearing Bush Hat and Shirt.  A stage worker setting up the stage was fired for refusing to remove his hat and turn his sweatshirt inside out and the reason?  The shirt hat and shirt both had the name "Bush" printed on them but not just any Bush but, that of George H.W. Bush.  The IATSE (Local 33) union fired the worker even after he explained the shirt to his bosses.

At 'One Nation' rally, a unionized show of unity.  Organizers of Saturday's "One Nation Working Together" rally at the Lincoln Memorial are proud of their diversity.  Before the event, they predicted it would be the "most diverse march in history."  It turned out they were right.  Looking around the rally, there were Teamsters Local 311, Service Employees International Union Local 1199, Communications Workers of America Local 2336, American Federation of Teachers Local 1, United Auto Workers Amalgamated Local 171, Transport Workers Union Local 100, and representatives of many, many other unions.  That's a lot of diversity.

Why Big Labor couldn't match Glenn Beck's rally.  The nation's biggest, richest and most powerful labor unions spent months organizing the "One Nation Working Together" rally at the Lincoln Memorial Saturday.  With midterm elections approaching, they hoped to put on a show of political strength to energize struggling Democratic candidates.  But even after giving it everything they had, they still weren't able to draw as many people as Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally in August.  Why not?  Because the labor movement is shrinking, aging and divided.

More about the One Nation rally.

The Democrat-SEIU-Media Corruption That Will Make Milwaukee Famous.  The SEIU — that's the Service Employees International Union — is once again at the heart of Democrat skulduggery, if not (this time) outright thuggery.  The union that represents a sizable group of people whose salaries are paid by the American taxpayer, and thus should be non-partisan, is openly going to war against one political party, the Republicans.

Obama's political toxicity on display today.  Today [9/6/2010], President Obama is flying to Milwaukee to mark Labor Day at a union picnic ("Laborfest"), at a far smaller venue than he used when marking the same event in 2008.  Don't worry about a rambunctious crowd, protest signs, or any other indignities, though.  Admission is by ticket only, with unions in charge of distribution.  Even more curious is the absence of left wing Senator Russ Feingold, facing re-election this year, and not showing a lot of strength in the polls.

Tea Parties vs. Unions in November.  Elections this month have enhanced the political clout of two groups widely separated on the political spectrum.  The tea party movement stands to play an outsize role in the fall elections now that outsider Rand Paul has swept Kentucky's GOP Senate primary, while unions provided the muscle for Democrats to win a key special election in Pennsylvania.

Hapless pawns spend their time lobbying against lobbyists:
Left Plans Massive In-Your-Face Anti-Capitalism Rally on DC's K Street.  The left-wing militants of SEIU and the National People's Action group plan to shut down K Street, the heart of the lobbying industry in the nation's capital, at a massive in-your-face rally and march planned for Monday [5/17/2010].  The goal of the "action" — in organizing parlance — is a show of force calculated to intimidate bank lobbyists and show support for sweeping anti-bank legislation pending in Congress.

AFL-CIO goes after charter school supporters.  The New York State AFL-CIO is targeting two of the Legislature's staunchest charter school supporters — Sens. Jeff Klein of the Bronx and Craig Johnson of Nassau — claiming they're anti-union.  The 2.5 million member union umbrella group blitzed the two senator's districts today with flyers accusing them of "siding with big corporations and against teachers and students" by voting for a bill last week to expand charter schools "with no real reform."

Unions Target Moderate Dems For Defeat In Ideological Purge.  The 2010 election was already shaping up to be a bloody battle for Democratic incumbents but some now have to worry about friendly fire as well:  Big Labor is trying to purge Democrats they don't like.

Labor unions put heat on Democrats.  While conservatives and "tea party" activists have made headlines pressuring Republican candidates from the right this election season, a number of moderate Democrats are under attack in primary battles and even third-party challenges from their labor allies on the left.

Democrats vie for union endorsements.  Democratic candidates for statewide office [in California] vied for a key labor endorsement Saturday [3/20/2010], trying to outdo one another in their criticism of state employee furloughs and other budget cuts that have affected union workers.  The candidates appeared at Service Employee International Union forums across the state that were linked into one video conference.

Unions taking on Dems who don't toe labor line.  Frustrated at seeing their legislative agenda stymied, unions are becoming increasingly active in competitive Democratic Senate primaries.  Across the country, labor groups are using their organizational muscle early against candidates whom they see as having walked away from their agenda.

Jerry Brown urges unions to go on the offensive.  Faced with the daunting prospect of being significantly outspent by his likely Republican opponent, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown spoke to a labor group Tuesday and urged it to go on the offensive.  "We're going to attack whenever we can, but I'd rather have you attack," Brown said at a gathering of the California delegation of the Laborers' International Union of North America in Sacramento.

Unions Calling in Their Chits.  "That's not the change America voted for."  The implied criticism of President Obama comes not from Rush Limbaugh or Fox News but from the AFL-CIO in a newspaper ad this week letting the president and congressional Dems know unions' "bottom line for health care reform."  The unions are calling in their chits.  If health care legislation doesn't include a public option, they won't support it.  And if it does include a tax on so-called gold-plated plans, they'll oppose it.

Students and Unions Swoon for Obama and Obamacare.  Obama didn't quite fill the 18,000 seats in UMD's Comcast Center and appeared three hours later than the scheduled 9 am start time. ...[That] didn't seem to bother the members of the Maryland Bricklayers' Union, one of several unions that bussed in workers for the event, giving them paid time off for a chance to rally for Obamacare and kick back with friends.  Several workers said this wasn't the first Obama rally they've attended while on the clock.

Let's 'Share the Wealth'.  "We just won an election.  It's no secret."  By "we," Andy Stern means "American workers."  He also means Big Labor.  Speaking on behalf of the fastest growing trade group in America, the Service Employees International Union — and as one of labor's most powerful figures today — Mr. Stern sets this simple bar for the Obama presidency:  "I expect nothing less than what he said he was going to do, and we should hold him accountable." ... The bit about accountability is no idle warning.  Organized labor put up some $450 million to get Democrats elected.

AFL-CIO kicks off largest Get Out The Vote effort ever.  With less than two weeks to go before voters cast their ballots, the AFL-CIO launched a massive Get Out The Vote campaign Tuesday [10/21/2008], targeting over 13 million union voters across the country in presidential, congressional and gubernatorial battleground states. ... The efforts will also target 12 Senate races and 60 House races in an effort to secure a filibuster-proof majority in the U.S. Senate.

Mexican Trucks:  Phantom Menace.  Anyone worried that, once in charge, Democrats wouldn't be vigilant in protecting our southern border can relax:  The grave threat of Mexican long-haul truckers has been shut down. ... The [Teamsters] union can't abide Mexican trucks:  They represent competition, and so must be blocked legal obligations, economic rationality and diplomatic sense aside.

Obama Says Teamsters Need Less Oversight.  Sen. Barack Obama won the endorsement of the Teamsters earlier this year after privately telling the union he supported ending the strict federal oversight imposed to root out corruption, according to officials from the union and the Obama campaign.  It's an unusual stance for a presidential candidate.  Policy makers have largely treated monitoring of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters as a legal matter left to the Justice Department since an independent review board was set up in 1992 to eliminate mob influence in the union.

Teamsters Defend Endorsement of Obama.  The Teamsters union vigorously denied on Monday [5/5/2008] that its decision to endorse Senator Barack Obama in the presidential race was in any way tied to Mr. Obama's statement that federal supervision of the union had run its course.

Culture of Corruption: Obama and the Teamsters.  The Wall Street Journal recently reported that last summer, Illinois Senator Barack Obama told officials in the Teamsters union that he favored ending the Independent Review Board (IRB) that was created in 1989 by the federal government to rid the union of organized crime.  Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for Obama, confirmed the story, saying that the candidate believed that the IRB had "run its course" because "organized crime influence in the union has drastically declined."  The Teamsters subsequently endorsed Obama for president, in late February.  Obama and the Teamsters bristled at suggestions that any deal was made.

Democrats' Risky Alliance with Big Labor:  This is one more instance in which Democrats have confused the interests of union power brokers with the interests of working-class voters.  Unions may want to do away with workplace democracy, but real workers do not.  Similarly, teachers' unions hate school choice measures, but working-class voters whose kids are trapped in underperforming public schools like them.

Unions Support Democratic Presidential Candidates.  Last month the AFL-CIO held a press conference to announce its $53 million "McCain Revealed" campaign to portray McCain as "anti-worker" and attack his support for President George W. Bush's economic policies.  Unions already have spent at least $7.3 million in independent expenditures on behalf of Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, the latter receiving $3 million from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) alone, according to Cox News Service.  The SEIU has pledged $150 million to support Obama in the general election.

AFSCME, MoveOn ad targets McCain on Iraq war.  A major labor union and the liberal organization MoveOn.org are joining forces to air a provocative new ad portraying John McCain's Iraq policy as a prolonged presence that would involve a new generation of Americans.  Paid for by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and by MoveOn.org, the commercial represents an expansion by Democratic-leaning groups of a campaign against McCain.

The Union Agenda:  Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama visited the House of Labor this week, and Labor can't wait to invite one back.  Which one?  Who cares.  To read the press coverage, unions are as split as the rest of the country over a Democratic nominee.

Hillary Labor Pains:  Powerful union bosses, including a key backer of Hillary Rodham Clinton, urged her to sack chief strategist Mark Penn just days before she axed him, it was revealed yesterday [4/7/2008].  Clinton backer Gerald McEntee, who heads the powerful AFSCME union of government workers, says he told her that Penn needed to go.

Voter Turnout or Voter Fraud?  On March 8 the Washington Post disclosed that George Soros has decided to help fund a state-of-the-art database that will collect and organize detailed information on millions of voters. ... Harold Ickes, a former Clinton White House deputy chief of staff, will organize the project and he will encourage labor unions and liberal special interest groups to use its information. ... Ickes' job will be to help unions and advocacy groups use its detailed up-to-date information on voters' likes and dislikes to push their hot buttons and get them to the polls on Election Day.

Organized Labor Supports Democrats with Biggest Voter Mobilization Ever.  The labor movement geared up for its "biggest political blitz ever" in the November 2006 elections, according to the Capital Research Center.  The AFL-CIO announced it intended to pour "$40 million into 80 targeted races in 21 states — the largest voter mobilization drive in the history of organized labor."  That is only the tip of the iceberg and doesn't account for in-kind contributions such as volunteer hours, phone lines, brochures, etc.

US postal workers union endorses Obama.  US Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama on Wednesday [4/7/2008] won the endorsement of the country's largest postal workers union in a fresh boost to his 2008 nomination race against rival Hillary Clinton.

The NLRB vs Boeing

Apparently the National Labor Relations Board presumes to be able to tell a private corportation (in this case, Boeing) in which states it may or may not build and operate factories.  The "right to work" states are the ones where businesses are to be discouraged.

Obama claimed unlimited recess appointment power in NLRB crisis.  Boeing had sought to build all the Dreamliners near its existing plant in Puget Sound, but the International Association of Machinists refused to agree to a no-strike clause in a new labor contract.  IAM has struck four times since 1989, costing Boeing at least $1.8 billion in revenue.  After a fierce political fight, the NLRB finally dropped its suit on Dec. 9, 2011, but only after Boeing agreed to sign a generous new four-year contract with the IAM, without that sought-after no-strike clause.

Group sues NLRB for Boeing documents.  A conservative legal watchdog group has sued the National Labor Relations Board for documents related to its case against airplane manufacturer Boeing that the panel has been hesitant to release.

Obama administration is Using Executive Power to Support Union Goals.  Last week, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) filed a complaint against Boeing that the firm cannot open a new factory in a "right to work" state, South Carolina, because the move was undertaken to avoid strikes that plagued the firm's factory in Puget Sound, Washington.  Is this a new departure for the Board, and does it in any way go way beyond its original mandate?

Pulling Labor Law Out of Thin Air.  Last week, the National Labor Relations Board's general counsel — acting at the behest of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union — filed a complaint against Boeing.  According to the complaint, the company decided to locate a new production line for the Dreamliner 787 airplane in South Carolina (a right-to-work state) instead of Washington (a state in which unions are powerful and strikes have cost Boeing billions of dollars) out of anti-union bias.  Should the general counsel convince the board that Boeing violated the law, the company could be forced to operate the line in Washington.

Red, Blue Or ... Union.  In his keynote address to the 2004 Democratic National Convention, Senate candidate Barack Obama uttered the line there are no red or blue states, but only the United States.  According to Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue, that catchy depiction of national unity has lost all meaning in the wake of the administration's war, waged through the National Labor Relations Board, against right-to-work states and Boeing Co., which wants to expand into one.

NLRB continues its crusade to unionize America.  Fresh off its decision to ask an administrative law judge to stop Boeing's move to step up production in South Carolina because Boeing cited its wish to lower the risk of suffering more strikes, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is stepping up its game.  Now Obama's NLRB is planning on suing two states, Arizona and South Dakota, seeking to invalidate those states' constitutional amendments that prohibit card check.  This is just the latest step in Obama's campaign to reward and empower unions (and their campaign piggy banks) at the expense of jobs and growth.

Boeing issues sharp response to labor complaint.  A complaint against the Boeing Co., by the National Labor Relations Board is based on "misquotations and mischaracterizations," the company said in a response Tuesday [5/3/2011].  In late April, the labor board's general counsel accused Boeing of retaliating against its Machinists union in the Puget Sound area when it selected South Carolina for a second 787 production line in 2009.  The Machinists had staged a 57-day strike against Boeing the previous year.  The labor board cited several statements by Boeing officials as evidence the company was punishing its employees here for work stoppages.

Big Labor's attack on democracy.  On April 20, NLRB staff issued an "unfair labor practices" complaint against Boeing Co. for deciding to open a production line in a non-union state.  The aerospace giant is expected Wednesday [5/4/2011] to file its response to the board blasting the charge as having no basis in law.

Obama's Labor Board Accused of 'Malicious Attack' on Right-to-Work States.  The NLRB, prodded by a labor union, recently filed a complaint against the Boeing Company for its plan to transfer a second production line to a non-union facility in South Carolina.  The NLRB says Boeing must maintain that production line in union-friendly Washington State.  The NLRB accused Boeing of moving the production line out of the Puget Sound area to retaliate for past strikes and to avoid future strikes by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

GOP Sen. Rand Paul questions whether White House has 'enemies list'.  Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) asked Tuesday [5/10/2011] if the White House had an "enemies list" in light of the National Labor Relations Board's complaint against Boeing for moving some of its operations to South Carolina.  The complaint stems from Boeing's decision to move some of its production line for the Dreamliner jet to the right-to-work state to avoid the work stoppages that have hampered the company in the state of Washington.

Sarah Palin chimes in on National Labor Relations Board fight.  Sarah Palin sent a subtle love note to South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley on Wednesday, with a Facebook message attacking President Barack Obama and the National Labor Relations Board's fight with Boeing.  "Does the President support the rights of businesses and working class people in right-to-work states to make sound decisions without government regulatory agencies unfairly punishing them?" Palin wrote.

Reid defends NLRB over Boeing decision.  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Wednesday [5/11/2011] defended the National Labor Relations Board, which has come under heavy criticism from Republicans.  Reid said the NLRB "acts as a check on employers and employees alike" and is consistent with the "spirit of checks and balances" established by the Founding Fathers.  Reid's defense comes as Republicans have gone on the attack against the NLRB over a complaint issued earlier this year that faulted Boeing for opening a new factory for its Dreamliner 787 fleet in South Carolina.

The Editor says...
The Founding Fathers established "checks and balances" among the three branches of the federal government — not on private companies.  Unless Senator Reid went to public schools, he probably is aware of this, in which case he is being dishonest.

NLRB jettisons federalism for unionism.  A federal agency wants to dictate exactly where businesses can create jobs.  Last month, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a complaint against Boeing's decision to open a new aircraft plant in South Carolina.  The agency charges that the manufacturer's expansion plans constitute "retaliation" against unions, including the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Union.

NLRB vs. Boeing — Tyranny vs. Freedom.  One of the shameful hallmarks of a dictatorship is the restriction of movement — telling citizens or groups they cannot travel or relocate freely.  We are now witnessing a shocking example of that dictatorial practice at the hands of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which is insisting that a major U.S. employer may not move some of its operations from one state to another because to do so might somehow violate workers' rights.

NLRB Attack on Right-to-Work States is Bad Politics and Worse Economics.  The NLRB has begun to sue states whose citizens voted to protect themselves from coercion and intimidation by adding secret ballot guarantees to their state constitutions, as well as attempting to deny a major corporation from operating a facility in a right-to-work state, which would create thousands of new jobs.  Why is the board attacking right-to-work states in a down economy?  Perhaps it is due to the overwhelming and unmistakable connection between this administration and Big Labor bosses whose political spending has propelled not just President Obama to his position, but consequently, their allies into appointed positions of influence within government, starting with agencies such as the NLRB.

President Obama is paying back the unions for their support in the 2008 campaign.

Palin vs. Reid — Heated words over Boeing and NLRB.  Icons of American politics Sarah Palin and Harry Reid have joined the battle over whether Boeing illegally trampled union rights with its billion-dollar new plant in South Carolina.  A U.S. Senate committee held a hearing Thursday [5/12/2011] about the complaint against Boeing by President Barack Obama's National Labor Relations Board, which will be heard by an administrative law judge in Seattle next month but could take years to resolve.

The Persecution of Boeing.  H. L. Mencken defined puritanism as the haunting fear that someone, somewhere may be happy.  The National Labor Relations Board is haunted by the fear that a company somewhere might be creating jobs with a nonunionized work force.

Boeing and the Union Berlin Wall.  The Boeing incident makes it clear that right-to-work states have a competitive advantage over forced-union states.  So the question arises:  Why doesn't every state adopt right-to-work laws?  Four or five are trying to do so this year, and have faced ferocious opposition from the union movement.

The New NLRB: Boeing Is Just the Beginning.  The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) raised a lot of eyebrows by filing a complaint against Boeing for opening a new plant in a right-to-work state.  But that action is just the beginning of the board's aggressive new pro-union agenda.  An internal NLRB memorandum, dated May 10, shows that the board wants to give unions much greater power over employers and their investment and management decisions.

Labor panel wants union officials in corporate boardrooms.  A memo leaked from the National Labor Relations Board makes clear that President Obama and the radical labor advocates he put on it are embarked on a calculated campaign to make unionized firms even harder to manage.  The NLRB's recent suit against Boeing Aircraft Co. is merely the first step.  The board sued Boeing for opening a factory in South Carolina, a right-to-work state.  Boeing's main plant is in Washington, a state where employees have no choice but to join unions.  It's also where the International Association of Machinists has struck Boeing five times in 30 years, most recently in 2008.

Right-To-Work-State Dems Won't Back Jobs, Boeing Over Unions, NLRB.  One week after Republican senators introduced a bill to counter the National Labor Relations Board's complaint vs. Boeing, not a single Democrat, not even the ones who represent states with right-to-work laws, have signed on as co-sponsors.  According to Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., they're not going to get any either, and that probably dooms the bill.

Hypocrisy: Obama's Stock And Trade.  Obama's National Labor Relations Board made itself infamous not long ago by attempting to tell Boeing in what state it was allowed to build a new manufacturing plant.  Indulging his penchant toward anti-business, anti-capitalist sentiment Obama decided that he was the final arbiter on where companies were allowed to move and set up shop.  Boeing was evil, you see because they wanted to get out from under the business-destroying grip of unions.  The monsters at Boeing were "retaliating" against the unions said Obama and his NLRB.

Obama versus Boeing.  House Republicans are fighting back against President Obama's misuse of administrative power to punish right-to-work states.  On Tuesday [5/24/2011], Rep. Tim Scott introduced legislation to protect a Boeing 787 Dreamliner production plant in his South Carolina district from the outrageous complaint filed by pro-union thugs at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).  The agency wants to force the airline manufacturer to close up operations in Charleston and move the jobs to Puget Sound, where the labor bosses reign, because setting up in South Carolina was allegedly an example of "unfair labor practices."

Republicans Take on the NLRB.  When the National Labor Relations Board's general counsel filed a complaint challenging Boeing's decision to open a $2 billion plant in South Carolina — one of 22 "right-to-work" states that prohibit compulsory union membership — the state's governor, Nikki Haley (R), launched a spirited opposition campaign, urging members of Congress, the GOP 2012 field, and her fellow governors to weigh in on what she argued was an issue of national significance.

How Free Is America?  Ask Boeing.  Or the Heritage Foundation, which puts the U.S. in a dismal ninth place in its 2011 Index of Economic Freedom. ... It is safe to say that these depressing stats would come as no surprise to the higher-ups at Boeing, who had the temerity to act as if they were a private company operating in a free market when they decided to relocate the company's 787 Dreamliner assembly from Washington state to a new production facility in South Carolina.

Pawlenty: NLRB's suit against Boeing evokes 'Soviet Union circa 1970s'.  GOP White House contender Tim Pawlenty is ramping up his attacks on the National Labor Relations Board for its complaint against Boeing over the company's decision to open a non-union airline production plant in South Carolina, allegedly retaliating against unionized workers in Washington state.

Time to Curb the NLRB's Mission Creep.  Like so many federal programs, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has expanded its mission far beyond its original purpose in order to wage ideological battles on the taxpayers' dime.  The NLRB was never meant to micromanage where companies can locate or how many products they can manufacture, as the NLRB under the Obama administration is currently seeking to do.  To stop it, Congress should exercise its power of the purse to return the board to its original mission.

The NLRB's Kangaroo Court and Boeing Employees' 'Insurance' Option.  On Tuesday [6/14/2011], the Boeing Company will be heading to the NLRB's kangaroo court in Seattle, Washington to be prosecuted by an agency controlled by pro-union extremists.  The outcome, as far as the NLRB hearing is concerned, is already a foregone conclusion.  The hearing is a procedural nuisance that Boeing will have to endure to eventually have its case heard in the federal courts — which is likely where the case will end up, barring any "face-saving" settlement negotiated with the union and the NLRB.

The NLRB vs. Boeing.  The National Labor Relations Board accused Boeing earlier this year of illegally retaliating against unionized workers by expanding its facilities in a largely nonunion state, South Carolina.  Republicans joined much of corporate America in denouncing the board's complaint, calling it a barely disguised attack on state "right to work" laws that make it harder for unions to organize.

Questioning takes partisan tone in NLRB-Boeing lawsuit hearing.  With partisan shots, Congressional members on Friday [6/17/2011] opened the hearing over the National Labor Relations Board lawsuit against Boeing's decision to locate a Dreamliner manufacturing facility in South Carolina.

House panel takes up NLRB complaint against Boeing.  Gov. Nikki Haley has told a congressional committee that the National Labor Relations Board complaint against Boeing has the potential to affect workers across America.

Obama and Boeing.  Mr. Obama has been touting his plan to double the country's export growth by 2015, thereby creating two million new jobs.  Now one of the country's foremost exporters is under assault for seeking a lower-cost venue for manufacturing to stay globally competitive, and the President has had nothing to say.

GOP Presses NLRB to Drop Case Against Boeing.  Republicans are calling on the National Labor Relations Board to dismiss its complaint against Boeing and get out of the way of job creation, though Democrats argue Boeing is violating the law by retaliating against union employees.

NLRB faces double-edged decision.  The National Labor Relations Board's bid to prevent Boeing from moving to South Carolina could harm the very state it is trying to protect by discouraging businesses from setting up shop there, Republican lawmakers warn.

Obama Agencies Announce Massive Attack on American Job Creators.  Over the last year, the Obama Administration, through its regulatory agencies, has been conducting a quiet war on American business — those enterprises that are the nation's job creators.  Earlier this week, the union extremists in Obama's Department of Labor and the "independent" National Labor Relations Board (the same agency that may cause 1,000 Boeing employees in South Carolina to lose their jobs) launched an all-out offensive designed to maximize unions' ability to unionize the 93.1% of America's private-sector employees who are union free.

Boeing Grounded.  As the administration tries to block Boeing from building airliners in South Carolina, word from the Paris Air Show is that Europe's Airbus is once again "trouncing" America's aerospace giant with record orders.

S.C. lawmaker slams NLRB over Boeing move.  South Carolina Republican Rep. Tim Scott said Wednesday [6/22/2011] the complaints of organized labor over the opening of a $750 million non-union Boeing airline assembly plant in South Carolina were "ludicrous."  The National Labor Relations Board has filed suit claiming the aerospace giant opened the plant in right-to-work South Carolina to punish unions in its manufacturing base of Washington state.

All the President's Union Henchmen.  Back in April, at the behest of the union, the National Labor Relations Board filed a lawsuit against Boeing. ... Why is the NLRB, "an independent federal agency that protects the rights of private sector employees to join together, with or without a union, to improve their wages and working conditions," fighting a union battle and standing in the way of job creation in South Carolina?  Because they're not an independent agency at all.

Judge denies Boeing motion to dismiss NLRB lawsuit.  A judge on Thursday [6/30/2011] denied Boeing's attempt to have a National Labor Relations Board case against it dismissed.  The NLRB has accused Boeing of choosing to locate a new plant in South Carolina instead of Washington state in retaliation for strikes by unionized workers there.

More about activist judges.

Obama's assault on the rule of law.  [Obama is] using the National Labor Relations Board as a goon squad.  The NLRB sued in April 2010 to stop the Boeing Co.'s new $750 million Dreamliner plant in right-to-work South Carolina because unions in Washington state objected.  Nowhere in the Constitution does the federal government have the right to tell businesses where they can operate.  This kind of thuggishness happens under communist five-year plans, not in America.

Allegations: NLRB's Craig Becker is violating Obama's 'ethics pledge'.  National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) member Craig Becker must recuse himself from the case against Boeing or violate President Barack Obama's ethics pledge, critics say.  A union affiliated with Becker's former employer, the AFL-CIO, is suing Boeing for opening a new factory in South Carolina, allegedly in retaliation against union workers in Washington state.

Time To Cut, Cap And Balance National Labor Relations Board.  On the average workday the National Labor Relations Board spends more than $1 million, ostensibly to protect employees' right to collectively bargain — or not — as is their choice.

The SEIU NLRB Serial Job Killer.  In just another example of the Obama administration making law by fiat, the National Labor Relations Board head Craig Becker is proposing new rules that would shotgun the formation of new union shops in as quick as ten days.  After the defeat of card check at the legislative ballot box, the former SEIU goon is acting creatively in order to implement portions of card check unilaterally.  What would one expect from a guy appointed to his position despite his nomination being rejected by the Senate?

As NLRB deliberates on Boeing, union takes organizing into its own hands.  Though workers in South Carolina's new Boeing Company plant recently booted out union bosses trying to organize them, local representatives from the International Association of Machinists (IAM) still linger around Charleston.  "Well, pretty much, they've been around for a few months now," said Anthony Riedel of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.  Sources tell TheDC that union bosses have even showed up at the homes of Boeing's new workers in attempts to pitch their cases for unionization.

NLRB fails to comply with congressional subpoena.  The National Labor Relations Board ignored a congressional subpoena on Friday [8/12/2011] that requested information about its lawsuit against Boeing for building a manufacturing plant in a non-union state.  "The National Labor Relations Board and Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon have thus far failed to comply with a lawful subpoena," Rep. Darrell Issa, the California Republican who issued the subpoena, said in a statement.  "This refusal by NLRB to abide by the law further heightens concerns that this is a rogue agency acting improperly.  The integrity of NLRB and its leadership is clearly in question."

National Labor Relations Board Sued for Documents Concerning Boeing Lawsuit.  It probably would not surprise you to learn that the Obama administration is apparently using the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) as a battering ram to aid powerful (and financially supportive) unions.  The target is the Boeing Corporation.  And Judicial Watch has launched a full investigation into the matter.

Memo On Upcoming Jobs Agenda.  On April 20, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a complaint against The Boeing Company for the alleged transfer of an assembly line from Washington to South Carolina.  Yet, not one union employee at Boeing's Puget Sound facility has lost his or her job as a result of the proposed South Carolina plant.  Still, the NLRB is pursuing a "restoration order" against Boeing that would cost South Carolina thousands of jobs and deter future investment in the United States.

Growing Proof of Obama's Imperial Presidency.  President Barack Obama's National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is on a job-killing rampage.  It's claiming unprecedented powers far beyond what federal law allows.  Taken with Obama's other agencies, these executive actions paint a picture of what has become an imperial presidency. ... In a free-market society, government bureaucrats cannot dictate to a private company where they can and cannot open factories or create jobs.  Boeing — whose general counsel was formerly one of the most brilliant federal judges in America, Michael Luttig — should win this court battle.

NLRB v. Boeing  — and jobs.  You have to wonder about a federal agency that sticks it to an American manufacturer creating thousands of good-paying jobs inside the nation's borders instead of overseas.  Fortunately, we hope, you won't have to wonder about it for long.  We suspect the end is near for the brief reign of an overbearing pro-union majority on the National Labor Relations Board.

Congressman: Dismantle the NLRB.  To permanently eliminate the National Labor Relations Board, South Carolina Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy recommends transferring its responsibilities to the Department of Justice.  Congress created the NLRB to enforce the National Labor Relations Act, but many conservatives this year have expressed support for dismantling the board because of its pro-union tendencies.

Romney: NLRB Boeing complaint political payback.  Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, fresh from picking up former rival Tim Pawlenty's endorsement, criticized the Obama administration's links to organized labor, arguing that a National Labor Relations Board's complaint against Boeing is White House payback to unions.

House bill would block case against Boeing.  House Republicans, angry over the government's labor dispute with Boeing Co., are taking up a bill that would prohibit the National Labor Relations Board from ordering any company to close plants or relocate workers, even if a company flouts labor laws.

House passes Rep. Scott's bill targeting Boeing labor case.  The U.S. House of Representatives has passed South Carolina Congressman Tim Scott's bill to "prohibit the National Labor Relations Board from ordering any employer to close, relocate, or transfer employment under any circumstance."  The 1 p.m. vote broke largely along party lines, as expected, with the Charleston-area Republican's colleagues supporting his bid to limit the federal agency's authority.

Craig Becker and Boeing.  Federal financial disclosure forms reveal that Craig Becker, a key union-friendly vote on the NLRB, owned stock in Boeing at the beginning of this year. Becker is one of federal agency's Democratic board members.  According to documents obtained by the National Right to Work Committee, as of January 2011 Becker owned between $1,001 and $15,000 in Boeing stock, earning between $201 and $1,000 in dividends.

Most union households think NLRB outdated.  A new survey has found surprisingly strong support among union households for radically reforming the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), and for requiring greater transparency by union leaders on their personal finances, as well as their management of union spending.  The survey of 805 registered voters, including 142 households (18 percent) with at least one union member, was conducted for Americans for Limited Government by pollster Kellyanne Conway ... and has a 3.5 percent margin of error.

NLRB documents shed light on Boeing fight in South Carolina.  Lawyers for the federal labor agency fighting Boeing's new factory in North Charleston, N.C., repeatedly joked among themselves about the dispute and exchanged a political cartoon portraying S.C. Sen. Glenn McConnell as a crass-speaking confederate soldier, according to internal documents released Wednesday [11/9/2011].

Labor Board Facing Possible Shutdown Over Union-Rule Dispute.  Members of the National Labor Relations Board are on a collision course ahead of a meeting Wednesday [11/30/2011], as the panel's lone Republican member threatens to resign — a move that would effectively shut down the board and prevent an impending vote on union organizing.

Boeing, Union Settle NLRB Suit Over S. Carolina Plant.  Boeing and the machinists labor union have resolved their highly contentious lawsuit after several weeks of secret meetings, nullifying the need for one of the most controversial cases in decades to come before the National Labor Relations Board.  The agreement would call for a new 737 aircraft line to be built in Washington state and to increase pay and benefits for union workers in the Puget Sound region.

Ambush Election Prevention.  The NLRB is the supposedly neutral federal agency charged with judging private sector labor law cases and interpreting labor statutes.  However, under Obama, it has gone far beyond that mission, to propose sweeping rule changes favorable to unions.  Some members of Congress are focused on this problem and are trying to do something about it.

NLRB Scraps Controversial 'Quickie Election' Rule Change.  As sources predicted to Human Events late Tuesday evening [11/29/2011], the "Obama majority" on the National Labor Relations Board did in fact refrain Wednesday from passing a highly controversial rule change sought by union bosses.  Though the odds are now extremely slim that the so-called "quickie election" change will ever be enacted, controversy still looms large for the 77-year-old regulatory panel, and a showdown between the President and Republicans in Congress over the NLRB seems certain in 2012.

Inspector General Probes NLRB Republican.  The National Labor Relations Board's inspector general is investigating whether Republican board member Brian Hayes was improperly influenced to threaten to resign in order to hobble the agency, a Democratic congressional leader's office said Monday [12/5/2011].  Republicans have accused the agency of favoring unions over businesses under the Obama administration's watch and have recently fought a proposed rule that would speed union-organizing elections.  A resignation by Mr. Hayes would leave the board without the quorum it needs to finalize the rule by year end or establish any other major rules.

NLRB withdraws Boeing complaint.  The National Labor Relations Board has dropped its controversial case against airline manufacturer Boeing, which had become a lightning rod for conservatives.  The labor board argued for much of the past year that Boeing decided to locate a new plant to build its new 787 Dreamliner jets in South Carolina, a right-to-work state, in retaliation for strikes by unionized workers at its existing facilities in Washington state.

NLRB Drops Complaint against Boeing; Unions May Be the Real Winner.  When Boeing Co. two years ago announced plans to open a plant in South Carolina to assemble many of its 787 Dreamliner commercial jets, the decision triggered an outcry by the International Association of Machinists.  The IAM's unofficial partner, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), filed a complaint against the company this April to block its opening of the facility, located in a Right to Work state.

Obama's Freeloader Economy.  What, after all, is the NRLB-union gang tackle on Boeing — the idea that opening a union-free plant in South Carolina is an unfair labor practice?  How come, all of a sudden after Boeing agrees to build the Boeing 737-MAX in union-rich Renton, Washington, everything is suddenly copacetic?  It's pretty obvious.  Keep those union jobs in Washington State or else.

Why Boeing's Not in Kansas Anymore.  It doesn't make sense for a big defense contractor to alienate its political base unless there are vital concerns at stake, and the reality is that the Wichita plant's revenue stream has been slowly drying up for some time.  With key programs coming to an end, the tanker effort would have had to carry much of the underutilized facility's overhead, making it unnecessarily expensive.

Judicial Watch Announces List of Washington's "Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians" for 2011.  In 2011, the Obama National Labor Relations Board sought to prevent the Seattle-based Boeing Company from opening a $750 million non-union assembly line in North Charleston, South Carolina, to manufacture its Dreamliner plane.  Judicial Watch obtained documents from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) showing this lawsuit was politically motivated.  Judicial Watch uncovered documents showing NLRB staff cheerleading for Big Labor, mouthing Marxist, anti-American slurs and showing contempt for Congress related to the agency's lawsuit against Boeing, including email correspondence attacking members of Congress.  And it starts at the top.

Labor's Under-the-Radar Power Grab.  Big Labor has made many ambitious and high-profile efforts to attract national attention, such as the so-called Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA, better known as "card-check"), stacking the National Labor Relations Board with union-friendly hacks, and impeding Boeing's plans in right-to-work states like South Carolina. ... Unfortunately for the unions, such efforts have met with only mixed success, in no small part because their publicity has provoked a ferocious and expensive backlash by labor's opponents.

Can the U.S. tolerate more help from the Labor Department?  In 2010, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), led by Obama appointees, announced it was suing Boeing for building a new airplane manufacturing facility in South Carolina.  The NLRB said Boeing's decision to build a new factory in a "right to work state" like South Carolina (translation:  a state that allows workers to opt out of union membership if they go to work in a unionized company) was made in retaliation for a union strike that occurred at Boeings main production facilities in Washington State in 2008.

5 Ways Obama Is A Dictator.  Obama's National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) threatened suit against South Carolina "for guaranteeing a secret ballot in union elections."  The NLRB eventually backed down, but then turned its attention to the Boeing Company, telling Boeing it could not relocate its plants.  Once again, the Board backed down "but only after the company and the union worked through an agreement."

Washington's "Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians" for 2011.  [Scroll down]  In 2011, the Obama National Labor Relations Board sought to prevent the Seattle-based Boeing Company from opening a $750 million non-union assembly line in North Charleston, South Carolina, to manufacture its Dreamliner plane.  Judicial Watch obtained documents from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) showing this lawsuit was politically motivated.

Trashing the Constitution.  Constitution Day is Monday, Sept. 17, so I compiled a non-exhaustive list of the ways Barack Obama has violated the Constitution. [...] [For example,] Using the National Labor Relations Board as a goon squad.  The NLRB sued in April 2010 to shut down the Boeing Co.'s new $750 million Dreamliner plant in right-to-work South Carolina because unions objected.  Nowhere does the Constitution give the federal government the power to tell businesses where they can operate.

Boeing and Obama sitting in a tree.  The Export-Import Bank is a taxpayer-backed agency that finances U.S. exports, primarily though loan guarantees.  You'd think the bank would spread the money around to nurture up-and-coming businesses.  You'd be wrong, very wrong.  In fact, President Obama's export subsidy agency funneled 82.7 percent of its taxpayer-backed loan guarantees to just one exporter:  Boeing.

Remember union threat to Boeing.  The Charleston community woke up to good news on April 9, reading that the Boeing Corporation would be adding 2,000 jobs to its sprawling plant in North Charleston. [...] But while celebrating this great news, it's important to remember how close that plant came to never opening at all.  As you'll recall, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) pushed the National Labor Relations Board's (NLRB) acting general counsel Lafe Solomon to file a complaint against Boeing, charging that locating their new plant in our community was an unfair labor practice.

Labor board sets April 22 for union election at Boeing's North Charleston campus.  The National Labor Relations Board on Tuesday set April 22 as the date when more than 3,000 production workers at three of Boeing Co.'s plants in North Charleston will vote on whether they want to be represented by the International Association of Machinists union.

Union cancels Boeing vote, claiming gun-toting workers told it to take off.  The union looking to organize workers at Boeing's South Carolina plant has put its plans in a holding pattern, claiming workers are so opposed to signing up that they chased labor leaders off their porches at gunpoint.  The North Charleston plant, which opened in the right-to-work state four years ago and builds fuselages for 747s and 787s, employs about 7,500 workers.

National Labor Relations Board rules 'captive audience' meetings unlawful.  The National Labor Relations Board issued a landmark ruling Wednesday, declaring mandatory attendance, "captive audience" meetings for employees unlawful.  Employers often compel employees to attend captive audience meetings in order to denounce unionization, particularly when a union drive is underway or seems imminent.  According to an analysis from the Washington D.C.-based think tank Economic Policy Institute, up to 89% of NLRB-supervised union campaigns in the U.S. between 1999 and 2003 featured captive audience meetings.  "Ensuring that workers can make a truly free choice about whether they want union representation is one of the fundamental goals of the National Labor Relations Act.  Captive audience meetings — which give employers near-unfettered freedom to force their message about unionization on workers under threat of discipline or discharge — undermine this important goal," NLRB Chair Lauren McFerran said in a prepared statement Wednesday.

Elon Musk Just Had a Federal Agency Ruled Unconstitutional.  Elon Musk's SpaceX turned a smallbore squabble about an alleged unfair labor practice into a massive assault on the administrative state that could result in the entire enforcement structure of the National Labor Relations Board being declared unconstitutional.  In an opinion released Thursday, US District Judge Alan Albright of the Western District of Texas, a Trump appointee, ruled that SpaceX "has demonstrated a substantial likelihood of success on its claims that Congress has impermissibly protected both the NLRB Members and the NLRB ALJs from the President's Article II power of removal."  The case started with SpaceX firing eight engineers for circulating a letter criticizing Musk for alleged "sexist conduct" and claiming the company discriminated against women.  There is no word on the engineers' hair color or pronouns.  After their defenestration, they were required to sign severance agreements that prevented them from publicly disparaging SpaceX or joining in class action lawsuits.  They made a complaint to the NLRB, which was naturally accepted.  Judge Albright's decision followed a July 10 ruling in which he granted an injunction against any NLRB action until the agency's constitutionality is established.

upreme Court to SEC: Use of in-house administrative law judges unconstitutional.  The Supreme Court today ruled 6-3 that the SEC has violated the Constitution with its use of in-house administrative law judges to rule on its various securities fraud cases. [...] This ruling against the use of administrative law judges has a direct bearing on SpaceX's own lawsuit against the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).  In January the NLRB filed a complaint against SpaceX, accusing it of firing eight employees illegally for writing a public letter criticizing the company in 2022.  Rather than fight that complaint directly, SpaceX's response was to file a lawsuit challenging the very legal structure of the NLRB itself, including its use of administrative law judges.  That the Supreme Court now has made it clear that the SEC's use of such administrative law judges is unconstitutional, it is very likely it will rule the same in regard to SpaceX's lawsuit.  Or the case might not get that far, as lower courts will be required to accept the Supreme Court's decision here as a precedent that must be followed, and rule in favor of SpaceX. Any appeal by the NLRB will face steep headwinds based on today's decision.

I can't tell what this means, except that Starbucks is involved.
Supreme Court, siding with Starbucks, makes it harder for NLRB to win court orders in labor disputes.  The Supreme Court on Thursday made it harder for the federal government to win court orders when it suspects a company of interfering in unionization campaigns in a case that stemmed from a labor dispute with Starbucks.  The justices tightened the standards for when a federal court should issue an order to protect the jobs of workers during a union organizing campaign.  The court rejected a rule that some courts had applied to orders sought by the National Labor Relations Board in favor of a higher threshold, sought by Starbucks, that must be met in most other fights over court orders, or injunctions.  The NLRB had argued that the National Labor Relations Act, the law that governs the agency, has for more than 75 years allowed courts to grant temporary injunctions if they find requests "just and proper."  The agency said the law doesn't require it to prove other factors and was intended to limit the role of the courts.

Biden Labor Board May Have Just Opened The Door For Union Activists To Infiltrate Private Companies.  A May memo from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) general counsel that argued most non-compete agreements violate federal law could make it easier for professional union activists to infiltrate American companies, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.  General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, appointed by President Joe Biden in 2021 and the top NLRB official in charge of investigating and prosecuting unfair labor practice cases, sent a memo on May 30 to regional directors informing them that non-compete agreements, which often prevent employees from seeking work in competition against their employer, are in most cases a violation of Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act, signaling that the NLRB could bring litigation on the matter.

Judge Sides With Home Depot After Company Banned Employees From Wearing BLM.  Home Depot stood up against the left and refused to go woke.  And guess what?  It worked.  A judge sided with Home Depot after the home improvement company banned its employees from wearing Black Lives Matter logos.  Administrative law judge Paul Bogas ruled that the complaint raised by the U.S. National Labor Relations Board's (NLRB) general counsel did not have enough legal grounds to advance in court.  The complaint came last year after the NLRB accused Home Depot of "selectively and disparately" enforcing workers a dress code that targeted BLM.  Bogas deemed that wearing BLM gear at work would politicize the work place.  A place where people go to buy wood and paint, not to be taunted by woke, liberal employees about donating to the BLM founder's multi-million dollar house fund.

Soviet-style apparatchiks at the NLRB blocked from killing 'The Federalist'.  [Scroll down]  The case then went before an Administrative Law judge (i.e., an employee of the NLRB, a government agency playing the role of prosecutor, judge, jury, and executioner).  The NLRB called no witnesses but did assert, based on the tweet and published articles that The Federalist isn't a media article but is, instead, an "anti-union website."  It also said all of the thousands of editorial opinions by myriad were really just Domenech's voice.  The "judge" dismissed all affidavits from Federalist employees as subjective and, therefore, irrelevant.  The NLRB won.  Finally, though, this past Friday, the Third Circuit issued a ruling in The Federalist's favor.  While acknowledging the broad power Congress conferred on the NLRB, the Court noted that the "Act as written and interpreted empowers a politically-motivated busybody as much as a concerned employee or civic-minded whistleblower."

Soviet-style apparatchiks at the NLRB blocked from killing 'The Federalist'.  In Old Hollywood, they understood something important about communists:  Like all tyrants, they have no sense of humor.  Ben Domenech, who publishes The Federalist, found this out the hard way when he made a joke about unions at The Federalist, only to have his company swept into a three-year-long Kafka-esque nightmare.  Now, though, the Third Circuit has finally put a stop to the administrative madness.

Anti-labor Amazon clinches a massive government contract despite Biden's pro-worker pledge.  Since its founding, Amazon has been accused of exploiting its workforce.  Reports reveal that Amazon workers are injured on the job at a much higher rate than the average US worker.  Amazon is notorious for imposing inhuman time schedules on their workers such that they aren't given sufficient time for bathroom breaks.  Amazon also has a record of wrongfully terminating employees and incorrectly distributing benefits.  Amazon has aggressively prevented its warehouse workers across the United States from unionizing.  Last year, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) found that Amazon had violated labor laws in preventing its warehouse workers from unionizing in Bessemer, Alabama.  Recently, the Amazon labor union held a successful union vote at an Amazon facility in New York City to join the Amazon Labor Union that advocates for higher wages and job security.

Free speech, Whole Foods, and the endangered apolitical workplace.  Jeff Bezos has always told his staff to "start with the customer and work backward."  That could now change in a dispute between Amazon-owned Whole Foods and both Black Lives Matter and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).  NLRB lawyers are arguing that Whole Foods must allow workers to wear "Black Lives Matter" masks at work, suggesting — in effect — that Bezos should start with the worker and work forward by allowing them to advocate for social change.  The company is arguing that such a rule would constitute a violation of its own free speech rights.  Whole Foods is fighting for the right to maintain a workplace free of political slogans or demonstrations.

National Labor Relations Board insists Whole Foods allow political speech on face masks.  Some Whole Foods employees want to wear face masks that show their support for Black Lives Matter.  Whole Foods objects on the basis that its dress code prohibits employees "from wearing attire or apparel with any visible slogans, messages, logos or advertising that are not company-related."  The case will be heard by a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) judge in March.

Labor Board Swats Down Biden Appointee.  The top federal labor arbiter smacked down a controversial Biden appointee's move to dismiss a worker's complaint against union leaders.  National Labor Relations Board acting general counsel Peter Ohr attempted to withdraw the agency's support for a Texas nurse who accused union and company officials of conspiring against workers.  Three members of the five-member NLRB, which enforces federal labor law, said the Biden appointee ignored "significant legal issues" the case presented.  "This case presents significant legal issues regarding the duty of fair representation and the appropriate framework for resolving allegations that a union breached that duty," the board wrote in its decision.  "This case presents the Board with an opportunity to examine these issues, based on a fully briefed and litigated record, and to provide guidance to employees and unions alike.  Accordingly, after careful consideration, we conclude that the Acting General Counsel's motion should be denied."

Federal Labor Board's Staff Cheered Biden's Unprecedented Firing of Trump-Appointed General Counsel.  When President Joe Biden fired then-National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Peter Robb within minutes of taking the oath of office on Jan. 20, career staffers cheered, according to internal emails obtained by the National Right to Work Foundation.  Biden's demand that Robb resign his post by the end of the official business day was delivered to him within 23 minutes of the oath-taking, making the action one of the very first taken by the then-newly inaugurated president.  When Robb refused to resign because he had been appointed by President Donald Trump in 2017 to a four-year term, Biden fired him and his deputy Alice Stock, and then named NLRB Regional Director in Chicago Peter Sung Ohr as acting general counsel.  Robb was the first general counsel to be fired in the history of the agency, setting a possible precedent for presidents to remove appointees from the previous administration upon taking office.

Biden Labor Board Invalidates Workers' Vote to Reject Union.  President Joe Biden's labor arbiter threw out hundreds of votes from workers attempting to cut ties with a Delaware union.  The National Labor Relations Board overruled hundreds of Delaware poultry workers who had voted to reject union leadership.  The agency said in a 3-1 ruling released Wednesday that a provision prohibiting workers from leaving a union for a set time period after a contract is signed allowed the board to ignore the workers' March 2020 vote.  The decision reversed a regional NLRB director who had initially ruled in the workers' favor.  Oscar Cruz Sosa, the employee who led the charge to hold the election, ripped union leadership for disregarding the voices of workers.  "The union has been harassing and intimidating us for a long time and it's unbelievable that they're going to get their way by having 800 ballots destroyed," Cruz Sosa told the Washington Free Beacon.

National Labor Relations Board rules that Amazon illegally fired activist workers.  Jeff Bezos may use his online retailing operation to censor conservatives and publish a Democrat/Deep State apologist newspaper, The Washington Post, but when his money is at stake, he looks indistinguishable from a union-busting robber baron of old.

House GOPers Seek White House Documents on 'Unprecedented' Firings of Labor Board Lawyers.  Four House Republicans want to see all official documents from President Joe Biden's White House and one of his Cabinet-level transition teams related to the firing of the National Labor Relations Board's (NLRB) two top lawyers.  Biden fired NLRB general counsel Peter Robb near the end of the president's first day in the Oval Office, then fired Robb's acting successor, deputy general counsel Alice Stock.  The general counsel has a central role in managing cases the NLRB accepts and how it decides them.  The position requires Senate confirmation for a four-year term; Robb's term would have concluded in November.  The NRLB was created by the 1935 Wagner Act, with regulatory authority over the implementation and interpretation of federal labor laws and regulations, a power that makes it critically important to labor unions and corporate managers.  The general counsel position was created by the National Labor Relations Act of 1947.

CNN Pays $76 Million in Settlement with National Labor Relations Board.  CNN has agreed to shell out $76 million in a back pay case that involved union employees, making it the largest monetary settlement in the history of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).  Variety reported that the labor dispute began in 2003 when the media company fired a group of unionized subcontractors working as technicians and in other support roles for Team Video Services before hiring non-union employees to replace those workers.

In Blow To Unions, Trump's NLRB May Finally Fix The Joint Employer Standard.  Back in 2015, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) under the Obama administration redefined what it means to be a "joint employer." The change, pushed by labor unions, made large corporations that sell franchise rights to independent operators responsible for the HR decisions of those private outlets.  The result was uncertainty in several industries, particularly the fast food sector.  As I wrote at the time, this was an obvious backdoor for collective bargaining agreements and the biggest targets of the Democrats on this front were in the fast food industry.  Last December, a part of that rule was overturned, declaring that the "joint employer" standard would only be applied if one entity "exercised direct and immediate control" over essential employment terms of the other.  This was a good move which was applauded by employers and relieved some of the burdens on the larger companies which provide a substantial number of jobs around the country.  But at the same time, it still failed to completely reel in the redefinition imposed under the Obama administration.

The National Labor Relations Board's Saboteur.  Right now, the Senate can save the Trump administration from a big mistake.  The Trump administration caved to pressure from Senate Democrats to nominate a liberal labor activist to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) who will sabotage the great work being done by the Trump-controlled NLRB.  Mark Pearce, whose term expired this week, is an Obama appointee and former chairman.  He was re-nominated by President Donald J. Trump to fill a Democratic seat on the NLRB because of pressure by liberals in the Senate.  Senate Democrats are promising to let a few Republican nominees that they have taken hostage pass if the Senate confirms this NLRB saboteur.  Confirming Pearce would likely result in some bad decisions by the NLRB.

Trump Should Ditch Pearce from NLRB.  Mark Pearce is a sitting member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), appointed by President Obama, whose current term expires at the end of August.  The board, if fully filled, is set up to have a narrow 3-2 partisan majority.  What that means is that the party in the White House gets 3 appointments, and the party out of power generally gets 2.  Democrats in Congress are clamoring for Pearce's renomination, but they shouldn't get their hopes up.  While the "out" party rightly gets a say in who is nominated to sit on the NLRB, the president makes the choice, and is under no obligation to renominate a particular candidate.  Plus, you know, there are some particularly good reasons to keep Pearce as far away from the NLRB as possible.  The NLRB is structured this way for a reason:  The party that holds the executive branch is supposed to be able to nudge things along a bit while ensuring a general consistency in labor laws.

NLRB Employees Object to Admin's Cost-Cutting Measures.  Regulators at the top federal labor arbiter have "grave concerns" about the Trump administration's plan to restructure the agency.  Representatives of the 26 regional directors at the National Labor Relations Board, which polices labor disputes and oversees union elections, submitted a letter to General Counsel Peter B. Robb to voice their objections to plans to shutter and restructure field offices.  The regional directors are charged with on the ground enforcement of federal labor laws, handling and investigating complaints of unfair labor practices lodged against employers and labor groups.  Robb reportedly plans to consolidate the various regional offices and cut the pay of regional directors by reclassifying their status.

New Trump NLRB Delivers on Employer Promises.  For most of the Obama era, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) pushed the legal envelope on every front in order to promote the interests of labor unions.  Under President Trump, once the board finally attained a Republican majority — even if only for a few days — that battered envelope began to be repaired.  It took until this fall for President Trump to finally nominate and obtain Senate confirmation of two new Republicans to the board, employer attorneys Marvin Kaplan and William Emanuel.  Trump also finally nominated and got Peter B. Robb confirmed as the new NLRB General Counsel.  Similar to the board members, the general counsel must be confirmed by the Senate.  Like the board members, he will serve for a set term of four years and has substantial influence on the board's policy direction.

NLRB Ordered to Pay Up for 'Bad Faith Litigation'.  A federal judge on Friday [9/30/2016] ordered the nation's top labor arbiter to pay a company's legal fees after the agency engaged in "administrative hubris" and "bad faith litigation."  Washington, D.C., Appeals Court Judge Janice Rogers Brown said that the National Labor Relations Board wrongfully ruled that Heartland Health Care Center violated its collective bargaining agreement by reducing employee hours.  Judge Brown ruled that the agency, which oversees labor disputes and union elections, took actions beyond the scope of federal law.  She ordered the agency to pay the company nearly $18,000 in legal fees, which were incurred by "bad faith litigation" on the agency's part.

Court hands feds win on union 'speedy election' rule.  A federal appeals court handed a win to the National Labor Relations Board Friday [6/10/2016], rejecting a challenge by business groups to a new federal rule speeding up union elections.  The decision by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals leaves in place several changes that boost unions' efforts to organize workplaces, including obligating businesses to turn over workers' private contact information to labor groups, even if the workers themselves want that information to remain private.  The labor board, the main federal labor law enforcement agency, issued the new rules in late 2014.  Texas chapters of the trade groups Associated Builders and Contractors and the National Federation of Independent Businesses argued in court that the board had overstepped its authority and violated workers' privacy.  A three-judge panel rejected all of those arguments in its Friday ruling.

NLRB Official Suspended for Pro-Union Conflict of Interest.  The National Labor Relations Board suspended a top-ranking Philadelphia official after receiving complaints that he helped raise money from unions for his pro-union charity.  Dennis Walsh, the regional director for the agency's fourth district, was suspended without pay for 30 days in December after an inspector general investigation revealed that he had misled ethics officers about his tenure as chairman of the Peggy Browning Fund.  The nonprofit, named after a former NLRB board member, has close ties to some of the major unions that appeared before Walsh's office, which handles unfair labor practice cases and local elections.  The agency inspector general found that nearly 60 percent of Region 4's casework "involved at least one prohibited source who made a contribution to the Peggy Browning Fund."

Obama's Pro-Union Labor Board Trampled Union Members' Rights.  President Obama's pro-union labor board has been sanctioned for bargaining in bad faith with its own union.  The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the federal government's top labor arbiter, was sanctioned by the Federal Labor Relations Authority for refusing to include its union in discussions about an office relocation.  The union called for two days of bargaining over potential locations and office furniture, but labor officials found themselves ambushed with denials and counterproposals from the agency's negotiating team.  The union alleged that "the Agency unilaterally made decisions about the design and layout of the new headquarters" and refused to continue negotiations after the two-day session.  Administrative law Judge Richard Pearson ruled that the agency used "arbitrary" deadlines to bypass union input and refused mediation in bad faith.

A Retrospective on the Obama Years.  [Scroll down]  Remember when the American left's dominant fear was an imperial presidency?  Yet today the silence is deafening as an army of appointed bureaucrats and an imperial executive repeatedly bypass the people's elected representatives.  The National Labor Relations Board has morphed into a wholly owned subsidiary of the AFL-CIO.  This critical regulator has in turn imprinted organized labor's agenda on the private sector, a remarkable turn of events given labor's ever-declining share of the American workforce.

Without Mentioning "Union," White House Goes All In For Pro-Labor, Anti-Business Propaganda.  It must be a tough balancing act for President Obama to have so many corporate backers, yet still appease his friends in the union movement. [...] While there has been much political rancor over the last several years regarding the pro-union leanings of Obama's appointees at the National Labor Relations Board, one of the lesser-seen pushes coming from the NLRB has been the push toward the expansion of protected, concerted activity without a union.

The NLRB's Politically Driven McDonald's Show Trial.  Readers interested in watching a federal agency steamroll contract rights and the rule of law to advance liberal priorities should visit the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 2 offices in New York City this October.  That's when testimony in the Agency's case against a number of McDonald's franchisees and McDonald's USA, LLC (McDonald's) is set to begin.  The labor agency says that franchisees fired employees who participated in the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) campaign to unionize fast food workers or otherwise engaged in unfair labor practices as to them.

Obama's Labor Board: Working For The Teamsters.  A National Labor Relations Board ruling made Thursday [8/27/2015] is a gift to unions and a boot on the neck of independent businesses.  Welcome to another chapter in President Obama's remaking of America.

NLRB rules against business in pivotal joint-employer decision.  The Obama administration is redefining what it means to be an employer.  The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on Thursday handed down one of its biggest decisions of President Obama's tenure, ruling that companies can be held responsible for labor violations committed by their contractors.  While the ruling from the independent agency specifically deals with the waste management firm Browning-Ferris, the so-called "joint employer" decision could have broad repercussions for the business world, particularly for franchise companies.

Days Before Kickoff, NLRB Kills College Athlete Union Bid.  The nation's college sports establishment can breathe a little easier this morning.  Just days from the start of the 2015 football season, the National Labor Relations Board has benched the idea of football players unionizing.  In a unanimous ruling, the five-member body that regulates unions in private industry scuttled a regional director's ruling 17 months ago that Northwestern University's football team members were, in effect, university employees with a right to hold a unionization election.

Courts keep ruling Obama labor officials serve illegally.  The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday [8/7/2015] that Lafe Solomon, the former acting general counsel for the National Labor Relations Board from 2011 through 2013, had been serving in violation of the law governing federal appointments.  It was the latest example of a federal court throwing out President Obama's picks for the board, which is the main federal labor law enforcement agency.  Last year, the Supreme Court ruled in the case Noel Canning v. NLRB that three of Obama's 2012 recess appointments to board were unconstitutional.  The decision voided an entire year's worth of agency decisions.

Union Bosses Simply Love the Obama NLRB's New Rules Allowing Ambush Elections.  It has been barely over two months since the National Labor Relations Board enacted its controversial new rules to speed up union recognition elections and, already, union organizers appear thrilled with the progress.  Dubbed the NLRB's "ambush-election rules," the new rules went into effect on April 14th and are primarily designed to shorten union recognition elections from a then-median time of 38 days down to as little as 14.

A One-Minute Primer On All That's Wrong With The NLRB's Ambush Election Rules.  It has been nearly one month since the union lawyers inside President Obama's National Labor Relations Board foisted their so-called ambush elections on America's union-free workplaces.  Despite the fact that unions were already winning nearly 70% of the NLRB elections, the NLRB's "ambush election rules" went into effect on April 14th.

Critics: NLRB May Gut 'Right to Work' Laws.  The federal government's top labor arbiter may use its regulatory power to force non-union employees in right to work states pay union dues.  The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) put out a call for legal briefs on Wednesday [4/15/2015] asking labor law scholars to weigh in on whether unions should have the ability to extract dues payments from non-members.  The announcement drew immediate criticism from right to work activists.

Union ambush elections are now the law of the land.  We've known this was coming for a while, though Republicans made a valiant, but ultimately doomed effort to stop it.  The National Labor Relations Board, under the direction of Barack Obama, has succeeded in putting new rules in place which will allow quickie union elections at private businesses before management even has time to make their case.

NLRB educating foreign workers on union rights, critics see shield for illegal immigrants.  Congressional investigators say they've uncovered another attempt by the Obama administration to aid illegal immigrants in the U.S. — this time, by teaching foreign workers lessons on union organizing.  The National Labor Relations Board has entered into agreements with Mexico, Ecuador and the Philippines to teach workers from those countries in the United States their rights when it comes to union activity.  The agreements reportedly don't distinguish between illegal and legal immigrants.  But lawmakers are worried it's part of an effort to shield illegal immigrants specifically, by encouraging them to join a union and get protection.

U.S. signed agreement with Mexico to teach immigrants to unionize.  The federal government has signed agreements with three foreign countries — Mexico, Ecuador and the Philippines — to establish outreach programs to teach immigrants their rights to engage in labor organizing in the U.S.  The agreements do not distinguish between those who entered legally or illegally.  They are part of a broader effort by the National Labor Relations Board to get immigrants involved in union activism.

Obama Poised to Veto GOP Bill Overriding Labor Board Rule.  Crucially, the NLRB rule appears to force employers to violate their employees' privacy by handing over work schedules and personal contact information for employees to unions without the employees' consent.  Considering the longstanding history of unions harassing and even engaing in violence toward those who oppose organizing efforts, this is a particularly troubling aspect of the NLRB rule.

NLRB gives unions big edge in workplace organizing elections.  The National Labor Relations Board released new rules Friday [12/12/2014] that will speed up workplace organizing elections.  The changes, long sought by unions, will limit the ability of employers to persuade their workers against organizing by giving businesses very little time to do it.  The board's changes will give employers seven days to raise an objection with the NLRB after it announces that a union organizing election is required.  The rule also limits the evidence that can be used at those hearings, and allows NLRB regional directors to defer most questions regarding which workers are eligible to vote until after the election.

Court: NLRB is Acting Like a Union Subsidiary.  A Pennsylvania judge accused a federal labor arbiter of acting as an extension of a powerful labor union in a dispute with a local hospital.  Federal Judge Arthur J. Schwab said that the National Labor Relations Board overstepped its bounds when it demanded personnel information from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Presbyterian (UPMC) during an investigation into alleged unfair labor practices filed by SEIU.  The hospital objected to three requests because they would aid the union's attempt to organize the workplace.  Schwab called the NLRB's requests "overly broad and unfocused" and unprecedented in their "massive nature."

National Labor Relations Board Ruling to Destroy Franchised Businesses... For the Children.  Why would the NLRB promote a ruling certain to negatively impact small businesses and workers?  Because it "is designed to help labor unions, a key element of President Obama's powerbase."

The NLRB attack on McDonald's.  Amid the economic doldrums of recent times, the fast-food industry has been one of the biggest job creators.  So far this year, it has added employment at a 4 percent rate, which stands to make this the third straight year at that pace.  If only the entire economy had done so well.  But no good deed goes unpunished.  Last week, the National Labor Relations Board decided that McDonald's will have to play by a brand-new set of rules — and if that decision stands, it could affect a lot of other businesses in fast-food and other sectors.  It's a mistake that needs to be reversed before it does real damage.

Judicial Watch Tackles Obama Czarism in SCOTUS Recess Appointment Case.  Judicial Watch participated in a major victory for the rule of law and the U.S. Constitution — and Barack Obama received a humiliating setback in his ruthless, reckless efforts to "fundamentally transform" America by egregiously exceeding constitutional restraints on presidential power.  The Supreme Court — in a stunning 9-0 vote — ruled that Obama overstepped his constitutional authority in bypassing the U.S. Senate to make a series of "recess appointments" to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

No, Mr. President, You Can't Do Whatever You Want.  It turns out, the unanimous Court ruled, that the presidential power to make recess appointments — to avoid getting the Senate's "advice and consent" on federal offices — is only triggered when the Senate is actually in recess.  And so, for the 13th time since those ill-fated NLRB nominations, the Obama Justice Department has lost unanimously at the Supreme Court.  In each of those cases, the government argued for a radically expansive federal — and especially executive — power and in each case not a single justice agreed.

Noel Canning Decision Exposes President Obama's Insane Belief in his Own Primacy.  Without getting into the weeds of the Supreme Court's unanimous opinion striking down President Obama's "recess" appointments to the NLRB, I think it important to point out exactly what it is Obama's reckless actions have wrought, and what they expose about his own opinions of himself.  No reasonable person could have thought that Obama's interpretation of the Recess Appointments Clause was correct.  I, along with virtually every other sane legal commentator, predicted at the time that Obama's reckless and blatant usurpation of power would be unanimously overturned by the Supreme Court.  Certainly, the Recess Appointments Clause contains some levels of ambiguity, but when deciding whether the Senate is in recess, as between the President and the Senate, only a narcissist drunk with power (the sort of person who would, say, name his dog after himself) would assert that the President has the right to make that call.

Taking away his recess.  President Obama prides himself on having taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago.  So he must be smarting from this week's Supreme Court decision saying he doesn't understand a president's recess powers under the Constitution.  The high court slapped the president hard over what it said were his illegal recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board in 2012.  And it wasn't just the court's conservatives:  This was a 9-0 decision.

Krauthammer: Obama Feels He Can 'Abuse the Constitution' to Push Agenda.  Charles Krauthammer sat down with Greta Van Susteren tonight to react to the Supreme Court decision limiting President Obama's power of recess appointments.  Krauthammer said Obama knows he's "beyond the bounds" of the office, but at this point he feels he can "abuse the Constitution" if he needs to.  The 9-0 decision, he said, was a "major rebuke" to Obama which stated nothing more than if the Senate says it's not in recess, it's not in recess.

President's Recess-Appointment Power Cut by U.S. Supreme Court.  The U.S. Supreme Court curbed the president's power to make temporary appointments without Senate approval, backing congressional Republicans and dealing a blow to President Barack Obama.  The justices ruled unanimously that Obama exceeded his constitutional authority when he appointed three members of the National Labor Relations Board in January 2012.  Four Republican-appointed justices would have gone even further in limiting the appointment power.

Supreme Court limits president's recess appointment power.  The Supreme Court delivered a blow Thursday to President Obama, ruling that he went too far in making recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board.  In a unanimous decision, the high court sided with Senate Republicans and limited the president's power to fill high-level vacancies with temporary appointments.  It was the first-ever Supreme Court test involving the long-standing practice of presidents naming appointees when the Senate is on break.

Supreme Court smacks Obama on 'recess appointments' in a ruling that invalidates his picks for America's top union-labor board.  The high court's first-ever case involving the Constitution's recess appointments clause ended in a unanimous decision holding that Obama's appointments to the National Labor Relations Board in 2012 without Senate confirmation were illegal.  Obama invoked the Constitution's provision giving the president the power to make temporary appointments when the Senate is in recess.  Problem is, the court said, the Senate was not actually in a formal recess when Obama acted.

Obama Suffers 12th Unanimous Defeat at Supreme Court.  President Obama's team suffered their twelfth unanimous defeat at the Supreme Court in the legal challenge to the so-called recess appointments made when Congress was not actually in recess, a string of defeats that only represents "the tip of the iceberg," according to Senator Mike Lee (R., Utah).  "Not every case in which the president has exceeded his authority has made it all the way to the Supreme Court," Lee, a former law clerk to Justice Samuel Alito, told National Review Online.  "The fact that his track record is as bad as it is in the Supreme Court ... is yet another indication of the fact that we've got a president who is playing fast and loose with the Constitution."

National Labor Relations Board rules employers wrong to fire profane employees.  In a pair of recent cases, the National Labor Relations Board has ruled against businesses who fired workers who used profanity in the workplace.  In one case, the NLRB ruled that a business shouldn't have fired an employee even though he berated the owner to his face.  In the other, the board ruled that Starbucks was wrong to fire an employee even though he used profanity and got into an altercation with a manager in front of customers.  Big Business has expressed alarm at the NLRB's stance.  In posting on it's website Friday, the Chamber of Commerce wrote that the board was "flat-out undermining the ability of employers to exercise even the most basic principles of running a business."

The NLRB is all up in your business.  If you have a business, the National Labor Relations Board is all in it these days.  The NLRB is inserting itself into the non-union workplace, even beyond the social media space that I've written about previously.  The NLRB's recent intrusion into your non-union workplace involves your company policies.  Regardless of how unintentional you are in violating the law, what you say, and how you say it, your policies can and will be held against you — or at least held to great scrutiny.

NLRB rules workers must pay year's worth of dues to decertified union.  If you are a worker trying to sever your relationship with a union, you have to make extra certain you didn't make even the tiniest error when you do it.  That's what the National Labor Relations Board said Tuesday [5/6/2014] when it ruled that nine workers who decertified their union in 2012 still had to pay it another year's worth of membership dues because they sent in some of the paperwork too early.

NLRB says Catholic university not religious enough to bar unions.  Seattle University may say it is a Catholic Jesuit school, but that does not mean it really is a religious institution, says the National Labor Relations Board.  On Thursday [4/24/2014], the federal labor law enforcement agency ruled that the school was not exempt from the NLRB's authority and its adjunct professors could therefore unionize.

NLRB Wants to Stop Businesses From Moving.  Richard Griffin, the new general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board, wants to give unions a veto over a unionized employer's decision to relocate.  If Griffin has his way, and he most assuredly will, some unionized businesses will be pinned in place at the discretion of their unions.  The change Griffin is contemplating is unnecessary and inconsistent with both the law and the dynamics of our free-enterprise system.  It will upset the balance mandated by the Supreme Court and should send a chill up the spine of unionized companies contemplating relocating an operation.

Insanity: NLRB Wants Power To Prevent Businesses From Relocating.  In the Leftist dream world, Big Labor would have the most financial influence in politics and be in complete control of the companies they plague (and will eventually bankrupt).  These aren't the unions of old, which genuinely protected the rights of workers.  These are power-hungry madmen who don't [care] about any rights other than theirs to power.

NLRB Rules in Favor of Student-Athlete Unionization.  A regional director of the National Labor Relations Board ruled Wednesday [3/26/2014] that scholarship athletes should be considered "employees" with rights to unionize under federal law.  The decision stems from an attempt by the Northwestern University football team to form a labor union.

Politicized NLRB Re-Ignites Election Rule.  The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is attempting to force through a rule that was struck down in 2012.  It will require all employers to turn over employee phone numbers and email addresses of their workers to union bosses.  It will also consolidate appeals of union votes into a single post-election process, and allow for the electronic filing of union election petitions.  This will give free rein to union bosses who want to bully employees into joining the union.  It also allows a company to be unionized easily.

NLRB resurrects union election rule.  The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on Wednesday [2/5/2014] resurrected a rule to speed up union elections, drawing denunciations from business groups and Republicans who warned of an assault on employer rights.  The proposed union rule mirrors a proposal that was struck down in court in 2012, but unlike the earlier version, the new NLRB regulation was issued with a full quorum of five board members.

Disarming the White House.  Amid the coverage of the Christie controversy and the latest budget deal, it was easy to miss the news about last week's oral arguments before the Supreme Court in the case of National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning.  And yet the Canning case represents the biggest threat to presidential power in decades, and the stakes in the decision are extremely high.

Supremes Poised to Strike Down Obama's Recess Appointments.  On Monday [1/13/2014], the Supreme Court heard arguments regarding whether President Barack Obama's appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) are unconstitutional.  The case will probably be a lopsided defeat for the president, with his own Supreme Court appointees expressing deep skepticism of the Justice Department's arguments.

A Moment of High Constitutional Candor.  The Court appears ready to rule that Obama exceeded his constitutional power to fill "Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate" by deciding for himself the Senate was in recess when the Senate considered itself in session.

Senate GOP Continues Legal Battle Against Disputed Recess Appointments.  The entire Senate Republican Conference on Monday [11/25/2013] filed a friend of the court brief with the Supreme Court, continuing its effort to oppose President Barack Obama's disputed use of the recess appointment power.  Several federal appeals courts have ruled against the constitutionality of the appointments, which included slots on the National Labor Relations Board, as well as the initial move to put Richard Cordray in charge of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.  Resolving the fate of the individuals in question was among the key features of a July deal that (only temporarily, as it turned out) prevented the use of the "nuclear option" to effectively change the Senate's rules to eliminate the ability of the GOP minority to block nominees.

How Big Labor enlisted the NLRB against Walmart.  Big Labor's campaign against Walmart got a major new ally Monday [11/18/2013]:  the federal government.  The National Labor Relations Board announced it is pursuing charges that the nonunion retail giant retaliated against some of it workers for engaging in union activities.  The NLRB's action suggests Big Labor is reaping some serious rewards for its aggressive push to get the administration to stock the labor law enforcement agency with union-friendly appointees.

Senate confirms another union lawyer as NLRB prosecutor.  Ever since July, when Republicans caved in to Harry Reid's "nuclear option" threat, GOP resistance to Barack Obama's appointments to agencies like the National Labor Relations Board (as well as others) has been virtually non-existent.  A day after Sen. Lindsey Graham's empty threat to block appointments until his questions about Benghazi were answered, the Senate voted to confirm controversial union lawyer Richard Griffin as the general counsel of the NLRB.

NLRB nominee accused in union corruption case.  Richard Griffin, President Obama's nominee to be the National Labor Relations Board's general counsel, is accused of making false statements under oath in a union corruption complaint in California district court.  The charges stem from when Griffin was the top lawyer for the International Union of Operating Engineers.  The complaint alleges that he gave a false explanation in a deposition for why union officials sought the ouster of a colleague who was blowing the whistle on internal corruption.

Supreme Court Prepares for a Year of Big Cases.  A number of important cases the Court has taken for review have not yet been assigned an argument date.  These cases will likely be heard in January.  The first has received considerable public attention.  In NLRB v. Noel Canning, the Supreme Court will decide whether President Barack Obama's recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board without Senate approval, during days when a single senator was holding a nominal session of the Senate to prevent those appointments, are unconstitutional, and therefore that all NLRB actions over the past two years and illegal and void.

5 Ways Obama Has Trampled the Constitution.  [#3]  Making "recess appointments" while the Senate was in session:  In January 2012, President Obama made four "recess" appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, claiming that the Senate was not available to confirm those appointees.  Yet the Senate was not in recess at that time.  The Recess Appointments Clause is not an alternative to Senate confirmation and is supposed to be only a stopgap for times when the Senate is unable to provide advice and consent.  Eventually, a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit struck down the appointments to the NLRB as unconstitutional.

Second Appeals Court rules Obama's recess appointees invalid.  A key argument used by Senate Democrats defending the National Labor Relations Board during a hearing this morning was that while an appeals court had ruled in January that two of President Obama's recess appointees to the board were unconstitutional, other courts had not.  Therefore, the NLRB was right to ignore the ruling at least until the Supreme Court could decide the matter.

Suit Against NLRB to Proceed.  The D.C. Court of Appeals will allow several employers to move forward with a lawsuit that would prevent the National Labor Relations Board from ruling on their cases.  Three companies had sued the NLRB on the grounds that it did not have the authority to rule on labor disputes.  The motion of consolidation issued by the judges will combine the suits and allow them to move forward with oral arguments scheduled for September.

Employers hoping for an end to labor pains after NLRB picks ruled 'unconstitutional'.  Over the last year, the National Labor Relations Board has made 341 rulings, including some that have prompted critics to call it the most activist, pro-worker board ever.  And now that a federal court has ruled the current board was put together with unconstitutional recess appointments by President Obama, those holdings are suddenly in question.

The NLRB Fight Heats Up.  It started when the president recess appointed Sharon Block, Terence Flynn, and Richard Griffin to the NLRB on January 4, 2012 — when the Senate was not actually in recess.  So the U.S. Chamber of Commerce took action.  In support of its member, the Noel Canning Corporation, the Chamber briefed, argued, and won the challenge to the recess appointments in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.  The federal court held that the recess appointments were unconstitutional.  Consequently, the board lacks the quorum it needs to conduct business.  The decision calls into doubt more than a thousand recent rulings by the board.

NEA's Legacy: $310 Million in Direct Campaign Spending Since 2000.  Almost $53.4 million came from NEA national headquarters, while another $257.1 million was spent by affiliates.  More than 47.3 percent of that total — almost $147 million — was spent in California or on behalf of California ballot measures and candidates.  The union spent more than $92.3 million on candidates and party committees.  About 86.3% of those were Democrat-affiliated, and 11.5% were Republican-affiliated.

FOIA finds two NLRB lawyers making way over $100k, but not for doing government work.  The NLRB has been ground zero for much of President Obama's tenure in the Oval Office for his efforts to reward Big Labor for its campaign support in 2008 and 2012.  As a result, the NLRB has issued hundreds of rulings since 2009 that critics in the business community and elsewhere say too often give unfair — and sometimes maybe even illegal — advantages to the unions.

FOIA finds two NLRB lawyers making way over $100k, but not for doing government work.  The NLRB has been ground zero for much of President Obama's tenure in the Oval Office for his efforts to reward Big Labor for its campaign support in 2008 and 2012.  As a result, the NLRB has issued hundreds of rulings since 2009 that critics in the business community and elsewhere say too often give unfair — and sometimes maybe even illegal — advantages to the unions.

Board Must Defend Recess Appointments, Court Says.  A federal appeals court allowed a legal challenge to the National Labor Relations Board to move forward on Friday [2/22/2013], casting additional doubt on the legitimacy of the Obama administration's embattled labor arbiter.  A three-judge panel from the D.C. Circuit Court ordered the board to file a written response defending President Barack Obama's recess appointments.

Court orders NLRB to justify continuing operation in wake of recess appointee ruling.  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia today [2/22/2013] ordered the National Labor Relations Board to respond to a petition by a pro-business group that it suspend any further action in a Rhode Island case.  The same court had earlier ruled that two of the three current board members were appointed unconstitutionally.  Should the court grant the petition, it could force the NLRB to cease all activity.

Obama renominates contentious labor board picks.  In a provocative move, President Obama Wednesday [2/13/2013] re-nominated two controversial Democratic candidates to the National Labor Relations Board just weeks after a federal court invalided their recess appointments to the posts.  Mr. Obama again nominated Sharon Block, a former Democratic Labor Department official, and Richard Griffin, a Democratic union lawyer, to serve on the NLRB.

President Obama's deep contempt for the rule of law.  One of the Constitution's essential checks and balances is the requirement of Senate "advice and consent" for presidential appointments.  The Recess Appointments Clause of Article II provides a narrow exception to that requirement:  the president can fill executive branch vacancies that occur between Congress's official sessions.  Last year, President Obama became the first president to make "recess appointments" while the Senate was still in session when he appointed three members of the National Labor Relations Board.

NLRB sides with UFCW in Wal-Mart case.  The National Labor Relations Board went easy on the United Food and Commercial Workers union today [1/31/2013] in a case in which the retailer Wal-Mart claimed the union was illegally picketing them.  The board simply accepted at face value the union's claim that it was not trying to organize the retail giant's workforce and its promise not to do it again ... for 60 days at least.

Obama's Act of Constitutional Disobedience.  The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals emphatically smacked down the crazy idea that the president has the power to make recess appointments while the Senate is not in recess. [...] The decision means the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which lacks a quorum to function without the improperly appointed members, should shut down until legitimate board members are confirmed by the Senate.  But it won't.

NLRB Appeals to Multiply.  Attorneys have been hard at work readying appeals to National Labor Relations Board rulings since a three-judge panel unanimously ruled in Noel Canning v. NLRB that President Barack Obama violated the constitution when he stacked the board with recess appointments while the Senate was still in session.  The court's ruling does not invalidate every decision that the NLRB has made since Obama appointed Democrats Sharon Block and Richard Griffin in Jan. 2012, but it does boost the prospects of those seeking appeal.

New Report Suggests National Labor Relations Board Under Obama Straying From Mission to Promote Unions.  There's a new staff report in to Fox News from the House Oversight Committee.  It alleges numerous instances where the National Labor Relations Board appears to be acting as a strong advocate for pro-union policies, instead of sticking to its traditional role as a neutral arbiter of labor disputes.  One key case is in South Carolina, a right-to-work state, where the NLRB has filed a complaint against Boeing, trying to shut down a non-union assembly line that employs thousands of workers.

NLRB finally achieves solidarity.  Like much of the rest of Washington, the supposedly independent National Labor Relations Board has been the scene of bare-knuckled partisan conflict for years now.  But the White House may have finally found a way to resolve that:  The new board will have no Republicans at all.  With no fanfare, Brian Hayes, the sole remaining Republican serving on it, stepped down Sunday as his term expired.  That leaves just three people on the five-member board, which enforces the National Labor Relations Act.

National Labor RICO Board.  A recent lawsuit filed in a federal court in California alleges that National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) member Richard Griffin was complicit in a scheme to cover up embezzlement at a major labor union by terminating employees who attempted to expose the effort.  The allegations appear in a lengthy complaint filed against the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE).  The lawsuit alleges numerous violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, and names Griffin, IUOE's former general counsel, as a defendant.

McConnell: Ruling on NLRB 'recess' appointments is bad news for CFPB head.  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., hailed a federal court's invalidation of President Obama's so-called 'recess appointments" as a victory for the balance of power, noting additionally that the ruling undermines the appointment of Obama's top bank regulator.

Appeals court panel rules Obama recess appointments to labor board are unconstitutional.  A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that allowing the president to make such appointments as a way around Senate opposition "would wholly defeat the purpose of the Framers in the careful separation of powers structure" they created.

Court: Obama appointments are unconstitutional.  In a setback for President Barack Obama, a federal appeals court ruled Friday that he violated the Constitution in making recess appointments last year, a decision that could severely curtail the president's ability to bypass the Senate to fill administration vacancies.

Obama's Abuse of Power.  President Obama has shown increasing contempt for the constitutional limits on his power, and the courts are finally awakening to the news.  A unanimous panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Friday [1/25/2013] that the President's non-recess recess appointments are illegal and an abuse of executive power.

What NLRB Court Ruling Means for Cordray.  When I heard that the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled President Obama had violated the Constitution for making recess appointments to the NLRB while the Senate was still in session the first thing that came to mind was Richard Cordray.  The same day Obama made the NLRB appointments he also appointed Cordray to head up the Consumer Financial Protection Board.  Senate Republicans had filibustered Cordray's appointment in 2011.  There is a separate lawsuit before the courts challenging the constitutionality of Obama's appointment of Cordray.

A lesson for professor Obama.  President Obama's "recess" appointments to the National Labor Relations Board were ruled unconstitutional yesterday by a three-judge panel from the federal Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.  The case is a major blow to Obama's labor-friendly NLRB, and it reins in an executive power that Obama was using to pervert the intent of the Founders.

Darrell Issa: NLRB recess appointees should step down now.  ["]As the Oversight Committee examined in a hearing a year ago, President Obama's appointments looked like an obvious election-year pander to big labor bosses.  Today, we know that it is American workers who are going to pay the price for the Administration's arrogant miscalculation.["]

Obama recess appointments unconstitutional.  In a case freighted with major constitutional implications, a federal appeals court on Friday [1/25/2013] overturned President Obama's controversial recess appointments from last year, ruling he abused his powers and acted when the Senate was not actually in a recess.  The three-judge panel's ruling is a major blow to Mr. Obama.  The judges ruled that the appointments he made to the National Labor Relations Board are illegal, and hence the five-person board did not have a quorum to operate.

Major Court Defeat for Obama: 'Recess' Appointments Unconstitutional.  President Barack Obama just suffered a humiliating defeat in federal court.  A top federal appeals court has removed three presidential appointees from power, and invalidated all actions they've taken over the past twelve months.

Court Finally Reins In Obama's Imperial Presidency.  Four days after President Obama pledged to "protect and defend the Constitution," the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that he violated that oath in making several appointments last year.  The court said Obama's three "recess" appointments to the National Labor Relations Board weren't recess appointments at all, since the Senate was still in session when he made them.

Five Half-Truths About the Longshoremen's Strike.  [#1] "The strike is over!"  Well, now, that's just a lie.  The longshoremen voted to give their union bosses the power to declare a strike at midnight on Oct. 1, and they went on strike at 12:01 a.m.  The optics were awful, especially timing it mere hours after a devastating hurricane hit, and just a month out from a presidential election.  The International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) suspended the strike after three days, not as a gesture of good faith, but to postpone it until after the election, when it might be easier for the Biden-Harris regime to resist the natural public pressure to support the American people rather than a few union bosses.  This strike isn't over.  It's just delayed until after the election, so it doesn't hurt the Democratic party at the polls.

ILA and USMX Reach Tentative Agreement on Wages — ILA Suspends Strike Through January 15th as Negotiations Continue.  The International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) has reached a tentative agreement with port owners and representatives of USMX, for a reported 62% contract increase in wages over six years.  As a result, the dockworker strike is suspended as negotiations on other aspects of the contract are extended through January 15, 2025.

The Editor says...
This temporary settlement was done for two reasons:  [#1] The strike and the impending shortages on store shelves was hurting (or about to hurt) Kamala Harris's presidential campaign, and [#2] This is a stink bomb for Donald Trump, in the event that he is elected President in November 2024, which seems likely.

The Pending Implosion of Chicago Public Unions, No City is More Deserving.  Chicago has a budget deficit of nearly $1 billion.  Tack on another $2.9 billion for a proposed teachers' contract plus an unknown amount for firefighters. [...] Johnson proposes a "short-term, high-interest loan to pay for a CTU contract."  Then what?  Let's give credit where credit is due.  No matter how stupid you think Chicago's mayor is, every election the city manages to find someone worse.  Even Lori Lightfoot was better than this.  However, any thinking person knew this in advance.  Johnson was hand picked by the CTU to screw the city, screw the taxpayers, screw the corporations, and screw the kids.

Empowering unions will stifle growth, businesses warn Keir Starmer.  Business leaders have called on Sir Keir Starmer to abandon plans for a radical extension of union power in Britain amid warnings it will stifle economic growth.  Under proposals being drawn up by ministers, companies will be forced to recognise and negotiate with unions even if only a minority of staff are members or support the move.  Unions would also be given a new "right to access" workplaces to allow them to recruit and organise members — even in companies that don't have union representation at the time.  The plans have led to a backlash from employers and business groups who have warned that it could lead to firms being "held to ransom" by small groups of activists.

United Steelworkers union endorses Biden, giving him more labor support in presidential race.  The United Steelworkers Union has endorsed President Joe Biden, giving him support from another large labor union.  The announcement Wednesday by the Pittsburgh-based union came less than a week after Biden voiced opposition to the planned sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel of Japan, saying it's vital that the company remain American owned and operated.  The USW, which represents 850,000 workers in metals, mining, rubber and other industries, said Biden has a track record of supporting retirement security, affordable health care and laws that help workers, all important issues to its members.

The Editor says...
If Biden (ahem) "wins" again, and we experience $5.00 gasoline, illegal immigrants everywhere, Venezuelan gangs in the streets, rolling blackouts, and even more inflation, blame the steelworkers' union.

Michigan Takes a U-Turn Back to the Rust Belt.  No state in modern times has transitioned from a worker freedom state to one that forces workers to join a union and pay dues to labor bosses.  All the momentum across the country in the last two decades has been in the opposite direction:  allowing workers the right to choose a union — or not.  That's why what happened last week in Lansing, Michigan, is such a tragic setback for workers' rights and for the economic competitiveness of the state where Henry Ford rolled off the assembly lines the iconic Model T some 100 years ago.  Thanks to a corrupt deal between the labor bosses, the Democratic state legislature and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Michigan will no longer be a right-to-work state.  Is Whitmer intentionally TRYING to lose jobs in Michigan?  Amazing how short the memories are in Lansing.  Starting in the 1970s, Motown, which for decades had been the very symbol of America's industrial might, collapsed into the symbol of the American "Rust Belt."  Closed-down factories turned Flint and Dearborn into virtual ghost towns.  From the 1970s to the early 2000s, Detroit crumbled into poverty.  Whole neighborhoods were bulldozed, drug dealers were seemingly at every street corner, and homes were selling for less than $10,000 as the jobs disappeared and so did the families.

American Public Pension Funds Pour over $68 Billion Into China in Just 3 Years.  American public pension funds have sunk over $73.28 billion into Chinese stocks, over $68 billion of it since 2020 — presenting a potentially serious national and economic security risk, as relations with the communist dictatorship worsen.  The New York State Common Retirement Fund and the New York State State Teachers' Retirement System are among the pension funds most exposed to China, with over $8.3 billion and $3.1 billion committed, respectively.  Other major investors include the California Public Employees Retirement System, with $7.86 billion committed, the California State Teachers System, at $5.55 billion, the Washington State Investment Board, at $5.02 billion, the San Francisco Employees Retirement System, at $3.3 billion, and the Pennsylvania Public School Employees Retirement System, at $3.2 billion.

Newsom signs $25 minimum wage law for all hospital workers, finds out afterward it will cost California $4 billion.  Had Newsom examined the cost and benefit of raising gardeners' wages to $25 an hour, like any normal governor would do, he would have probably modified the bill to reasonable standards, or better still, just said 'no.'  But this was unions we are talking about, and this one the same SEIU union Newsom succored a few weeks ago when he appointed Laphonza Butler to the Senate seat vacated by the death of Dianne Feinstein, even though she was a resident of Maryland.  Newsom couldn't find any black female Californians to take the job?  Of course not.  Butler had spent most of her working career as an SEIU organizer and operative, so we can see the outlines of the pattern here, given that unions have tremendous power in the state of California.

Teachers union drops over $80K on school board races in final days of campaign.  Education Minnesota, the state's teachers union and one of the most powerful political players in Minnesota, has spent over $80,000 on supporting its endorsed candidates in local school board races in the final days of the election season.  The union announced the digital advertising campaign in a press release Wednesday, saying its get-out-the-vote push was a response to "unprecedented outside spending on fall school board races."  "Education Minnesota launched get-out-the-vote ads to voters in several suburban school districts, the first time the state union has run such a campaign," the union, which is routinely one of the biggest spenders in Minnesota elections, said in its press release.  Campaign finance reports show the union has spent $25,000 in Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan, $19,000 in South Washington County Schools, $39,000 in the Anoka-Hennepin School District, and $4,000 in Minnetonka Public Schools.

CA Gov. Newsom Vetoes Bill to Give Unemployment Benefits to Striking Workers.  Who is this guy sitting in the governor's office in California?  His name is still Gavin Newsom, but lately, he hasn't been acting as the progressive zealot we're used to.  Perhaps he's an AI version?  On Saturday, he vetoed a bill that would have allowed workers on strike to become eligible for Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits.  Wait, what?  Newsom passed on a chance to take our hard-earned tax dollars and give them to someone else while pandering to unions?  Can this actually be happening?  Governor Hair Gel noted that the state's unemployment fund is just plain out of money:  [Tweet]

They are not unemployed yet.  They have abandoned their jobs.
California Democrats Want to Give Unemployment Benefits to Hollywood Strikers.  Democrats in California are preparing to propose the idea of extending unemployment benefits to workers who are on strike.  Obviously, this is being motivated mainly by the Hollywood actors and writers who are on strike.  Normally, benefits of this kind would only go to workers who have been let go by their employers.  This is nothing more than Democrats trying to throw a lifeline to people who they know are part of their core voters.  It's also worth noting that California's unemployment insurance program is already broke.

Pritzker risks bankrupting Illinois to curry favor with Big Labor.  Having watched Big Labor buy the White House for Joe Biden in 2020, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has taken a page out of the same playbook.  Last month, the governor, who reportedly has designs on the Oval Office himself one day, handed a taxpayer-funded sweetheart deal to one of his state's largest public employee unions.  The state's new collective bargaining agreement with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 31 gifts its 35,000 state employee members a nearly 20 percent pay raise over four years, including a 4 percent raise this year.  That adds up to a 61 percent better deal than they got during their last round of negotiations.  But that's just the beginning.  The agreement also throws in an extension of parental leave to 12 weeks and stipulates that workers will have zero increases in their health insurance premiums during the first year, a $10 a month increase in the second year and $8 a month in the third and fourth years.

End the Practice of Federal Government Serving as Unions' Bill Collector.  Imagine if membership organizations could get the federal government to serve as their bill collector, subtracting membership costs from workers' paychecks before they see them and sending the money directly to the organization.  That special privilege actually exists for federal employees' unions, but the Paycheck Protection Act, introduced by Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., would end the practice.  "Whether or not a worker chooses to join a union and pay dues is up to them," Burlison says.  "The federal government should not help unions do their job by collecting dues on their behalf."  The current practice of federal agencies serving as unions' dues collectors pushes administrative costs onto taxpayers, shields federal unions from accountability and transparency, and makes it harder for federal workers to end their union membership.

The Rail Safety Act Is About Union Handouts, Not Safety.  After many years of working in the policy world, I have concluded that politics is at most 10 percent about making the world better and safer.  The rest is at least 45 percent theater and 45 percent catering to special interest groups.  Further evidence for my assessment comes from the recent grandstanding in the U.S. Senate on rail safety.  One reason why so much of what comes out of Congress is useless, if not straight up destructive, boils down to incentives.  Politicians need something they can brag about when they seek reelection or election to higher office.  Meanwhile, legislators are constantly surrounded by special interests who plead for government-granted privilege such as subsidies, loan guarantees, tariffs, or regulations cleverly designed to hamstring competitors.  Politicians rarely hear from the victims of their policies.  Few voters can trace the origin of the higher prices they pay and the lower living standards they suffer.

Biden Shoveled $36 Billion In Taxpayer Funds To Bail Out Teamsters For Mismanaged Pensions.  Can Americans be bribed with their own money?  The powers that be are certainly putting that question to the test.  In recent years, we've seen inflation-inducing cash giveaways associated with "Covid relief."  We've seen the ongoing attempts at profoundly inequitable student loan forgiveness.  In December, we saw a $1.7 trillion pork pie omnibus appropriations bill passed by a Congress that had no time to read it.  Lost in all of this has been one spectacular giveaway:  $100,000 per beneficiary of the Central States Pension Fund (CSPF).  The fund provides pension benefits to nearly 360,000 private-sector workers and retirees, mostly Teamsters Union members.  U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, called the deal out in December, noting it was "the largest private pension bailout in American history" that benefited only "a tiny minority of workers."  He suggested it resulted from the insanity of "allowing those who mismanaged pensions to determine whether their funds qualify for taxpayer assistance with no safeguards."

Pro-union mandate at Chicago O'Hare threatens to disrupt cargo flights.  The city of Chicago has threatened to revoke the licenses of contractors that process cargo for airlines at O'Hare airport if they don't open to union organizers, putting two-thirds of cargo traffic at this major international hub at risk of being stranded and stressing supply chains for an undetermined period.  Cargo airline executives warn it could take months to find replacement ground handling agents, leading to long backlogs at other overstretched facilities and forcing them to hunt for alternative airports that might permanently retain some of the $200 billion worth of annual imports and exports moving through O'Hare.  "There is no good short-term solution if this happens and there will be a massive airfreight disruption in the region impacting many businesses," said Shawn McWhorter, Americas president for Nippon Cargo Airlines, in an email message.

An Actual Threat to Our Democracy.  The ever-crazier California legislature has passed a law that, as the Wall Street Journal's editors describe it:  ["]...creates a state council to dictate wages, working conditions and benefits, among other things, for fast-food workers who aren't unionized.  The law is intended to coerce fast-food franchises to surrender to the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).["]  Can that possibly be constitutional?  I don't know, but it any event it is a terrible idea:  ["]...the state council could issue edicts such as raising the minimum wage for fast-food workers to $22 a[n] hour.["]

Biden's Teamsters bailout sets bad precedent, group says.  With the Teamsters union receiving a significant pension bailout from the federal government, Illinois taxpayers will now be paying for both public and private pension systems.  Last week, President Joe Biden announced the federal government would use nearly $36 billion to stabilize the Teamsters union pension plans nationwide.  The Teamsters union represents a variety of professions in public and private sectors.  There are about 20 chapters in Illinois alone.  The Teamsters union has a total of 350,000 participants in nearly every state in the country with a large portion represented in the Midwest.  The most Teamsters are in Michigan and Ohio with about 40,000 participants each.  Missouri has about 28,000.  Illinois has 25,000.  About 22,000 members are in Wisconsin, according to figures provided by the White House.

Democrats quietly send $35.8 billion bailout to cover their policy mistakes.  Democrats have essentially had complete control of Illinois, with super majorities in the House and Senate, for years.  As an Illinois resident, I have the wonderful fortune of listening to Democrats brag about the financial "health" of the Illinois budget.  They claim they balanced the budget and now have over $1 billion in a rainy-day fund.  Meanwhile, Illinois pension funds declined by nearly ten billion dollars in FY 2022.  If Illinois were a private business, that $9.8 billion would show up as a loss; there is nothing remotely balanced about the Illinois budget. [...] The president and his fellow Democrats love rewarding their political supporters with kickbacks, so they bailed out the Teamsters Union, to buy votes, with $35.8 billion because of mismanagement and over-promising for decades.  (The money came from the $1.9 trillion slush fund that was sold to the public as COVID relief.)

Biden [is] handing $36 billion to [the] Teamsters pension fund.  Biden's raiding the "pandemic relief fund" or the $1.9T American Rescue Plan as it's officially known.  Apparently "Biden Slush Fund for Favored Constituencies" would also suffice.  According to the Central States Pension Plan's own website, although they initially began to service the needs of retiring truckers, they now have about 330,000 members from a variety of industries.

Biden To Spend Billions Of Taxpayer Dollars Bailing Out Union.  President Joe Biden is set to announce a roughly $36 billion bailout for union pension plans Thursday after his calls for Congress to force rail unions to accept a new contract strained his relationship with labor groups.  The Central States Pension Fund (CSPF) primarily represents more than 350,000 workers in the Teamsters Union, and was set to become insolvent by 2026, according to CNBC.  The bailout is funded through the March 2021 American Rescue Plan (ARP), Biden's signature COVID-19 relief legislation, and is intended to keep the CSPF solvent through 2051 and prevent a 60% cut to members' retirement benefits, Bloomberg reported.  "Union workers and their families are finally able to breathe a huge sigh of relief, knowing that their hard-earned retirement savings have been rescued from steep cuts," assistant labor secretary for employee benefits security Lisa Gomez told CNBC.

Team Biden is using the IRS to attack the gig economy.  The Biden administration is recruiting 87,000 IRS agents, allegedly to keep an eye on billionaires.  But all appearances are that it's aiming at the little fish of the gig economy instead.  Taking payments for a side hustle via PayPal or Venmo?  Not only is the IRS reminding you those payments are taxable income, it's deputizing those payment companies to snitch on you.  The federal government can lose trillions, as a recent Pentagon audit noted, and nobody goes to jail.  Sam Bankman-Fried can lose billions and (so far at least) be treated as a darling by members of Congress to whom he donated.  But you're expected to keep perfect records, and the corporate/government machine that characterizes early-21st-century American governance will be sure to keep close tabs on you.

Have Democrats Lost Interest in the Working Man?  The biggest problem in the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach is that California's overwhelmingly Democrat state keeps passing laws that are pushing about half of California's truckers out of the state for good.  If the Biden-Harris regime wanted to help, it could pressure Sacramento and Los Angeles to cancel their idiotic green rules that ban half the trucks from the ports, and to cancel AB5, the state law designed to make owner-operators give up their businesses and work for somebody else.  But when given a choice between siding with truck drivers or siding with government bureaucrats, you know who the Biden-Harris crowd chose.  The ILWU is one of the most powerful unions in the world, controlling every port on the West Coast.  Their longshoremen, clerks, and crane operators had their contract up for renewal in June.  The regime made it clear... no strike, no slowdown, nothing, until after the election.  They've stayed at the table dutifully; there's been no strike.  Yet.  But in an economy like this, was meddling with their contract negotiation fair to the workers?  Again, the Democratic Party had its eyes on November 8, not on the good of the working man.

There's nothing equitable in union pension bailouts.  It goes without saying that bailing out bad actors is not equitable.  So, it's no wonder the Biden administration left any mention of a nearly $100 billion selective bailout of private union pension plans out of its "Advancing Equity Through the American Rescue Plan" report.  To date, 37 multi-employer pension plans have requested between $4 million and $35 billion each, with 25 of those plans already approved to receive $6.5 billion of an estimated $97 billion in taxpayer money.  These never-before in U.S. history, no-strings-attached taxpayer bailouts of private multiemployer or union pension plans are part of the American Rescue Plan — despite the fact that this decades[-]long problem has nothing to do with COVID-19.  Prior to the pandemic, multiemployer plans had accumulated $757 billion in unfunded pension promises, and were on track to collectively pay out only 42 cents on the dollar in promised benefits.

Biden's new taxpayer-exploiting Ponzi scheme to boost unions and Democrats.  In a move guaranteeing that last year's bipartisan infrastructure package will give less bang for its trillion bucks, President Biden last Friday signed an executive order requiring every federally funded construction job above $35 million in cost to be governed by a Project Labor Agreement — which is essentially a license for labor-union blackmail.  Federal construction is already covered by "prevailing wage" laws that impose "list" union pay rates (even as union workers regularly agree to work for less on private projects), markedly boosting costs.  But Biden's move adds to the markup.  A PLA involves the contractor negotiating everything with unions ahead of time: pay, work conditions, minimum qualifications for workers and more, down to how many "coffee Sherpas" need to be on site.  Unions use them to exact every possible advantage before work can even begin.  Biden pretends it's a money-saver, just as he calls his Afghan bugout a great success.  Then why the need to force contractors to do it?

Biden spending bill would hand unions win with big penalties for labor violations.  Labor proponents are cheering a provision in the Democratic climate and social spending legislation that would impose fines against employers for violating labor laws.  President Joe Biden's Build Back Better Act, which recently passed the House, is a massive and multifaceted bill, but one aspect that has captured the attention of unions and supporters of organized labor is a section that applies hefty civil penalties to employers who violate the National Labor Relations Act.

Biden's BBB Bill Will Give You $12.5K if You Buy an Electric Car — Unless It's a Tesla.  In yet another example that powerful teachers unions and labor unions enjoy joint custody of Joe Biden and the Democrat Party, the ridiculously named socialist monstrosity "Build Back Better" Act contains a provision that provides a tax credit of up to $12,500 to purchasers of electric vehicles — other than Teslas.  Why not Teslas?  Three words:  United Autoworkers Union.  That's right, America, as reported by CBS News, only electric vehicles made in unionized U.S. factories qualify for the full $12,500.  However, if Tesla it must be, your tax credit would be capped at $7,500.

Biden's 'Build Back' to put billions of tax dollars in union hands.  Amid the fast-paced congressional talks over President Joe Biden's budget-busting "Build Back Better Act" (BBBA), the legislation's massive expansion of federal Medicaid funding for in-home care has thus far received little scrutiny.  Unfortunately, the legislation is cynically engineered to steer potentially billions of Medicaid dollars to labor unions, forcing hundreds of thousands of home care aides into supporting far-left political advocacy and saddling taxpayers with wasteful programs.

Democrats Push Tax Credit to Incentivize Donations to Union Politics.  A provision in Democrats' $1.7 trillion social welfare spending bill could be used to encourage political donations to Democratic candidates, critics of the provision say.  The newest version of the bill allows for a $250 tax credit for employees in unionized workplaces to pay "full" union dues.  The tax credit would not go to union members who opt out of paying the portion of dues that goes toward supporting unions' political causes and campaign contributions.  About 95% of union political donations support liberal candidates — almost all of them Democrats — and causes.  The tax credit has an "insidious design" to boost union membership, said Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Committee.

How Government Worker Unions Manipulate Municipal Elections.  Liberal special interests have effective control of many municipal governments and government arms.  The most notable case is school boards.  The teachers union's endorsement frequently determines the winner of school board races.  The endorsed board members do the union's bidding, as school closures and eternal mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrate.  Liberal partisans see what they think is voter suppression when conservatives pass legislation that guarantees only each eligible voter casts a single private ballot.  Once in power, these liberal special-interest groups are more than capable of actually exploiting electoral systems.  Teachers unions are playing an organization game that rewards professional mobilization over majority support.  They and other progressive special interests take advantage of off-cycle municipal elections, nonpartisan races, block voting, and similar balloting methods.

Democrats' Proposed Build Back Better Act [is] a Gift to Unions, Report Says.  Provisions in the Democrats' proposed "Build Back Better Act," a massive social spending bill that will cost trillions of dollars, will boost labor union coffers by billions of dollars, according to a new report from the Freedom Foundation in Washington state.  In the report, Maxford Nelsen, director of labor policy for the Freedom Foundation, states that the bill, H.R. 5376, would vastly expand Medicaid funding for home- and community-based services (HCBS) that provide in-home care to, and prevent the institutionalization of, adults with disabilities.  Such services are provided via state-designed and operated programs operating within federal parameters.  The workers in those programs are prime targets for union recruiters.  It's unclear what the bill will cost.  It was initially expected to cost more than $3.5 trillion over 10 years, but recent estimates put it closer to $1.75 trillion.  The measure would be funded by taxing corporations, and wouldn't increase the federal deficit, its backers insist.

Americans Struggle as President Biden Favors Unions During Supply-Chain Breakdown.  ome in the Biden Administration have used the supply-chain crisis as a talking point to encourage passage of the $3.5 trillion Build Back Better (BBB) plan.  According to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the supply-chain crisis "is one more reason why we do need to deliver this infrastructure package, so that we can have a more resilient, flexible physical infrastructure to support our supply chain in this country."  This claim is, at a minimum, disingenuous.  While the BBB plan is touted as investing $17 billion in port infrastructure, the funding is centered on the Administration's climate-change initiative and targets reduction of air pollution and greenhouse gases.  Not only is there no funding for the implementation of productivity enhancements, bowing to union pressure, the plan also expressly prohibits the use of these funds for the purchase of fully automated cargo-handling equipment that is desperately needed to boost port efficiency.  Reduction of air pollution is a good thing, but these proposed air-quality improvements will not alleviate the nation's supply-chain issues.

Lucrative tax break for organized labor would cost taxpayers nearly $1.8 billion.  President Biden's push to reward one of his biggest allies, organized labor, with a lucrative tax break will cost taxpayers nearly $1.8 billion over the next decade, according to a new analysis.  The Joint Committee on Taxation released an in-depth analysis of the tax proposals included within Mr. Biden's 10-year, multi-trillion-dollar social welfare bill on Thursday [11/4/2021].  It found that allowing union members to write off some of their dues payments on their tax filings would wind up depriving the federal coffers of approximately $1.8 billion over the next decade, or $180 million a year.  As currently written, the provision would allow members of a labor organization to deduct $250 in union dues off their annual tax returns.

The supply chain crisis is exacerbated by Biden's union allies.  Administration officials have heaped praise on the International Longshoremen and Warehouse Union for agreeing to unload freight 24/7 at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach that, combined, account for 40% of all U.S. imports and currently have a backlog of roughly 100 ships anchored offshore waiting to unload.  Meanwhile, increased demand has driven up incoming shipments by approximately 26% compared to the prior year.  Biden himself thanked ILWU President Willie Adams by name in an Oct. 13 national address for taking a "big first step" toward addressing transportation issues before discussing part of his long-term solution to fixing the American supply chain.  He said the passage of his dual infrastructure proposals would specifically strengthen unions' bargaining power in future labor negotiations.

Never mind the cost — just look at the absurd things Build Back Better would buy.  Democrats are quarreling over the price tag of their Build Back Better bill.  But the real problem is what's in it.  The bill coerces workers to join unions, imposes racial preferences on every facet of life and redistributes money from workers to takers. [... For example,] Home-efficiency rebates:  The bill offers up to $14,000 to homeowners who lower energy use by installing new heat pumps, air conditioning systems, insulation and energy-efficient appliances.  It's a pot of gold for homeowners who qualify and tens of billions of dollars in new business for contractors.  The catch:  Only unionized electrical contractors qualify.  This bill is designed to twist arms and unionize the workforce.  Why?  Unions bankroll the Democratic Party.  Racial and ethnic minorities also get preferential treatment.  The bill promises contractors a $200 bonus for each customer served from a "community of racial or minority ethnic concentration."  Whites go to the back of the line and have to hope the money holds out.

Exactly the opposite is true.
Biden says anyone who doesn't back his multi-trillion infrastructure bills are 'complicit in America's decline'.  President Joe Biden arrived in Michigan Tuesday to hawk his $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill and the larger budget bill at a union hall.  The president landed in Lansing and was greeted by Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin, who is facing a tough re-election fight next year.  Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist linked up with Biden on-site.  Biden visited a branch of the International Union of Operating Engineers in Howell, Michigan, the county seat of Livingston County, which chose former President Donald Trump over Biden by more than 20 points.

Elon Musk upset over proposed Democratic subsidies for unionized electric car companies.  Tesla CEO Elon Musk is criticizing House Democrats and the Biden administration for providing tax incentives for union-made electric cars that won't help his company or others that are not unionized.  Musk and other automakers say the tax benefit will unfairly boost the business of car companies such as GM, Ford, and Chrysler, which are represented by the United Auto Workers union.

Joe Biden Serves Sandwiches to Union Workers on Labor Day.  President Joe Biden celebrated Labor Day by delivering deli sandwiches to union workers in his home state of Delaware.  According to the Associated Press, the president visited an event orchestrated by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 313 in New Castle, Delaware, where he served sandwiches from Capriotti's, a Delaware restaurant chain founded in 1976.

We've got to save the Earth!  But not without the help of labor unions.  What does that tell you?
Biden Gang Didn't Invite Tesla to Electric Vehicle Event Because They Don't Employ Union Workers.  The Biden gang held an event heralding US electric vehicles but decided not to invite Tesla because they don't employ union workers.  Elon Musk shared in a tweet that Tesla was not invited to the Biden gang's event sponsoring electric vehicles.  [Tweet]  Press Secretary Psaki claimed that Tesla may get an invite in the future.

Democrats' pro-union bill would only hurt American workers.  House Democrats rammed through the union-backed Protecting the Right to Organize Act Tuesday night on a mostly party-line vote.  It's said to be dead on arrival in the Senate, which is a good thing for American workers.  The bill's name shows its pro-union bias.  It would largely gut "right-to-work" laws, which permit workers to opt out of a union and not pay union dues if they so choose.  This right was enshrined in the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act, which gave states the ability to enact such laws.  Twenty-seven states now have them, and workers in those states have the freedom to object to coercive unions in the most powerful way possible: the right to leave.  The PRO Act would allow unions to collect dues from these men and women regardless of whether they formally join the union.  This would be a serious infringement on personal liberty, and it would remove an important check on abusive union leaders.

No ethics needed for President Biden's best buddies.  Packing his administration with Big Labor operatives matters more to President Joe Biden than his own much-ballyhooed ethics rules, and he's not even embarrassed about it.  With great fanfare his first day in office, Biden signed an executive order mandating that all his appointees "in every executive agency" sign an "ethics pledge" that "contractually committed" them to refraining from participating "in any particular matter on which" they lobbied, along with "the specific issue area in which that particular matter falls," for two years.  They also couldn't "seek or accept employment with any executive agency with respect to which" they lobbied for two years.  The media touted this "revolving-door ban" as far tougher than the Obama and Trump rules.  Oops:  It turns out Team Biden is handing out truckloads of ethics waivers to labor-union veterans.

Biden's American Unions Plan.  President Joe Biden is traveling to Virginia and Louisiana this week to pitch his American Jobs Plan — also called an "infrastructure" plan.  New bridges, safer highways and more broadband are easy sells.  But that's only half the story.  Biden's plan is a massive and coercive push to unionize the American workforce.  Whether workers want it or not.  Biden's plan is a wish list of changes sought by union bosses.  It cancels right-to-work laws in 27 states that currently protect workers from having to pay union dues if they don't want to join.  It also rigs union elections by replacing secret balloting with a system called card check.  Organizers will be able to see which workers vote "no" and intimidate them.  During the 2020 presidential contest, unions donated millions to Biden's campaign, manned phone banks and got out the vote for Democrats.  Now, it's payback time.

CDC becomes a chew toy for the teachers' unions.  The Centers for Disease Control, which bills itself to the public as an agency all about "science," is actually pretty political.  So in late February, when the agency released its disappointing recommendations to slow and halt school re-openings, despite the pandemic passing its peak, the obvious options for outdoor learning, and the success of school reopenings in Europe, and among private schools here, many assumed they were just a little slow on the uptake, and maybe going by their outdated research.  Nope, they were parroting what the American Federation of Teachers told them to say, word for word at times, according to a report in the New York Post: [...]

Unions Sell Out Their Own Workers for the Biden Energy Plan.  Another pro-President Joe Biden union just told it's rank-and-file members:  Sorry, guys, you are all fired.  Last week, the United Mine Workers of America union endorsed Biden's energy policies.  Yes, you read that right.  The coal-mining union bosses have embraced a bill that outlaws coal mining.  This is about as dumb as the Pipefitters Union endorsing Biden for president.  He repaid them with his first act as president — killing the Keystone pipeline.  So now we have the Pipefitters Union against pipelines and the coal miners union against coal.  Did anyone bother to actually ask the rank-and-file members what they thought?  Can they get their union dues back?  They should.  The livelihoods of more than 50,000 coal miners just got sold down the river by their own union bosses.

Biden creates task force to spur unionization of U.S. workforce.  President Biden is signing an executive order Monday [4/26/2021] to start an unprecedented, coordinated push by the federal government to encourage more workers to unionize.  Mr. Biden will create a White House "task force on worker organizing and empowerment" — led by Vice President Kamala Harris — to mobilize Cabinet agencies and other federal offices to help workers "organize and successfully bargain with their employers," the White House said.  The administration's statement cited a "steady decline" in union membership in the U.S., from more than 30% of the workforce in the 1950s to 10.8% in 2020.

Labor leader:  Union workers buying new cars, 'remodeling their homes' after Biden pension bailout.  A labor leader said he is "amazed at how much money" union workers are spending on new cars and remodeling their homes after President Joe Biden's $86 billion bailout for failing union-managed multi-employer pensions.  The bailout funds for the pensions was part of the $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill Biden signed on March 11.  Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, leaders in the labor movement, and some Ohio Democratic lawmakers held a virtual event to celebrate the bill's support for the struggling pensions.  Mike Walden, a former member of Teamsters who has long been advocating for taxpayer assistance for the union pensions, joined Walsh during the discussion.  According to a February 2020 Roll Call article, Walden's current organization is a "Teamsters-created group whose members in their black T-shirts with yellow lettering frequent the halls of House and Senate office buildings."

Biden Infrastructure Plan Erodes 'Right-to-Work' Laws, Includes 'Card Check'.  A provision of President Joe Biden's proposed $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan, the American Jobs Plan, would erode "right-to-work" laws in states that do not force workers to join a union, and would include a controversial "card check" system.  As described by the White House, the plan will "promote union organizing and collective bargaining," in part through the "Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act," a Democrat bill that passed the House of Representatives earlier this year.

If Cesar Chavez's Bust Could Talk.  On Wednesday, First Lady Jill Biden will celebrate National Border Control Day.  Well, sort of.  March 31 would have been Cesar Chavez's 94th birthday, and the president's wife is scheduled to attend a ceremony honoring the late labor leader at his United Farm Workers union's first headquarters in California's Central Valley.  Chavez's lifelong advocacy for tight borders and against illegal immigration are the reasons his birthday is increasingly celebrated as National Border Control Day.  But the first lady isn't likely to mention any of that, especially given her husband's responsibility for sparking the current border disaster.

Democrats Sneaked in $86B for Failing Union Pensions in Supposed COVID Relief Bill.  In October, actress Jane Fonda made headlines when she said the coronavirus pandemic was "God's gift to the left."  That statement has proved true on many levels.  Many of us believe that, had the pandemic never materialized, former President Donald Trump would have easily won re-election.  Anyway, the economic devastation caused by the lockdowns has prompted the government to pass several enormous COVID-19 relief bills into which the Democrats have been able to tuck away a myriad of wish-list items, the most recent $1.9 trillion aid package being perhaps the most egregious.  On Sunday [3/8/2021], The New York Times reported that the bill passed by the Senate over the weekend includes an $86 billion bailout for failing union pension plans.  The article's subtitle informs readers that "Democrats pushed through a big aid measure for multiemployer pensions whose problems predate the pandemic."

The Editor says...
The coronavirus was not God's gift to anyone.  If God supports either political party, why would he support the petty tyrants in the Abortion Party?

[There's] More Money in [the] Stimulus Bill for Pension Bailouts 'Than All the Money Combined' for Vaccines, Congressman Says.  Unions are getting a free pass after mismanaging their multi-employer pensions for decades.  In a provision not well-publicized before the stimulus bill narrowly passed by the Senate with only Democrat support, $86 billion dollars will be directed to at least 185 multi-employer union pension plans that are close to collapse. [...] The pension crisis is not new and fixing it has long been a Democrat priority.  Congress passed legislation in 2014 to allow insolvent pensions to pare benefits within limits to prevent bailouts by the taxpayer.  However, President Obama's Treasury Department blocked the Central States Pension Fund's plan to use the law in 2016.  The media framed this denial as an attempt to force a straight bailout, and here we are.

Stimulus Package Includes $86 Billion Bailout for Union Pensions.  An $86 billion bailout for nearly 200 union pensions was included in the Democrats' massive stimulus package, which President Joe Biden is expected to sign into law soon.  More than a million unionized truck drivers, retail clerks, construction workers, and others would likely miss out on retirement income without the bailout, according to The New York Times.  The union bailout, among the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package's provisions unrelated to the pandemic, rescues 185 pension plans across several states.

COVID Bill Gives $570 Million Gift To The Teacher's Unions.  Forbes reports the House version of a $1.9 trillion COVID relief package contains "an extra perk for federal workers" paid time off and a bonus to stay at home with children not taking part in in-classroom instruction.  It's a gift to the teacher's unions who gave about $52,000,000 to Democratic Party and other leftist candidates during the 2020 campaign season.  The "perk" tucked inside a bill dubbed the Pelosi Payoff is defined by critics as "a personal bailout for bureaucrats."  But it's more than that; it's a gift to the teacher's unions.  While the average American waits for that one-time $1,400 stimulus payment as we struggle with employment and tending to kids who are home at the states that will not reopen schools because they don't want to upset the teacher's unions.  Federal employees who stay home, thus reducing pressure on the teachers to go back to work, get a bonus.

8 Things You Must Know About Deeply Flawed COVID-19 Package.  [#7] It Will Give Huge Handouts to Special Interests:  The bill includes more than $1,000 per person in funds for state and local governments, despite the fact that federal aid last year dwarfed any localized revenue reductions.  At least $90 billion will be given from the general public to pad out pension plans for private-sector workers, overwhelmingly benefitting Big Labor.  The "at least" is because this bailout could balloon to more than twice that amount.  On top of that, $57 billion will go toward the transportation sector in a way that privileges unionized workers.  These three items alone amount to nearly $500 billion that will create far more in political benefits than public benefit.

Call Transportation Bailouts What They Are:  More Welfare for Labor Unions.  Congress is moving full steam ahead on ramming through a bloated, wasteful, and debt-exploding $1.9 trillion legislative package.  Although it's supposedly justified by the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the spending is designed to appease progressive ideological causes and politically connected interest groups.  A prime example is the $57.5 billion currently earmarked for various parts of the transportation industry.  While transportation is often thought of as a nonpartisan issue, most of these taxpayer funds are being used to provide preferential treatment for labor unions, and most of the rest is of questionable value.

6 Things to Know About Democrats' COVID-19 Package.  [#3] Bailing Out Union Pensions:  On another front that has little to do with COVID-19, Democrats also are pushing to add to the relief package a bailout of union pensions costing at least $60 billion.  This would allow companies that lack the ability to pay their negotiated union pensions to get relief, as taxpayers would kick the money in.  "A lot of members want to bail out the union pension funds," Heritage's Dickerson said.  "These union pensions have been underfunded for years and years."  The proposal would strengthen the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., the chief federal insurer of pension funds.  Under the plan, the Treasury Department would make direct payments to the PBGC, which would assist the pension funds.  The proposed $60 billion bailout doesn't include the cost to taxpayers in later years, Roll Call reported.

Democrat Gov:  Seniors Should Be Willing to Die for the Teachers' Union.  In 2020, the title for the Nation's Worst Governor indisputably went to New York's Cuomo.  But in 2021, Governor Kate Brown of Oregon is trying to make an early bid for the job by vaccinating teachers ahead of seniors.  Brown's plan to put her union base, who are not at risk, ahead of seniors who are, is so terrible that it's drawing a backlash even from other Democrats. [...] The in-person learning pretext is nonsense.  Schools have not been shown to spread the virus.  While teachers have put on a show of victimhood, marching around with coffins, and claiming that they'll die if they have to do their jobs, the bottom line is that they're a union behaving in the usual fashion.  And even when they've been allowed to go to the head of the line for vaccines, they've refused to return to teaching.  So this isn't about reopening schools.  It's about rewarding a powerful and influential segment of the Democrat base.

Trump vs. Biden — 5 reasons why a sane person should vote — again — for Trump.  [#1] Education:  If you believe in equal opportunity, you want all youngsters to receive a decent education.  In many Democrat-led cities, Hispanic and African-American kids do not receive one.  And yet the teachers' unions and their Democratic Party backers refuse all accountability or reforms, condemning millions of Black and brown children to second-class status.  New York City spends $28,808 per public school pupil but in 2019 only 28% of black kids were proficient in math and 35% made the cut in English.  That is unacceptable, but Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden would respond by handing even more funds over to his union pals and supporting the status quo.  Why?  Because he needs money from the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers, two of our nation's largest political donors.  In the past year alone, those two unions spent $25 million on political campaigns, 94% going to Democrats.

Unions Were Democratic Shock Troops — Until 2020.  Has Donald Trump ended Democrats' monopoly on the union vote?  Exit polling from the 2016 election shocked union leaders, as 48% of their members backed the Republican.  The rise in union households' support for Republicans was accompanied by a steep dive in support for Democrat hopeful Hillary Clinton.  "Once it was hard to find a Republican who was a union member.  The working man was a Democrat.  It is not so much that today," said Jim Ziska, business agent for Teamsters Local 30 in Jeannette, Pa.  His international union is backing Joe Biden for president in 2020, but "if I come out and say we need to rally around Biden, Trump supporters say no," he grumbled.

Seattle Tries To Bury Uber And Lyft With New Minimum Wage Law.  A little thing like a pandemic isn't going to keep the liberal municipal governments of many cities from continuing to prosecute their war on the gig economy, and that's clearly true in Seattle.  Despite having plenty of more pressing issues to address, with all of the rioting and looting going on, the City Council voted unanimously this week to enforce a new "pay formula" for drivers of ride-sharing companies to ensure that they receive the $16.39 per hour pay rate as regular full-time workers in the city.  And the "formula" they've cooked up to do this is nothing but a hot mess.  As usual, the measure had the financial and vocal support of labor unions who have long been fighting to keep these gig economy jobs out of reach in support of traditional taxi companies and their unions.

Minnesota Police Group Withdraws Democrat Endorsements After Video of Union Chief Beaten in Effigy.  The Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association board has switched its endorsements of Democrat candidates to Republican after one Democrat candidate was purportedly caught on video beating a piñata with the likeness of top police union official Bob Kroll. [...] Brian Peters, who serves as executive director of the police association, expressed concern over DFL caucus' support of Thompson after he was identified as beating the Kroll effigy.  "The endorsements that we rescinded, my issue was those candidates did not stand up to their leadership and put pressure on and ask why are we supporting a candidate who did this in Hugo," Peters said.  "If this is the future of the Democratic Party, my organization is going to support elsewhere," he added.  Peters did not identify which Republicans were endorsed by the police group.

Unions pledge walkoffs, job actions to support 'Black Lives Matter' before election.  Unions representing millions of workers, from teachers to truck drivers, pledged to ramp up protests in the leadup to the presidential election, with walkouts aimed at forcing local and federal lawmakers to pass police reform and address what they described as systemic racism.  In a statement first shared with The Associated Press on Saturday [9/5/2020], labor leaders from America's biggest public and private sector unions said they would organize walkouts for teachers, autoworkers, truck drivers and clerical staff, among others.

Dem unions planning strikes over social justice, just in time for the election.  Thus far there's no official announcement or projected date, but some of the staunchest allies of the Democrats are cooking up one of the most shamelessly political maneuvers I can ever recall seeing in an effort to squeak out a win in November.  With Joe Biden's poll number slipping in several critical states, a collection of labor unions have issued a letter calling for a general, national strike to obtain "racial justice" and to support the Black Lives Matter movement.  You don't need to look much further than the list of unions signing on to this scheme to see what's going on.  But the net effect, if they manage to pull this off, would be another gutshot to the economy just as we roll into the final couple of months before voters go to the polls.

The Hidden Alliance Has Merged — U.S. Chamber of Commerce Merge Policy With Big Labor Unions To Support $15/Hr Minimum Wage.  Now that Wall Street's U.S. Chamber of Commerce has dropped their mask, we see decepticon Tom Donohue align with corrupt labor union leader Richard Trumka.  The dark-forces now align to retain personal power, increase their own wealth, diminish Main Street, and win the 2020 election at all costs.  A remarkable realignment of anti-American individuals for a specific and self-interested purpose.  Despite the stunning alignment I doubt conservative media will admit their role in selling decades of fraud.

Flashback to 2017:
Report: USPS improperly enabled workers who helped Clinton campaign.  A government investigation concluded that the United States Postal Service "improperly coordinated" with a postal workers union that supported Hillary Clinton's campaign.  The investigation, as documented in a report from the Office of Special Counsel, said the USPS granted employees union leave time off, at the request of the union, to do political activity — which OSC concluded was a "systematic violation" of a law regarding the political activity of federal employees.

Major US postal workers union endorses Biden for president.  The National Association of Letter Carriers, which represents 300,000 current and retired workers, said Thursday [8/13/2020] that [President] Trump has long been hostile to the Post Office.  His administration has called for an end to collective bargaining rights, proposed service cuts and has eyed the possibility of privatizing the functions of the agency.

10 policies Biden and Democrats would ram through after axing filibuster.  Called "card check," Democrats were unable to pass this when they held nearly 60 seats in the Senate.  The policy would make it easier to unionize a workplace because it would replace most secret-ballot elections with a petition signed by a bare majority of eligible employees.  It is a major priority for organized labor, as it would increase membership, but even some red-state Democrats have balked in the past.  Its chances would improve without the filibuster.

Pay raises for Illinois state workers while one in four in the state remains unemployed.  Though one in four employees in Illinois remain out of work due to the COVID-19 shutdown, raises for thousands of state employees went into effect July 1.  The raises, averaging a little more than $1,300 and affecting 38,000 workers, were negotiated between Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31.  The contract included two raises — one general pay increase of 2.1%, costing the state $47 million, and an additional step increase that will cost the state $214 million according to Illinois Policy.

9 Radical Ideas in the Biden-Sanders 'Unity' Platform.  Former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) released the policy recommendations of their "unity task force" on Wednesday [7/8/2020]. [...] Here are nine of the most radical proposals in the "unity" document: [...] [#6] "Democrats will recognize unions with majority sign-up — via so-called 'card check' processes."  The "card check" violates the right to a secret ballot, and allows organizers to intimidate workers into voting to certify unions.  The idea is so radical that even George McGovern, the left-wing Democratic presidential nominee in 1972 who lost to President Richard Nixon in a landslide, came out against it the last time Democrats tried to mandate it, in 2009.

Black Lives Matter, Just Not to Democrat Politicians, Part II.  [Scroll down]  The [Davis-Bacon] act requires wages on federal or federally-assisted projects to pay local "prevailing wages."  The way that ends up being read is, "union wages."  This, as Sowell notes above, immediately had the effect of precluding Black workers from the competition.  Although Davis-Bacon was a product of a "Republican" President and two Republican legislators, what followed was pure Democrat... pure leftist.  Under President Franklin Roosevelt's goading, the National Industrial Act was passed in June 1933, the National Labor Relations Act in 1935, and the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.  All of the above just exacerbated the effects of Davis-Bacon by making Black labor even more uncompetitive.  I would remind you, all of these laws had solid union support — go figure.  So like many "good ideas" from the left, the folks least able were forced to bear the brunt of Democrat vote-buying chicanery.  The effects of these policies are still around today.

What Is a Mainstream Democrat?  [Scroll down]  Unions support Democrat politicians, and in return, Democrats are always trying to increase the minimum wage — not because they actually care about people earning minimum wage nearly as much as they care about union wages tied to the minimum wage.  In essence, the minimum wage issue is a classic quid pro quo — donate to Democrats and vote for them, and in return, they will forever be pushing to increase the minimum wage.

Nevada Union Refuses To Endorse A 2020 Democratic Candidate.  Days ahead of the Nevada caucuses the state's influential culinary union decided to sit this one out.  They're not endorsing anyone. [...] It's become nasty between the Culinary Workers Union and the Bernie Sanders campaign after the former distributed leaflets to their members about the dangers concerning Sanders' Medicare for All proposals that will gut 150+ million private health care plans.  And a lot of union members' health care plans will be shredded by a Sanders administration.  For the past decade, Democrats had warned voters, scared them actually, that GOP tweaks to Obamacare amounted to them taking away people's health care, only for them to actually push an agenda that takes away people's health care.

House to vote on bill designed to nullify right to work laws.  House Democrats are preparing to force a vote on what's known as the PRO Act (Protecting the Right to Organize) today.  This giveaway to labor unions contains all manner of goodies on the Democrats' wish list, including some that appear to be blatantly in defiance of previous Supreme Court rulings.  The Competitive Enterprise Institute has published a summary of the major provisions and what it would mean to workers, particularly those in right to work states.

American Postal Workers Union Endorses Bernie Sanders for President.  The American Postal Workers Union (APWU) endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) for the Democratic Party's 2020 nomination for president on Thursday [1/30/2020].  The financially troubled United States Postal Service (USPS) has an estimated 500,000 full-time employees, almost all of whom are members of a union.  There are seven different unions that represent USPS employees.

House Democrats to vote to override state 'right-to-work' laws, boosting labor movement.  The Democrat-led House is set next week to vote on legislation to override the 27 states that have given workers a right to work without being forced to join a union or to give it a cut of their paycheck.  House Education and Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scott, a Virginia Democrat, argued that such "right-to-work" laws are unfair to unions and the workers that back collective bargaining, necessitating his bill, the Protecting the Right to Organize Act.

Good riddance to Obama's 'joint employer' rule.  For all their triumphalist talk of ascendant demography and permanent majorities, Democrats have never really come to terms with the slow death of the labor movement.  Unions have never been less relevant than they are today in the modern economy.  Where they have not been obviated by workplace health and safety rules, they are being left behind in the race away from traditional employment to the so-called "gig economy."  Hence the recent attempts by various liberal state legislatures to block economic progress by making contract work, including that of freelance journalists, impossible.  Hence also the many attempts by the Obama administration to slow the bleeding by skewing old and well-established rules to keep unions on life support.

Workers Resist California's Newest Bad Law.  As of Jan. 2, Uber and Lyft drivers, independent truckers, freelance writers, photographers, artists and musicians and the companies who hire their services have to abide by AB 5.  The law, which was originally concocted to destroy the business models of Uber and Lyft and has exemptions for 50 professions, is a cynical and transparent gift to unions from the same Democrats who have been wrecking my one-party state for decades.  AB 5's proud mother, leftwing Democrat Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez of San Diego, claims it's intended to protect part-timers and freelancers from being "exploited" by their evil, greedy employers.  Her law is supposed to provide independent contractors with the same benefits and workplace protections that full-time employees get and — most important to the Democrats — therefore make it possible for them to unionize.

Joe Biden Goes Woke: 'We Should Unionize McDonald's'.  Former Vice President Joe Biden pledged his support to unionize the fast food giant McDonald's on Thursday [12/19/2019], claiming it was a vital step to correct power imbalances in the American economy.  Biden, who often touts himself as a "union man" on the campaign trail, made the promise while speaking at a rally organized by the progressive organization Fight for 15 in Los Angeles, California.

The Editor says...
Socialists cannot stand to see capitalism succeed.  McDonald's symbolizes successful capitalism.

The Democrats are imploding.  Consider the forthcoming presidential debates.  Next Thursday's scheduled debate is being boycotted by all its candidates because the food service provider at the host institution, Loyola Marymount University — itself a second choice venue after UCLA was chosen and rejected because of a strike there — is experiencing a strike, and the candidates refuse to cross a picket line.  DNC chair Tom Perez, a former secretary of labor, is leaning hard on the parties to the strike to settle their differences (do you suspect there may be some quid pro quo promises?), so the squabble between the two constituencies of the Democrats, higher education and left wing labor unions, can end.  But solving that issue is child's play compared to the "diversity" issue facing the debate scheduled for next February: [...]

Democrats aim to abolish right-to-work laws.  In 1947, over President Harry Truman's veto, Congress passed the Taft-Hartley Act.  In doing so, it put an end to a long-since-forgotten era of labor unrest and paved the way to the prosperous 1950s.  Taft-Hartley curbed some of the worst excesses of Depression-era law that govern labor unions even to this day.  Its greatest contribution to our modern governance was the state right-to-work law.  States could forbid the pernicious practice of forcing workers to pay a union as a condition of their employment.  Unfortunately, Democrats in Congress, out of obedience to the Big Labor bosses who underwrite their campaigns, are threatening to repeal and ban all such laws with new legislation.  Their bill is inaptly referred to as the "Protecting the Right to Organize Act."

Dems' California Debate in Turmoil Again Over Labor Fight.  Can Democrats find a labor-dispute-free zone in California to hold their presidential debate?  It's an open question less than a week before the party's sixth presidential primary debate, which was set to take place this coming Thursday at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles — until food service workers announced plans to protest, and all seven candidates who qualified to appear on the stage vowed not to cross the picket line.

Next 2020 Democratic debate in chaos as Every candidate refuses to cross picket line at Los Angeles venue.  All seven Democratic presidential candidates who have qualified for next week's primary debate in Los Angeles are now threatening to boycott it over a labor dispute.  Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a leading canidate, first signaled she wouldn't cross the picket line as workers represented by Unite Here Local 11 planned to protest outside the debate hall Thursday, the day the event's scheduled to take place.  Soon the other six candidates followed.

Most city workers pay $0 in healthcare premiums.  Garcetti said he'd change that.  He hasn't.  In a major policy reversal that critics say will cost the city and taxpayers millions of dollars, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has abandoned his long-stated goal of getting the city's public employee unions to pay a portion of their healthcare costs.  Under contracts signed this year that were supported by the mayor, many of City Hall's largest unions will continue to contribute nothing toward their healthcare premiums.  Garcetti also backed agreements with several smaller unions, allowing those employees who had been contributing 10% of their premiums to stop paying in January.

Move Washington Out of Washington.  What do you suppose the Alliance for American Advertising has in common with the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists, the American Society of Civil Engineers, or American Apparel and Footwear?  Apart from beginning with the letter "A," they are among the nearly 3,500 trades or firms that have dedicated lobbying operations in Washington, D.C.  And that doesn't count the union headquarters located in D.C., from AFSCME ("We make America Happen") to SEIU ("the nation's most diverse union") and beyond, they're all there, hands out, telephones working overtime to get a little bigger slice of the government pie, made with 100 percent locally sourced materials, namely your tax dollars.

Warren Took Thousands From Teachers' Unions Before Charter School Flip-Flop.  Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren raked in tens of thousands of dollars from teachers' unions before reversing her past support for student vouchers and education reform.  In 2004, Warren argued that vouchers "relieve parents" from relying on failing public schools.  Her campaign's newly-released education plan attacks charter schools and school choice.  Warren's reversal comes after the Massachusetts senator took more than $2.5 million in campaign cash from the education industry throughout her political career, including nearly $70,000 from the country's most powerful teachers' unions, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Newsom's Gas-Tax Switcheroo.  Few people track the spending priorities of government officials after voters grant them the cash.  After the Santa Ana Unified School District convinced residents to pass a bond to upgrade its overcrowded schools, the board immediately approved a "project labor agreement" that gave union contractors a monopoly over construction.  That squandered 10 percent to 20 percent of the budget for nothing (other than winning union favor), and the district could only upgrade five of the 13 promised schools.  It's sadly typical.

Democrats promote unionizing entire industries with 'sectoral bargaining'.  Cory Booker has become the latest Democratic presidential candidate to back unionizing entire industries by supporting a concept called "sectoral bargaining."  The idea dates back to the 1930s and involves the federal government creating union-management committees that would set wages and other work standards.  The change, if adopted, would radically shift the business landscape across the U.S.  Under sectoral bargaining, unions would be granted enormous power over industries, while businesses would be strictly limited in the workplace policies they could adopt.  All workers in an industry would be represented by the union officials on the committees.

Democrats keeping charter schools down in exchange for teacher's union cash, top activist says.  As Democrats seeking to unseat President Trump in 2020 call for funding to be diverted from charter schools, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools president Nina Rees accused the party of bowing to teachers' unions in exchange for sizable campaign contributions.  "The simple answer is that the teachers' unions are now more powerful than ever before when it comes to Democrat party politics," she said on the latest edition of "The Journal Editorial Report," which aired Saturday.  "The unions have discovered that because our teachers are not unionized, that they have a fewer share of the market than they had before.

Labor Day Is A Stupid Socialist 'Holiday' And Conservatives Are Right To Bash It.  This "holiday" deserves all the derision it can possibly receive.  Simply put, Labor Day is indeed an anti-capitalism, anti-economic growth federal "holiday" born out of the ashes of the late 19th century's societally ruinous labor movement.  It is a manifestly stupid socialist "holiday" and conservatives are wholly justified to make fun of it.  While the precise origins of how Labor Day came to be recognized as a federal holiday in 1894 are subject to historical debate, it is uncontested that various cogs of Big Labor served as the driving force.

Wind bids rigged for unions.  Bidders seeking state subsidies likely worth billions of dollars to build and operate wind turbines off New York City and Long Island were required to sign project labor agreements (PLAs).  These are pacts with trade unions that dictate hours, pay and other rules on construction projects — including requirements that contractors and subcontractors hire most, if not all, trade workers through union hiring halls.  Requiring bidders to sign PLAs is an effective and costly way for politicians to pay back trade unions that back their elections with volunteers and campaign contributions.

In California, don't call them 'public servants,' call them 'the government gang'.  The purported difference between governments and gangsters is that the former are supposed to be subject to the rule of law and operating "in the public interest," while the latter are only out to enrich themselves.  But in California's state government, one party control and the lack of media scrutiny and public attention has led to the capture of control over tax revenues by so-called "public servants."  That's government employee unions which donate heavily to the ruling party, the Democrats.

Here's what a real 'reform' MTA labor contract would include.  The agreement between the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and its biggest union, the Transport Workers Union, expired last Wednesday [5/15/2019], and workers didn't go on strike.  The union's motto used to be "no contract, no work."  So the fact that we don't even have a work slowdown might be seen as positive news.  It's not:  It shows that the union, despite incendiary rhetoric, trusts Gov. Andrew Cuomo to deliver a good deal.

Are Right-To-Work Laws A Boon Or A Bribe?  Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) isn't afraid to show off her authoritarian side, proving that pretty faces can be big government swamp creatures, too.  She not only plans to expand the power and scope of the executive branch on the contentious gun issue but also is interested in bypassing states' rights to prohibit right-to-work (RTW) laws.  She doesn't even want to "have that conversation," preferring to use executive authority and dismiss the will of half the nation's states.  This is her "I have a pen and a phone" moment, but anything to get the endorsement and vote of powerful union interests.

Illinois Approves Ban On 'Right-To-Work Laws'.  With the support of labor unions, a new bill prohibiting municipalities in the state from enacting "right-to-work laws" was signed into law by Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker last week.  The "Collective Bargaining Freedom Act" prohibits local right-to-work ordinances and imposes penalties for violations.

Unions Win Big in City Construction Showdown — Workers Lose.  Once again the people of Santa Barbara lose, workers lose and the taxpayer get to pay for the political donations of unions.  "At issue was an arcane spending authorization of $95,000 connected to an obscure but ferociously controversial labor agreement that gives building trade unions vastly more say in who gets hired and who does not for City Hall construction contracts of $5 million and more.  In the upper echelons of City Hall, no one is really sure how these project labor agreements — or PLAs, as they're called — will actually work.  But there's no doubt in anyone's mind as to who won what's been one of the most intensely waged behind-the-scenes battles anyone in City Hall can remember:  the trade unions.  If the council was honest, it would not allow any of the unions that have contracts with the City to donate to council races.

Right Shrugs, as Left Protects Bad Cops.  In the latest news, two reporters from UC Berkeley's Investigative Reporting Program made a routine public-records request to the Commission on Peace Ocer Standards and Training.  POST provided the reporters with a list of thousands of current and past officers and police job applicants with criminal convictions in the past decade, which are used in background checks when hiring officers.  This is how the system should work:  Reporters make a legitimate request and receive important information from a public agency, which provided the information.  Unfortunately, the story doesn't end there.  California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, a progressive Democrat, ordered the reporters to destroy the records they legally obtained.  He has threatened legal action, claimed the records were confidential, and said that POST inadvertently released them, according to news reports.  Becerra also has been resisting immediate compliance with a new law that gives the public the right to view disciplinary records.  This is typical.  Despite some newfound enthusiasm for criminal-justice reform, the state's Democrats have largely been the tools of police unions.

Suit:  Washington AG Colluded with Unions.  Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson tried to cover up his office's collusion with labor unions after a think tank asked for public records about their communications, according to a lawsuit.  Ferguson is one of several Democrats seeking to resist the Trump administration's directive that would prohibit states from siphoning Medicaid payments away from at-home caregivers and putting them in the pockets of labor unions, such as Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).

$1,973 LEDs and the Green New Deal.  The Green New Deal that Democrats unveiled last week has a grand ambition to eliminate fossil fuels in 10 years, retrofit every building in America, and guarantee high-paying jobs in the bargain.  If you want to see how that works in the real world, consider the public housing projects near Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's New York office.  The New York City Housing Authority (Nycha) has a more modest goal of a 30% reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions by 2027.  As part of its plan, Nycha is switching to LED lighting, which lasts longer than incandescent bulbs and consumes less energy.  Sounds smart, until you see how many union workers it takes to screw in a light bulb.  One recent project focused on 23 housing developments, and changing the light bulbs and fixtures there cost $33.2 million.  Supplies account for a fraction of that cost.  Under Nycha's Project Labor Agreement, electricians make $81 in base pay and $54 in fringe per hour, and overtime is usually time and a half.  Add administrative and contracting expenses.  All in, Nycha paid an average of $1,973 per apartment to install LEDs.

Union Time, Taxpayer Dime: an Update.  Two years ago, I wrote in City Journal about a taxpayer lawsuit filed in Travis County, Texas challenging the practice of "release time" in a contract between the city of Austin and the union representing the city's firefighters, Austin Firefighters Association, Local 975.  The lawsuit contends that a contractual provision requiring the city to pay up to 5,600 hours a year in "release time" to officers of AFA Local 975 to engage in union business constitutes a "gift of taxpayer funds," in violation of the Texas Constitution.

Chicago has an idea to cover its staggering pension obligations:  Sell bonds.  Chicago is a beautiful city.  No doubt overtaxed, but beautiful.  But there are problems that come with the same political crowd running the place for almost nine decades.  Ask Detroit.  It has to do with debt, spending today and leaving worries about tomorrow to the next team of Democrats, which does the same. [...] In their efforts to stay in power, the meisters of Chicago have promised city workers of all kinds of very attractive pension plans.  And the workers, in turn, return the favor with votes for their benefactors.

10 Ways Big Government Harms You.  [#10] Big government rewards failure and punishes success. [...] Time and time again we see companies receive contracts from government not because they are the best at what they do, but rather because they give the most amount of money to certain politicians.  A great example of this is unions.  In some cases having union certification is necessary and needed.  But in many other cases having union accreditation will make a project 60 or 70% more expensive and will not make the quality of the project that much higher.  In fact unions traditionally work slower, take longer, and are extremely difficult to deal with.  Yet unions almost always receive government contracts.  Why is this?  This is because unions are by far the biggest contributors to political campaigns.  Unions have over 35 billion dollars stockpiled for political action.

California's Oligarchs and Agitators.  If one were to distill the essence of California's Democratic party into a one-page document, it would be hard to beat a recent mail piece showing the SEIU's candidate endorsements for California's top jobs.  According to its website, the Service Employees International Union Local 1000 (SEIU) "is a united front of 96,000 working people employed by the State of California, making Local 1000 the largest public sector union in California and one of the largest in the country."

'Blue Wednesday' in Chicago as union takes stand against 'anti-police' Mayor Emanuel.  It's being called "Blue Wednesday" in Chicago as the city's Fraternal Order of Police organized a unified public demonstration against Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who the FOP calls "anti-police."  During the city's regularly scheduled city council meeting Wednesday morning [5/23/2018], ranking members of the police union read aloud a strongly worded statement against Emanuel in which the FOP alleges the mayor has "turned his back" on his police department by being more concerned with "pandering to police-hating media" and by allowing the American Civil Liberties Union to have a seat at the negotiating table.

Sanders Introduces Legislation to End State 'Right-to-Work' Laws.  Senator Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) filed legislation Wednesday that would significantly strengthen the power of organized labor.  Sanders, along with senators Cory Booker (D., N.J.), Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D., N.Y.), among others, introduced the Workplace Democracy Act, which would make it easier for workers to unionize and enter into contractual negotiations with employers.  The legislation comes at a time when the number of unionized workers in the American economy is at an all-time low.  Fueled in part by the rise of globalization and technological advancement, labor membership has steadily declined from 20.1 percent in 1983 to 10.7 percent at the end of 2017, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Here are 1,366 well sourced examples of Barack Obama's lies, lawbreaking, corruption, cronyism, hypocrisy, waste, etc..  [#17] In 2011, after Boeing had hired 1,000 new employees to work at its new factory in South Carolina, the Obama administration ordered Boeing to shut down the factory, because the factory was nonunion. [...] [#149] Obama supported the elimination of workers' right to a secret ballot when voting on whether or not to form a union. [...] [#437] In December 2013, it was reported that Obama had illegally exempted some unions from some of the Obamacare fees, without approval from Congress.

The Ongoing Teacher Walkout in Oklahoma.  The most glaring issue is the fact that the OEA made specific demands for what taxes must be raised.  The citizens of Oklahoma voted for the capital gains tax exemption in 2004.  Whatever one's opinion about this exemption, it should be alarming to all Oklahomans that a union has specifically targeted it.  The OEA stated last week that the strike would end when the capital gains tax exemption was rescinded.  The fact that a group of teachers and union members have essentially decided to hold the state hostage to their demands should make one question their true intentions.  Oklahomans should question why a group of teachers has decided that it knows what is best for the Oklahoma economy and should act as the deciding force on tax policy.

NFL players' union teamed up with George Soros to fund leftist advocacy groups.  Even before its feud over the national anthem with President Trump, the NFL Players Association wasn't on the same political team as many of its fans, judging from its contributions to leftist advocacy groups.  Tax documents released by 2ndVote show the NFLPA donated $5,000 in 2015 to the Center for Community Change Action, a group active in the anti-Trump resistance and bankrolled by a host of liberal foundations, including top Democratic donor George Soros's Foundation for Open Society.  A member of the AFL-CIO, the NFLPA also contributed in 2013 and 2015 to Working America, the AFL-CIO's community affiliate, which Open Secrets said spent $1 million in 2016 to defeat Trump.

Another climate scam — money intended for "climate" goes to "union boost".  California lawmakers gave a boost to a union looking to organize Tesla workers Friday [9/15/2017] as they approved a plan to spend $1.5 billion on environmental initiatives using money from the state's recently renewed program that charges polluters to emit greenhouse gases.

AFSCME Pressuring Cook County Commissioners to Raise Sales, Alcohol, Parking and Cigarette Taxes.  AFSCME officials proposed seven tax increases for Cook County as a way to save union jobs, including an increase in the county sales tax, a new head tax and doubling the amusement tax to 6 percent, despite the county's local tax burden already being among the highest in the nation.

Obama Holdover Colluded With Unions To Pressure Congress On Budget Cuts.  An Obama administration appointee with deep ties to labor unions promoted a grassroots campaign to reverse the Trump administration's proposal to eliminate funding for the federal regulatory board he sits on.  The Daily Caller News Foundation obtained emails that show Chemical Safety Board (CSB) member Rick Engler worked with union activists to promote a grassroots campaign to keep the agency from losing its funding.  President Donald Trump's "skinny" budget, released in March, called for eliminating the CSB, which began operating in 1998.  Engler and labor union activists quickly worked to try and protect the board's nearly $12 million budget.

Big Labor Wanted Andrew Puzder Gone; Republicans Obliged.  Is it a coincidence that the two Trump Cabinet picks Democrats mounted their fiercest campaigns against happen to be the two that labor unions most wanted to go down in flames?  Hardly.  Senate Democrats were so determined to do the bidding of the teachers unions and block Betsy DeVos as Education secretary that they held an all-night session in which they railed against her, in the hopes that this would convince one more Republican to oppose her nomination.

UAW seeks to join Trump in effort to dismantle NAFTA.  For years, the UAW has railed against NAFTA and other free trade agreements while Republicans have generally supported free trade deals. [...] UAW President Dennis Williams said Thursday the union hoped to work with the incoming President-elect Donald Trump to change, fix or dismantle the North American Free Trade Agreement.  "I am prepared to sit down and talk to him about trade.  NAFTA is a problem.  It is a huge problem to the American people," Williams said today [11/10/2016] in Detroit.

New union backed tax would hammer Oregonians..  Targeted at big businesses, Measure 97 would impose a new 2.5 percent tax on companies that gross over $25 million a year.  The trick is, the tax would not be on net profits but on gross revenues after the $25 million mark.  In other words, companies are not taxed on how much money they actually make after expenses but on how much money comes through the door. [...] Measure 97 is being sold as a way to fund education, but there is nothing in its text that would keep the Legislature from using the money for any old thing that it prefers.  Our Oregon, the group behind the measure, is union-funded.

Report: Obama Administration's Labor Regs Cost Economy $80 Billion, 150,000 Jobs.  Labor regulations issued in the last year of the Obama presidency will cost the economy roughly $80 billion over the next 10 years and eliminate 150,000 jobs, according to a report from the National Association of Manufacturers.  The report analyzed seven regulations from the Department of Labor, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Equal Opportunity Commission, and the National Labor Relations Board.  The measures included the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces rule, updated overtime rules, new silica standards, the Ambush Elections rule, reporting requirements for employment and wages, and reporting requirements for workplace injuries and illnesses.  The National Association of Manufacturers found that these rules could cost the economy $81.6 billion, eliminate 155,700 jobs, and impose 411 million paperwork burden hours on companies.

Hillary Should Be 50 Points Behind.  Right to Work laws have now been enacted in 26 states.  In essence, these laws give workers the choice of whether to join a labor union or not with the decision having no impact on their employment status or their opportunity to be hired.  Right to Work laws give employees more freedom and limits the power of the union bosses, which is what upsets Hillary Clinton and her fellow liberals so much.  According to Peter Marx, President of the National Right to Work Committee, Hillary Clinton "believes workers should be fired from their jobs if they don't tender union fees or dues to a labor boss."  Americans cherish freedom and certainly oppose Hillary's view that options and choice for workers should be limited.

Woman of the People Against People's Right to Work.  [Scroll down]  Why would she say this?  Because she, like the rest of the Democratic Party, is beholden to the slowly fading away unions, rather than with people who want to work and not have joining a union and paying dues be a requirement for employment.  Twenty six states have right to work laws: [...] In fact, the last poll done on right to work, conducted by Rasmussen in 2012, found that 74% favor right to work laws.  But, Hillary is a shill of the unions, which, let's be honest, aren't entirely bad.

Hillary Clinton Declares War On The Right To Work.  Democrats love to talk about rights.  They say people have the "right to affordable health care,"the "right to a debt free college education,"the "right to choose," and so on.  But there's one right they apparently want to erase:  The right to work.  Here's how Hillary Clinton put it in a videoconference this week at the Laborers' International Union of North America:  "I will fight back against so-called right to work.  Right to work is wrong for workers and wrong for America." [...] If Hillary Clinton is so interested in creating good jobs, why in the world would she be attacking an idea that is growing in popularity and has clearly resulted in the creation of more good jobs?  The answer, of course, is that she and her fellow Democrats are beholden to unions for massive amounts of political donations, and so have no other choice but to toe the union line.

Dems laboring under delusions.  [Scroll down]  Four years ago, Democrats passed legislation allowing home day care centers — mainly women-owned — to join a union if they accepted one child on a state voucher.  Large day care centers have lobbyists, so they were exempt from this thuggery.  The Democrats insisted the union could negotiate a better reimbursement rate for state vouchers.  But the Legislature could have just voted to increase the voucher amounts instead of this forced unionization.  Is that pro-worker?  Is that pro-women?  A strong economy creates a demand for employees which naturally increases wages and benefits.  Democrats have to turn to artificial, harmful means because their policies naturally dampen the economy.

DOL's Perez Walks Election Tightrope as Clinton Supporter.  Labor Secretary Thomas Perez will be pulled in different directions through November, as he puts the final touches on Labor Department business while stumping for Hillary Clinton.  Perez's tenure at the DOL has been defined by a busy travel schedule and speeches touting worker-friendly policies.  The Clinton campaign is now leveraging his talents as it tries to capture the White House.  Perez was reportedly on Clinton's short list of running mates before she tapped Sen.  Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and will now head to swing states to advocate for her presidency.

Video: Feds raid Philly IBEW office cleverly disguised as Hillary campaign HQ.  After a couple of e-mails asking us how we could have missed an FBI raid on a Hillary Clinton campaign office, I have to admit that my curiosity was a bit piqued.  As it turns out, though, the FBI didn't raid a Hillary Clinton campaign office last Friday — they raided a union hall that looked like a campaign office.  In fact, the Philadelphia IBEW location looked more like a campaign office than a real campaign office would.  The story here involves allegations of corruption, but it appears to be more localized and unconnected with the Clintons.

Teamsters union picks Rob Portman in Senate race.  The Ohio Conference of Teamsters union endorsed Republican Sen.  Rob Portman over former Gov.  Ted Strickland, a Democrat who had won its support in previous elections.  The union, which represents more than 50,000 members across Ohio and nearly always supports Democrats, had endorsed Strickland in 2006 and 2010.  But in the tight 2016 Senate race, they chose his competitor, Portman, of Terrace Park.

Surprise! Public Employees Unions Facilitate Corruption.  A combination of teachers unions, the SEIU and the AFSCME provide the overwhelming majority of political contributions for Democrat candidates and add to that by paying for polling, candidate recruitment, issues research and advocacy, get out the vote programs, voting analysis and a myriad of other programs that assist Democrat candidates.  In contrast candidates other than Democrats have to use campaign contribution to fund the same programs and information.

'Veterans Group' Attacking Trump Is Funded by 6 Unions.  The VoteVets.org group that attacked Donald Trump last week as a "cheap fraud" receives millions of dollars from six unions to support two employees and no volunteers. [...] OpenSecrets commented that "Social welfare organizations like VoteVets are not supposed to be primarily political, though neither the IRS nor the FEC has shown an appetite for policing them."  Since its founding in 2006, VoteVets has been one of "the highest spending liberal nonprofit active in federal elections.  The hitherto unknown organization spent more than the "combined spending of much more prominent politically active groups on the left, like NARAL Pro-Choice America and the Sierra Club."

United Auto Workers endorses Clinton over Trump.  The United Auto Workers Union endorsed Hillary Clinton on Wednesday [5/25/2016], touting the Democratic front-runner as the "best choice for our members and our nation in the November election."  The endorsement could be seen as a slight to presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, who is expected to make a significant push for working class workers in states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio, areas with high concentrations of UAW workers.  Trump, the head of UAW said, did not return a questionnaire to the union.  "Hillary Clinton understands our issues on trade, understands the complexities of multinational economies and supports American workers, their families and communities," Dennis Williams, UAW president, said in a statement.  "Mr. Trump clearly does not support the economic security of UAW families."

Suit: IRS Colluded With Union To Delete Records, Broke Federal Law.  A government accountability group is suing the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Commissioner John Koskinen for allegedly violating federal law by regularly deleting official records as part of an agreement with its government employee union.  The IRS has an agreement with the National Treasury Employees Union that prohibits the agency from saving any instant message records of its employees, documents obtained by Cause of Action Institute — the group suing the IRS — show.

13 Incompetent Failures in the Obama Administration.  [#5] Labor Secretary Hilda Solis flew below the radar until her resignation in 2013.  In February 2014, allegations surfaced that Solis had attempted to hide something big — she had given people close to the leader of the International Union of Operating Engineers free private jet travel.  Failing to disclose these in-kind donations is illegal, and Solis never disclosed them.

Anti-Walmart Union Stays Quiet as Hillary Gets Big Donation From Heiress Alice Walton.  A major anti-Walmart union is staying tight-lipped about billionaire Walmart heiress Alice Walton's six-figure donation to Hillary Clinton.  The United Food and Commercial Workers Union endorsed Clinton in January, less than one month after Walton contributed more than $353,000 to a pro-Hillary fund.  International president of the UFCW Marc Perrone wrote in a statement, "It is our members' strong belief that Hillary Clinton is not just the strongest presidential candidate, but the right one."

Clinton's $10 Bil Manufacturing 'Investment' Is Just A Thinly Disguised Gift To Unions.  Clinton calls her plan "Make it in America," but you will look in vain to find any part of it that would actually help manufacturing.  There's no talk of reforming corporate taxes, lifting the heavy burden of needless EPA regulations, or reducing the cost of hiring new workers.  Instead, she wants to get government more deeply involved in the industry — by punishing those that dare to move jobs or investment offshore, while rewarding those that do her bidding.

Surprise! "Grassroots" Effort to Push $15 Minimum Wage Actually a Massive Astroturf Campaign Funded by SEIU.  Critics are pointing to a financial disclosure report as evidence that the self-proclaimed grassroots movement Fight for $15 was actually orchestrated by a major labor union.  The Fight for $15 movement has fought since 2012 to raise the national minimum wage to $15 an hour.  The movement has seen several successes on the local level from across the country.  It has been marketed as a grassroots rise of low-wage workers, but the movement is highly paid by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), according to a recent federal expenditure report.  "SEIU's latest financial disclosure once again exposes the remarkable degree to which the 'Fight for $15' campaign is bought and paid for by big labor bosses trying to stay relevant in the 21st century," America Rising Squared Executive Director Brian Rogers said in a statement provided to The Daily Caller News Foundation.

Labor Department issues new rule to prop up unions.  Seeing the Obama administration come down on the side of labor unions and against Right to Work efforts is nothing new.  The reality of the situation is that the unions still occupy a position as the largest Super PAC for the Democrats and they own many of their candidates lock, stock and barrel.  The latest regulation coming out of the Department of Labor, set to take effect over the summer, will likely come as no surprise to those who have been paying attention.  In order to further tamp down any efforts to educate workers in non-union shops about what they're really getting themselves into by signing on with the big unions, the government will now force employers to disclose any and all consultants they work with along these lines.

Labor Secretary Perez Takes Time Out to Campaign for Hillary, Unions.  Labor Secretary Tom Perez, a potential running mate for Hillary Clinton, is coming under fire from critics and union watchdogs for joining a union-backed campaign to double the minimum wage on the taxpayer's dime.  Perez travelled across the country from Detroit to Milwaukee to lend his support to labor giant Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and its Fight for $15 campaign, according to a release from conservative research firm America Rising Squared.  Brian Rogers, the group's executive director, said that the frequent travel raised questions about Perez's political ambitions and work as a regulator.  "It's disturbing that Perez would use taxpayer dollars to fly all over the country to advance the liberal special interest agenda of the SEIU and other big labor unions through their multi-million-dollar 'Fight for $15' campaign," Rogers said in a release.

For Democrats, Immigration Is About Winning Elections.  The Washington Examiner reports: "The Service Employees International Union is teaming up... to convert as many of the 5 million Latino permanent residents into U.S. citizens and voters as possible before Election Day."  Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill is leading the charge, telling Latinos to "get angry" over Donald Trump's supposed anti-immigrant rhetoric.  During a recent conference call to rally his troops, Gutierrez trashed the GOP, suggesting Trump called "all Mexicans rapists."

Government employee union president [sees trouble ahead] if the GOP wins.  There's been some buzz lately about Bernie Sanders scooping up some union endorsements from the Super PACs that Democrats like.  But don't let that fool you.  There are still plenty of union bosses firmly in Hillary Clinton's corner and some of them seem to be approaching the point of panic as Sanders surges and the former Secretary of State's legal problems loom larger.  The unions for federal government workers are squarely in the latter camp and the president of one of the largest is rallying the troops with predictions of a coming apocalypse if they fail in their mission.

The Administration Is Ruling by Decree.  [Scroll down]  Under the new interpretation, thousands of businesses will now be found responsible for the working conditions of employees of other firms they do business with.  They will be liable for breaches of the Fair Labor Standards Act.  For example, if you contract out a service to a staffing company and that company is found to be not paying enough overtime, your business will be liable for that as well.  The administrator of the DoL's Wages and Hours Division, David Weil, is very clear that he will be looking to ensure that big businesses are on the hook for the decisions of smaller businesses.  The inevitable result of this will be the bringing of more jobs back within corporations, with job losses at the margins.  Small service companies and entrepreneurs will suffer.  Labor unions will benefit.

Obama's union gravy train keeps rolling.  President Obama's latest giveaway to the unions came as part of the Labor Department's $175 million grant program for "providing more Americans with affordable access to education and job training opportunities to help grow the middle class."  As the Washington Examiner's Sean Higgins reported Thursday [9/10/2015], union training programs will get $25.5 million of that cash — more than 14 percent, or a share roughly twice as large as union representation in the private sector.

Joe Biden Blasts the Obama-Biden Economy.  Sounding very much like a candidate for president, today Vice President Joe Biden spoke at an AFL-CIO Labor Day event in Pittsburgh, Pa.  "I'm mad, I'm angry," Biden thundered, attacking the U.S. economy as "devastating for workers."  Biden, who is openly considering running against Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary, thanked "my friend" Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO.  "There wouldn't be a single basic right, from a 40-hour week to sick leave, there wouldn't a single basic right out there ... but for labor," Biden said.  "You build the middle class.  That's not an exaggeration."

Obama rips GOP candidates as anti-union.  President Barack Obama lambasted Republican presidential candidates Monday [9/7/2015], charging the GOP is treating American workers like a hostile force while looking out only for the rich.  Obama delivered a Labor Day speech in Boston, where he traveled to unveil a new executive order he signed forcing companies who contract with the federal government to provide paid sick leave to their employees.

How Democrats Created America's Social Caste System.  Democrats preach equality but seek to make the social castes unequal.  This is done to maintain their political power and control over the nation.  For their efforts in maintaining this caste system government workers are rewarded with highly paid jobs.  These government jobs serve two important functions:  to maintain the teachings of the government, and to provide campaign contributions to the Party.  Today four of the top seven contributors to national campaigns are members of the Democrat Party's government unions.

Biden Meets with Unions, Trumka about 2016 Run.  According to Politico sources, Vice President Joe Biden met with AFL-CIO honcho Richard Trumka yesterday [8/27/2015] at the Naval Observatory. [...] Biden also met with Massachusetts democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren for a similar lunch last week.  Politico writes, "If he were to run, Biden would try to position himself as a center-left alternative to Hillary Clinton, and Warren's support would be key to that.  So would the support of organized labor, which Biden has worked with extensively over the years."

Rep. DeLauro Pushes for Gov't Assisted 24/7 Child Care.  Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) has been promoting federal government child care assistance "that expands with need," focusing on 24 hour availability and pay of at least $15 an hour for child care workers.  DeLauro was part of an event last week at Sleeping Giant Day Care in Connecticut, where she discussed her support for a resolution on universal child care.  "I'm proud to add my name to a resolution supported by SEIU (Service Employees International Union) and the Congressional Progressive Caucus," DeLauro says in a video released Monday [8/24/2015] by the SEIU.

The Editor says...
Once the government takes 24-hour control of the lower-class children, the government will be the head of the household, unionized workers will dispense all meals, and the kids will be immersed in all-day indoctrination.  This can only result in cradle-to-prison socialism.

SEC: Companies Must Help Media, Unions Shame High-Paid CEOs.  The news media and labor unions already do a pretty fair job of shaming high-paid CEOs, but the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday [8/5/2015] required companies to spend resources to assist in the effort.

Big Blow to Hillary: Major union leader goes all in for Bernie.  Unions wield considerable political influence and are some of the most generous contributors during campaigns, especially to Democrats.  If more major union leaders decide not to officially endorse Hillary, it could be devastating for her campaign.  Despite not yet demonstrating a strong position on trade, Hillary has still tried in other ways to court unions.  She prominently showed off union-made gear in May during the official launch of her online campaign shop, and she urged people to stand firmly for unions during a speech in Chicago.

Marijuana legislation backers pledge support of unions.  The company that will grow marijuana at a proposed Lorain facility will allow its workers to organize into a union if voters approve a marijuana legalization constitutional amendment this fall, the company's leadership announced Tuesday [6/16/2015].

On behalf of the GOP, I would like to thank the AFL-CIO for NY-04 and CA-07.  Basically, the AFL-CIO will be attacking Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-NY) 6% (NY-04) and Rep. Ami Bera (D-CA) 5% (CA-07) for the next year and a half because both support TPP.  Speaking as a Republican operative, I think that this is a marvelous idea.  By all means, Big Labor:  eat your own.  I'll happily pass you the salt.

Halfway There: Wisconsin Becomes the 25th Right-to-Work State.  Whatever the ultimate fate of right-to-work in Wisconsin, [Governor] Walker's signature was only the latest blow he delivered to organized labor in his state.  In fact, during his entire governorship he had struggled with Wisconsin's unionized workforce, which had painted him as a rabid anti-union right-winger.  But was this portrait accurate?

Cash for Slackers, Part II.  For example, not only was Janice Perry allowed to work on union issues 100% of the time at her job at Veterans Affairs, she didn't even want to occasionally show up at work, writes Patrick Pizzella, one of the three federal officials adjudicating federal union fights at the Federal Labor Relations Authority.  Perry, an AFL-CIO president, has been working on union duties full-time while at the VA Medical Center in Martinsburg, West Virginia.  After she broke her ankle, Perry demanded she be allowed to work from home, solely on union duties, five days a week, every week.  The VA then offered her the option to work three days each week from home, still solely on union duties.

New union-friendly rule from Obama targets small business.  Supporters of tougher regulations on businesses usually present them as necessary to curb abuses by large "fatcat" corporations.  However, President Obama's administration is pursuing a new labor rule that would largely ignore big business and instead target small and medium-sized companies.  Under the federal "persuader" rule, businesses currently must disclose whenever they hire somebody to try to convince their employees they shouldn't unionize — hence the rule's name.  Now the administration wants to expand the disclosure to include any time managers receive legal advice on the subject.

U.S. signed agreement with Mexico to teach immigrants to unionize.  The federal government has signed agreements with three foreign countries — Mexico, Ecuador and the Philippines — to establish outreach programs to teach immigrants their rights to engage in labor organizing in the U.S.  The agreements do not distinguish between those who entered legally or illegally.  They are part of a broader effort by the National Labor Relations Board to get immigrants involved in union activism.

Obama rips Walker for 'right to work' bill.  President Obama took a shot at a "right to work" bill signed into law Monday [3/9/2015] by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a likely Republican candidate for president.  In a statement, which does not mention Walker by name, Obama said the "anti-worker law in Wisconsin will weaken, rather than strengthen workers in the new economy."

Democrats Fighting for Unions and Against the Middle Class.  Across the country, state governments have righted the ship from the brink of numerous fiscal disasters by decreasing the power of unions to coercively force members to join and to collectively bargain on non-salary issues (and thus hide budgetary costs).  Within the private sector, the evidence continues to mount that unions are bad for the economy, bad for good employees, and bad for all workers in that they reduce the pool of available jobs.

Obama's Budget: Tax grandma to fund the AFL-CIO?  Posturing as champion of needed public investments and fairness, President Obama wants new taxes on the overseas earnings of American businesses.  That would kill jobs and punish retired Americans.  Although special deals permit some corporations to pay low taxes, most pay a heavy burden.  The estimated effective U.S. corporate tax rate is about 27 percent, and well above the 20 percent imposed by other industrialized countries.

Uncle Sam Wants You (To Join the Teamsters).  An email sent on behalf of Lt. Gen. Howard B. Bromberg, the Army's head of human resources, urged soldiers on the verge of retirement to get involved with the Teamster Military Assistance Program. [...] The email was sent through a Pentagon account Tuesday morning and distributed across the ranks.  The program is intended to help soldiers, many of whom have extensive experience driving trucks in warzones, to drive big rigs on highways free of IEDs, according to the Army.

Bill de Blasio, 'Five Families' unions often flex political muscle to enforce mayor's agenda: sources.  City Hall insiders call them the "Five Families" — the politically plugged-in unions whose leaders often act as capos to enforce Mayor de Blasio's progressive agenda.  Several sources rattled off the names of the unions that flex their muscles whenever a wayward politician needs to be brought in line.  They include giant healthcare workers union SEIU/1199; the union representing doormen and other buildings staff; the hotel workers union; the teachers union; and the Communication Workers of America District 1, which covers a mix of public- and private-sector jobs.  CWA Regional Vice President Chris Shelton and his political director, Bob Master, have a direct line to de Blasio's ear, sources said.

Patrick quietly transfers 500 managers to public employee union.  As he prepares to leave office, Governor Deval Patrick is quietly transferring 500 of his managers into the state public employee union, a move that will qualify them for a series of 3 percent raises and insulate them from firing when the next governor takes over.  The change will automatically convert 15 percent of the 3,350 executive branch managers into members of the National Association of Government Employees, which has been fighting for the change for years, arguing the employees were "improperly classified" as managers.

Activists plan People's Climate March before United Nations summit on climate change.  Labor unions and environmental groups said Wednesday [9/10/2014] they expect a huge turnout for a New York City march to draw attention to climate change taking place two days before a United Nations summit on the issue.

DA's Union-Allied Wife Drove Witch Hunt Against Walker, Conservative Groups.  Back in 2009 the Milwaukee District Attorney launched a far-reaching and secret investigation into a then soon-to-be elected Governor Scott Walker, his staff, and several Wisconsin conservative groups.  The governor and his allies always maintained that the investigation was little else but a political jihad against them.  Now a former Wisconsin prosecutor is saying that the union-allied wife of the District Attorney was really the main reason for the long, convoluted, and shady investigation.

Dems rally behind labor official who served Obama unlawfully.  Following a contentious confirmation hearing, the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP) is expected later this month to send Sharon Block's nomination to the full Senate over strenuous objections from the panel's GOP members.  Majority Democrats on the panel have the numbers needed to prevail in an upcoming executive session vote.

Email Reveals Lois Lerner Ignored Political Expenditures By Unions.  The official at the center of the Internal Revenue Service tea party scandal once dismissed complaints that labor unions were not reporting millions of dollars in political activities on their tax forms, according to an email obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation.  In 2007, Lerner responded directly to a complaint that some major labor unions reported completely different amounts of political expenditures when filing with the IRS and the Department of Labor.  At the time of the email, Lerner was the Director of Exempt Organizations at the IRS.

California Forces Farm Workers into Union.  A group of Fresno farm workers is accusing the state of California of forcing them into the United Farm Workers union.  Workers at Fresno-based Gerawan Farms held an election in November to determine whether or not they would remain in the UFW.  However, those ballots were never counted.  The Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB) seized the ballots until it could investigate UFW allegations of voter impropriety.  "We direct the regional director to forward to the Board and serve on all parties to the election all challenged ballot declarations and all other evidence in his possession relevant to the eligibility of challenged voters," the board said in a Nov. 7 decision.  Workers who supported decertifying the union said that the claims are baseless.

Federal agencies spend millions on union business.  The Internal Revenue Service isn't the only federal agency where hundreds of employees do union business full-time on the public's dime.  "Taxpayers spent around $156 million on federal employees who did no federal work at all," said Nathan Mehrens, president of Americans for Limited Government.  Watchdog.org reported last week that union business — oxymoronically classified as "official time" — is subsidized by the IRS.  Mehrens uncovered similar behavior at other agencies.

Union teams up with Interior for 'win-win' $3M plan to combat global warming.  The U.S. Department of the Interior announced that it will join forces with the Union Sportsmen Alliance on projects to rebuild, renew and restore national parks across the country.  The Department will grant $3 million to "Boots on the Ground" volunteer projects in several states including, Illinois, Ohio, Virginia, Minnesota, Maryland, Nevada, Texas and Wisconsin.  Interior Secretary Sally Jewell called the merger a "win-win."

The Editor says...
This is money down the drain because global warming stopped almost 18 years ago.

Sen. John Thune aims at union corruption.  The bill by Sen. John Thune, chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, would bring back three sets of Labor Department rules that were designed to crack down on union corruptions by required unions and their leaders to disclose more details of their finances.  The rules were proposed under President George W. Bush but rescinded after Mr. Obama took office, one of several moves he made to benefit unions that were strong supporters of his presidential campaign.

Democrats push making labor organizing a 'civil right'.  Reps. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., and John Lewis, D-Ga., plan to introduce legislation Wednesday [7/30/2014] to amend the National Labor Relations Act to make labor organizing a civil right.  The change will make opposing unionization bids legally perilous for businesses.  The NLRA already protects the right to form and join a union.  Ellison and Lewis' legislation would dramatically expand the powers individual workers have under the act by allowing them to sue their employer in federal court under the Civil Rights Act.  The bill would also entitle workers filing lawsuits "to remedies like punitive and compensatory damages," according to a Tuesday press release.  Currently most unfair labor practice complaints go through the National Labor Relations Board, which was created expressly for that purpose.  Some labor disputes are handled by a second entity, the National Mediation Board.  Big Labor has long complained the process is too slow.

Paying Off Obama's Buddies: Another Way Illegal Aliens Are Wasting Your Tax Dollars.  Obama is pumping billions of dollars into the feeding and care of hundreds of thousands of illegals who have swamped our southern border expecting — and getting — all sorts of freebies not to mention expecting to become instant citizens.  But it isn't just the billions he is spending at the border going on in this mounting crisis.  Obama is also [spending] billions on these illegals in other parts of the country.  In Illinois, for instance, several left-wing groups, including the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) — all huge supporters of Obama — are getting hundreds of thousands of tax dollars to care for illegals shipped from Texas to the Windy City.

AFL-CIO urges Obama to circumvent Congress on immigration.  Calling them "aspiring American workers," AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka launched a petition Wednesday [7/9/2014] calling on President Obama to bypass Congress on the current immigration surge and to instead use his executive authority to aid the people flooding the southwestern U.S. border.  "Families are being separated because Congress has failed to act on a commonsense immigration process.  The crisis on our worksites and in our communities can't wait.  That's why I'm calling on President Obama to extend administrative relief to Americans in waiting," Trumka said.

The Editor says...
Americans in waiting?  That's a new one.  Such terminology suggests that everybody in the world is welcome to get in line for American citizenship.  The unions are in favor of unrestricted immigration because an influx of uneducated and unhealthy residents will increase the number of people dependent on the government for every meal.  There's only one political party that benefits from the expansion of the welfare state, and it is the same party that enjoys the support of the labor unions.  Whether or not the immigrants join the labor unions is immaterial:  the unions benefit from the increased strength of their political allies.

AFL-CIO To Obama: Unilaterally Grant Work Permits To Illegals.  The AFL-CIO wants President Barack Obama to unilaterally give work permits and temporary amnesty to most of the country's illegal immigrants.  On Tuesday [7/1/2014], a day after Obama used a Rose Garden speech to say he would try to change as many immigration laws as possible on his own, the labor group that purportedly protects workers recommended that the Obama administration enact four executive actions.

Unions encouraging legislatures to promote labor history education.  Unions and their allies are trying to flex their muscle in state legislatures, pushing for labor history to be included in social studies curriculum and hoping a new generation of high school students will one day be well-educated union members.

Medical Advocate: Senate-Backed VA Bill 'Sabotages' Vets' Ability to Access Civilian Care.  The founder and chair of a group dedicated to reducing hospital infection deaths told the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs Thursday that a bill backed by the Senate Wednesday [6/11/2014] to address the backlog of veterans awaiting medical care "is designed to protect union jobs, not ailing vets."  The bill drafted by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, "will not save the lives of vets stuck on the wait list," said Dr. Betsy McCaughey, chair of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths.  "This bill as currently written is designed to protect union jobs, not ailing vets."

Lumber Union Protectionists Incited SWAT Raid On My Factory, Says Gibson Guitar CEO.  While 30 men in SWAT attire dispatched from Homeland Security and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service cart away about half a million dollars of wood and guitars, seven armed agents interrogate an employee without benefit of a lawyer.  The next day Juszkiewicz receives a letter warning that he cannot touch any guitar left in the plant, under threat of being charged with a separate federal offense for each "violation," punishable by a jail term.  Up until that point Gibson had not received so much as a postcard telling the company it might be doing something wrong.

More about Gibson Guitar.

Dem Concerned that ICE Enforcement Interfering with Union Organizing.  D.C.'s delegate to Congress wants the Department of Labor to ensure that immigration enforcement isn't being used to discourage workers from forming or joining unions.  Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) hosted a meeting earlier this month with representatives of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Labor Department, the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, DC Jobs for Justice and constituents, and said she was alarmed to learn of union reports "their workers have been intimidated by their employers, which have threatened to call ICE to enforce immigration laws in response to ongoing labor disputes with the workers," according to Norton's office.

Keith Ellison Decries Money in Politics While Supporting Union Front Group.  Rep. Keith Ellison (D., Minn.) lamented influence peddling in congress, while soliciting funding for a taxpayer-funded union front group on Sunday.  Ellison sent out an email to his supporters highlighting his participation in a Capitol Hill protest to raise the minimum wage.  While demanding that Congress stop accepting money from corporations, Ellison also asked his supporters to make donations to the Restaurant Opportunities Center, the union-backed nonprofit worker center that is sponsoring the rally.

Obama admin wants to require companies to give workers' numbers, addresses to unions before labor elections.  The Obama administration is poised to change regulations to allow for union "ambush elections" in which workers have less time to decide whether or not to join a union — and in which workers' phone numbers and home addresses are provided to unions.  The administration's National Labor Relations Board's (NLRB) proposed rules would allow for union elections — in which workers at a company vote whether or not to unionize — to be held 10 days after a petition is filed.  And what, exactly, would be happening to the unions during those 10 days?  The new rules require employers to disclose workers' personal information, including phone numbers, home addresses, and information about when they work their shifts.  Insiders close to the situation believe the new rules will almost certainly go into effect with few or no fundamental changes.

DNC literally indebted to unions.  Recent fundraising figures show the RNC faring better than its DNC counterpart in just about all areas.  Notably, the RNC has no debt and nearly $10 Million in cash on hand.  The same, however, cannot be said for the DNC, thanks in part to some clever money shuffling among kindred spirits.  In the final two months of the 2012 election cycle, the DNC was strapped for cash, and opted to take out two low interest loans totaling $15 Million.  The loans were provided by Amalgamated Bank, which uses the tagline, "America's Labor Bank" and promises to continue "the progressive traditions of its founders as the only majority owned union bank in the United States."

Is Hollywood Plotting ObamaCare's Next Move?  Look out super heroes and villains, ObamaCare might be stealing the next plot line in upcoming blockbuster films.  Screen writers in New York City gathered Tuesday night [2/18/2014] to learn more about President Obama's health-care reform act in a forum hosted by the Writers Guild of America, East.  The WGA is a labor union representing thousands of screenwriters for television and film, as well as online media.

Moderate Republicans team up with labor unions to defeat the tea party in 2014.  A Republican super PAC committed to defeating the tea party in 2014 congressional primaries is mostly funded by labor unions.  The super PAC Defending Main Street, formed by moderate Republican and former congressman Steve LaTourette, has committed itself to destroying tea party challenges to establishment GOP candidates in the 2014 midterm elections.

Mr. President, Suspend Davis-Bacon.  The president once again is calling for a massive investment in infrastructure projects.  In his State of the Union address, he argued that money saved by simplifying the tax code could then be invested in repairing and building bridges, roads, ports, and other key infrastructure.  Regrettably, all these proposed public works projects would be covered by the Davis-Bacon Act of 1931, an outdated, anachronistic federal statute that mandates the payment of "prevailing wages" (read "union scale") for all workers on federally funded construction projects.

Math mistakes lead government to pay contractors up to 3 times market rate under Davis-Bacon.  Construction workers at companies doing work for the federal government are paid as much as three times what their peers outside of government get for the same work, a Washington Examiner review of federal statistics found.  Pipefitters in Laredo, Texas, for example, can usually expect to make around $11.47 hourly, but if working on a federal contract, they must be paid at least $36.49, plus benefits.  Window installers in New York City make $18.87 an hour in the market — that's the median salary, including industry veterans — yet the government requires those doing that work for it in the New York area to be paid at least $42, even if they're inexperienced.

Big Labor Burned by ObamaCare.  Unions that undoubtedly believed they were part of the Obama administration's select group of "winners," have discovered otherwise.  In a scathing letter addressed to Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Harry Reid (D-NV), the presidents of UniteHere and the Laborers' International Union of North America declared they were "bitterly disappointed" that the proposed regulations to ObamaCare would be detrimental to their interests.  In short, unions that supported the president's two election campaigns are apparently just discovering what many Americans have known for years:  Obama's promises are worthless.

Labor union officials say Obama betrayed them in health-care rollout.  Labor leaders who have spent months lobbying unsuccessfully for special protections under the Affordable Care Act warned this week that the White House's continued refusal to help is dampening union support for Democratic candidates in this year's midterm elections.  Leaders of two major unions, including the first to endorse Obama in 2008, said they have been betrayed by an administration that wooed their support for the 2009 legislation with promises to later address the peculiar needs of union-negotiated insurance plans that cover millions of workers.

Supreme Court to Hear Case on Forced Unionization.  The Supreme Court will hear arguments about forced unionization among government workers on Tuesday [1/21/2014] in a case that could greatly curtail powerful labor groups.  At issue is an Illinois law crafted by imprisoned former Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D.) and enforced by his successor Pat Quinn (D.) that forces home healthcare workers, including family members caring for relatives, to pay union dues.

Sen. Thune: Obama Gives Unions Obamacare Exemption.  Sen. John Thune (R-SD), the chairman of the Senate GOP conference, has discovered that President Barack Obama's administration has decided to grant an exemption to labor unions from Obamacare's reinsurance tax.  On page 70 of regulations the administration published on Monday [11/25/2013], Thune's office noted that a rule would exempt Taft-Hartley union healthcare plans from from the Obamacare reinsurance tax.

ObamaCare's Union Favor.  The $25 billion cost of the fund, which is designed to pay out to the insurers on the exchanges if their costs are higher than expected, is socialized over every U.S. citizen with a private health plan.  For 2014, the fee per head is $63.  The unions hate this reinsurance transfer because it takes from their members in the form of higher premiums and gives to people on the exchanges.  But then most consumers are hurt in the same way, and the unions have little ground for complaint given that ObamaCare would not have passed in 2010 without the fervent support of the AFL-CIO, the Teamsters and the rest.

Union Asks for Shutdown to Be Deemed an Emergency.  A federal workers union is demanding that President Barack Obama declare the shutdown a national emergency and force businesses, hospitals, and schools to forgive workers' bill payments until a deal is reached.  American Federation of Government Employees President J. David Cox sent a letter to Obama on Friday lamenting that the lengthy shutdown would hurt government workers.  He proposed that the White House intervene to declare the shutdown a federal emergency, which would allow workers to collect zero-interest loans from FEMA and force businesses to extend lines of credit to employees.

The Chicago Way in Obamaland.  The union bosses who pushed so hard to pass ObamaCare now realize that they are in deep trouble; they won't be able to keep their cushy jobs if the rank and file realize that the sudden loss of hours and/or healthcare benefits of union members is due to the union bosses supporting ObamaCare.  As a result, Obama is trying to figure out a way to provide relief to unions and only unions.  Of course, that's unconstitutional vote buying at its most obvious, but if you're from Chicago that's business as usual.

The new Labor Secretary pushes Jerry Brown to exempt the Teamsters.
Perez's Pension Extortion.  Labor Secretary Thomas Perez is an equal opportunity guy, even when it comes to political bullying.  Take his blackmail of California's Democratic Governor Jerry Brown:  Exempt transit workers from last year's state pension reforms, or lose billions in federal funds.  Mr. Perez threatened to cashier federal grants for 83 local transit agencies because he claimed California's pension reforms violate the Federal Transit Act, which requires the Labor Department to certify that "protective" arrangements are made for workers (i.e., the Teamsters) before the feds dole out dough.  Nearly $2 billion in federal funds are at stake this year alone.

Unions to Get Yet Another Obamacare Break?  One of the most predictable features of American politics is the biannual blackmail to which the Democrats are subjected by their union bosses.  Knowing that "the Party of Jefferson and Jackson" cannot survive without their support, union goons like Richard Trumka usually start the process by complaining about some law that allegedly hurts workers.  Then, after a month or two of bombast and bluster, we find that their definition of "worker" is actually "union member" [...]

Unions ask Obama for Detroit bailout.  Union leaders are calling on Congress and President Obama to provide a federal bailout to the city of Detroit.  The executive council of the AFL-CIO, the nation's largest labor federation, called for an "immediate infusion of federal assistance for Detroit" to be matched by Michigan, which they say has not done enough to keep the city from going through bankruptcy.

DC City Council bullies Walmart to enrich unions.  The city council of the nation's capital is engaged in a game of chicken with the nation's biggest private employer, Walmart.  Legislation custom-designed to force the Arkansas retailer to employ unionized workers in its planned new stores in the District has been passed, and in response the company has threatened to stop construction on 3 stores underway, and cancel plans for 3 more.

Coburn, Gingrey demand answers on 201 full-time IRS union reps.  Republican congressional leaders are demanding to know why the Internal Revenue Service pays hundreds of full-time employees to do union work.  As reported last month by The Daily Caller, 201 IRS employees receive full-time pay while doing no actual work, instead devoting their entire work days to union business.  The revelation came as a result of a Freedom of Information Act request from Americans for Limited Government.

FOIA: 201 IRS employees work full-time on union business.  In a response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from Americans for Limited Government, the Internal Revenue Service revealed this month that 201 of its employees work full-time on union activities.  "A lot of people are not aware that under federal law, a federal agency is allowed to enter into a collective bargaining agreement with a union that has provisions where employees of the agency, in this case the IRS, are allowed to do union work on the taxpayer's time and get paid for it," ALG president and Nathan Mehrens explained in an interview with The Daily Caller.

Coburn: Hundreds of IRS employees work full-time on labor union business.  The Internal Revenue Service spends millions of dollars a year for 200 employees who actually work full-time on labor-union business even as it furloughs employees and cuts taxpayer advice services under the budget sequester, Congress' chief waste watcher said in a new letter to the tax agency.  Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican, joined Rep. Phil Gingrey, Georgia Republican, in a letter asking the IRS to stop paying those employees for work that doesn't benefit the taxpayer.

Holding AWOL Obama Accountable.  At a May 16 press conference, the president sidestepped a question about whether anyone in the White House knew about the IRS's harassment.  He also failed to mention his political alliance with the National Treasury Employees Union, to which IRS employees belong.  The union's PAC gave hundreds of thousands of dollars in 2010 and 2012 to anti-Tea Party groups, and the union president is a frequent visitor at the White House.

Obama Met With IRS Union Boss Day Before Tea Party Targeting Began.  The White House Visitors Log reveals that President Barack Obama met with Internal Revenue Service (IRS) union boss Colleen Kelley on March 31, 2010 — the day before the Inspector General's report says the IRS began its scheme to target tea party and conservative groups.

Unions Rally Behind Amnesty.  Organized labor has become a leading proponent of President Barack Obama's immigration agenda, a departure from more than a century of hostility to foreign-born workers.  Some of the nation's most influential labor leaders have heaped praise on comprehensive immigration plans that will help grant citizenship to many of the nation's 11 million illegal immigrants.  The AFL-CIO, one of the nation's largest labor unions, kicked off a 14-city rally backing the president's plan on Wednesday [2/6/2013].

Obama's minimum wage proposal a stealth pay raise for unions.  "An analysis of union collective bargaining agreements available from the Department of Labor's Office of Labor-Management Standards indicates that many service, retail and hospitality industry labor unions — such as UNITE-HERE or the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) — peg baseline wages to the federal minimum wage," the Center for Union Facts (CUF) observes.  "Thus, in many cases, raising the federal minimum wage will either trigger wage renegotiations or automatic wage hikes for certain unionized employees."

Report: Minimum wage increases trigger raises in union contracts.
Unions Back Wage Hike.  President Barack Obama's proposal to increase the minimum wage will give a boost to union members who already earn more than the current federal minimum of $7.25 an hour.  Many unions in the retail and service industries have negotiated provisions into contracts that would boost union salaries in the event of minimum wage increases, according to a study from labor watchdog Center for Union Facts (CUF).

Labor Department union boss: We were happier under Bush.  The local 12 chapter of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) is so frustrated with the political appointees at the top of the Labor Department that they are now reduced to pining for the Bush years.

Non-Union Workers Excluded from Hurricane Sandy Cleanup.  In New Jersey, where Governor Chris Christie has said that relief measures for Hurricane Sandy should be "above politics," non-union workers are now excluded from participating in cleanup and rebuilding efforts.  That policy took effect when the New Jersey state senate voted on Monday to expand an existing labor-agreement law that has been on the books since 2002.

Taxpayers Unwittingly Hand Over $137 Million to Unions.  U.S. taxpayers are footing the $137 million bill for federal employees to perform union work while on the clock at their government jobs, according to Professor Mallory Factor in the Wall Street Journal.  The practice, known as "official time" is enshrined in the Civil Service Reform Act (CSRA), according to the Workforce Freedom Initiative (WFI), and lets government officials do work for unions while being paid by the taxpayer.

You think your Right-To-Work state is safe from unions?  There is, and has been since 2010, a concerted effort by union bosses to get their union-bought cronies in the U.S. Senate to end the filibuster.  Why?  The obvious answer is:  So, unions can enact legislation that they want.

Solis leaves big labor losses behind.  When Labor Secretary Hilda Solis announced Wednesday that she is leaving the Obama administration, my colleague Philip Klein remarked that President Obama "may as well cut to the chase and nominate Richard Trumka" to replace her.  It was a reasonable idea, given big labor's influence in the Democratic world.  But the fact is, even AFL-CIO chief Trumka could not have been more loyal to organized labor's agenda than the departing secretary.

Marxist Labor Leaders Used Latino Voters to Move California Left — Implications for All Americans.  A group of socialist California labor officials and Democratic Party operatives, led by Los Angeles County Federation of Labor head Maria Elena Durazo, targeted Latinos and immigrants in a deliberate program to permanently drive Golden State politics to the left.

Unions dream big for Obama's 2nd term.  [R]ight-to-work advocates expect Mr. Obama to keep pushing his pro-union agenda largely under the radar, through agencies such as the National Labor Relations Board and the Department of Labor.

The NLRB's Union Bonus.  Christmas came early for Big Labor last week when the National Labor Relations Board handed down a pair of decisions that overturned longstanding precedent and will deliver a windfall to union finances.

Obama's NLRB protects union thugs, not elderly.  President Obama portrays himself as a president who stands up for the most vulnerable in our society.  Nursing home patients and their families in Connecticut got a look behind the rhetoric last week.  In the name of standing up for workers' rights, Obama's National Labor Relations Board — the one staffed by people he installed through controversial "recess appointments" when the Senate was in session — sued to have a nursing home reinstate employees who went on strike.

A re-elected Obama rewards his Big Labor friends.  Earlier this month, the Associated Press reported that the Labor Department will introduce a new rule requiring employers to divulge all information on labor consultants they hire.  The AP also reported that the National Labor Relations Board — which is nominally independent but whose majority the president appointed — will issue a new rule requiring employers to turn over all employee contact information during union organizing drives.

With Obama Win, Big Labor Feels Its Oats.  Is the United States becoming another France, with daily strikes not a bug but a feature?  Sure looks like it, with a surge of union actions in the wake of Obama's re-election.

NLRB sues to reinstate union saboteurs at nursing homes.  President Obama's National Labor Relations Board asked a judge this week to force a Connecticut nursing home to re-hire employees involved in a labor dispute, including the workers who sabotaged patient homes as they went on strike.  The Service Employees International Union members who worked at HealthBridge went on strike after rejecting the company's final offer in contract negotiations.

Trumka's Denial Of Budget Realities Suggests Ugly Plans.  AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka has declared there's no fiscal cliff and any address of runaway government spending is just "a manufactured crisis." [...] In short, Trumka is arguing that there's no such thing as too much government spending, that deficits don't matter and that entitlements cannot be cut.  Such denialist thinking is beyond irresponsible in the face of a $16 trillion debt, highest on global record and a sign of an irrational agenda often followed by would-be tyrants.

Reward: Obama NLRB looks to give workers' private contact info to unions.  President Obama's labor regulators are preparing to give his "army" of unions the private contact information of workers employed by non-union companies, as part of an array of rules to facilitate and finance union expansion.  "The National Labor Relations Board is expected to start work on a rule that would force businesses to turn over workers' phone numbers, emails and shift times to union organizers," the Associated Press reported this week.

The Delphi Legacy.  Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan slammed President Barack Obama for the Auto Task Force's treatment of nonunion workers who saw their pensions slashed by 70 percent, while their union coworkers lost no funds thanks to a $1 billion "top-off" by GM, during a rally in Sabina, Ohio, on Saturday [10/27/2012].

Union members campaign for Obama on frontline of US election in Ohio.  In terms of volunteers and financial donations, the unions are one of Obama's biggest assets, the shadow army to his official campaign teams.  The union contribution tends to go largely unrecognised, their role in the campaign mainly ignored by the media, and with little in the way of thanks afterwards from Obama and the politicians they help into office.

Hypocrisy United.  Rep. Christopher Murphy (D., Conn.), who has said he opposes the 2010 Citizens United ruling because it "corrupts our democracy," has relied heavily on spending by outside, anonymously funded groups in his campaign to fill the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I., Conn.). [...] However, the Washington Free Beacon has found that unions and corporations are spending heavily in support of Murphy.

Government Unions Plot to Have 11% Illinois State Income Tax on Top Earners By Changing State Constitution.  And if one digs beneath the surface of this plan, one finds government employee unions as a major source of money for supporters of the tax.  The non-taxpayers want more money.  Illinois has a flat 5% and these greedy unions want 11% out of some people.

Progressive income tax: Brought to you by Illinois unions.  A coalition of progressive groups is beginning to coalesce around a proposal to create a progressive income tax in Illinois.  Under their plan state income tax rates will increase as one reaches higher incomes, up to a top rate of 11 percent for incomes over $1 million.  This plan would leave Illinois with one of the highest income tax rates in the country, increase Illinoisians tax bills by more than $8 billion, and would most likely drive entrepreneurs and jobs from the state.

Government of unions, by unions, for unions.  In 2009, the U.S. government bailed out the auto industry, ostensibly to save the livelihoods of thousands of Americans who work for automakers and their supporting companies.  Sounds nice, except that this federal largesse was not distributed equally.  In fact, some employees who were also members of the powerful, politically influential United Auto Workers (UAW) union got far, far better treatment from Uncle Sam than their nonunion brethren.

Union leader strives to ease Obama's "white guy problem".  Obama is on course to become the candidate with the lowest support from white male working class voters to win a U.S. election if he triumphs over Republican Mitt Romney on November 6.  Polls show support for Obama from white males without college degrees at under 30 percent, well below the 39 percent he had when he defeated Republican John McCain four years ago.

Labor Unions Suffer Defeat on Taxpayer Revolt.  Californians, struggling with an $18 billion budget deficit, stuck with a Sacramento political class owned by Democrats who in turn are owned by labor unions, are facing a massive tax increase in November that will give California the unenviable distinction of having the highest per capita tax burden in the Country.  Even modest efforts to reign in spending or do serious pension reform are easily thwarted by big labor lobbyists.

Obama's suicide pact with Big Labor.  The current alliance between special interests and government has re-created Chicago politics on a national level.  Washington Examiner Senior Political Columnist Timothy P. Carney has described this as the "Obama model":  rewarding businesses that play ball with the administration on issues like energy subsidies and factory construction in areas that help pro-Democratic unions.  AFL-CIO head Richard Trumka once remarked that he visits the White House two or three times a week — and is in contact with someone in the administration almost every day.  Close and unhealthy relationships like this are cause for concern over the state of our democracy.

WH Logs Reveal Obama Met With AFL-CIO & ACLU Lobbyists Over 50 Times Each.  An interactive and searchable database of White House visitor logs is turning up some interesting findings and reveals a "steady stream of lobbyists" visiting the Obama White House, reports the Washington Post.  For example, AFL-CIO lobbyist Bill Samuel visited the White House over 50 times, and American Civil Liberties Union lobbyist Laura Murphy visited almost as frequently.

Big labor falls in line with Obama reelection campaign.  Organized labor's rumblings about sitting out President Barack Obama's reelection have turned out to be an empty threat.  The Teamsters' Monday [5/7/2012] endorsement makes it the latest major union to fall in line behind the president's campaign, joining the Service Employees International Union, the AFL-CIO and many other labor heavyweights.

Union Boss: I've talked second term agenda with president.  The White House may be tight-lipped about what a second Obama term would look like, but AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka has his own private insight.  Trumka said he has had conversations with the president and White House staff about the president's potential second-term agenda, in an interview with the Washington Post's Peter Wallsten.

AFL-CIO Endorses Obama; Gears Up Campaign Volunteer Army.  In the eyes of the AFL-CIO, a president can never lean too far leftward.  But if President Obama hasn't made all the right moves, he's made enough of them to win its support.

Senate debating measure to nullify union rules.  The Senate began debate Monday [4/23/2012] on a Republican effort to overturn new labor regulations that make it easier and quicker for unions to hold workplace elections.

Three weeks later, the courts stepped in...
Judge strikes down union election rules.  A federal judge on Monday [5/14/2012] struck down new regulations governing union elections, saying the National Labor Relations Board did not follow proper voting procedures when it approved the rules last year.

Court strikes down NLRB rule to speed up union elections.  A federal judge ruled Monday [5/14/2012] that a contentious union election rule proposed by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is "invalid."  In an 18-page memorandum opinion, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg struck the regulation down, saying the labor board only had two members when it voted on the final rule in December 2011.  Boasberg said the agency needed at least three members to have a quorum for action on the rule.

Non-shocker of the day:  AFL-CIO endorses Obama.br>

Top 10 reasons to elect anybody but Obama.  [#8]  SEIU (Service Employee International Union) and other union leaders have an open door to the White House, as the mobilization of its thuggish army of workers is critical to Obama's reelection.  So we see the president pack the National Labor Relations Board with anti-business zealots who rule that Boeing can't build a plant in non-union South Carolina.  So much for that laser focus on jobs.

Obama Meets His Nemesis.  [Scroll down]  Obama wanted millions of shovel-ready jobs; he sent his Ivy League-trained economists out to arrange it.  He wanted a health-care revolution, and he turned that over to Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi.  And so on down the line — every revolutionary program was assigned to some secretary or czar or union goon.  The results have been what any normal individual might have expected.  As Americans, we have gotten next to nothing out of all this wasted effort and energy and cash.

No matter what Obama does, the unions will support him.
Despite battles over pipeline and jobs council, Obama earns AFL-CIO endorsement.  The nation's largest federation of unions announced Tuesday [3/13/2012] that it would be endorsing President Obama's reelection effort, an expected — but welcome — boost for the president's campaign.  The endorsement comes despite recent high-profile rifts between the administration and unions over the president's jobs council and Obama's move to delay construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

NLRB Approves Pro-Union "Ambush Election" Final Rule.  If the Democratic-majority National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) under the Obama administration has become a de facto union law firm, then its proposed rule mandating "fast-track" or "ambush" elections loomed as its crowning achievement.

Obama's Union Point Man.  Unlike Obama's appointment of Richard Cordray, which was announced to a frighteningly enthusiastic crowd at an Ohio rally, the Griffin appointment was done quietly, in a written announcement.  The appointment was a direct reward for the union bosses who made an enormous contribution to Obama's 2008 campaign and will be critical to his reelection effort.

Government Unions Support California Tax Hike.  Two well-connected government unions in California are teaming with Gov. Jerry Brown to support a multibillion-dollar tax increase.  The California Teachers Association and Service Employees International Union were the top two spenders for lobbying in 2011 with combined efforts totaling more than $10 million, according to Sacramento Bee.  Now they're using their muscle to champion Brown's tax hike.

Labor board chief to push union organizing rules.  The chairman of the National Labor Relations Board plans to push for new rules that would give unions a boost in organizing members, despite an outcry from Republicans and business groups who say the board is going too far.  Mark Pearce said he hopes the board will propose the rules soon, now that it has a full component of five members.  President Barack Obama bypassed the Senate earlier this month to fill three vacancies.

The Absurdity Behind President Obama's Non-Recess Appointments:  In reading some of the news coverage and commentary concerning President Obama's non-recess appointments of Richard Griffin and Sharon Block to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) you would think they had waited months and even years under so-called "obstructionism" in the U.S. Senate.  In reality, anyone who undertook an objective analysis of the situation would have come to the conclusion that the administration's complete disregard for the Constitution by ignoring the Senate's advice and consent responsibility was a total handout to the Big Labor bosses bankrolling the president's campaign.

Your Right to be Owned.  Last year marked many labor/business conflicts, primarily spurred by a President beholden to paying back the special interests that helped put him in office.  Using Executive and Regulatory Powers, there was an unprecedented flurry of pro Big Labor actions and enactments-many of which are being undertaken to salvage a continually shrinking segment of the U.S. workforce.

Obama sidesteps GOP opposition to install 3 members on NLRB.  President Barack Obama recess-appointed three members to the National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday [1/4/2012], bypassing fierce opposition from Republicans who claim the agency has leaned too far in favor of unions.

Public workers union endorses Obama as 'only choice for the 99 percent'.  The largest public employee union in the country endorsed President Obama for a second term on Tuesday [12/6/2011].  With 1.6 million members, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) is considered one of the more powerful unions in the country, and it has long been allied with Democrats.  The union echoed the rhetoric of the Occupy Wall Street movement in endorsing Obama's reelection bid.

The Editor says...
Usually it's in places like Russia and North Korea and Cuba where the voters have only one choice.

Job Creators Brace for New Pro-Union Labor Rule.  [Scroll down]  I think the better fix here is to eliminate the minimum wage.  That would allow more entrepreneurial jobs and more start up jobs for young people at the start of their legal job career.

Sundays with Sherrod: Union Reform is Unchristian.  Sherrod Brown (D-OH) isn't merely the most extreme Progressive in the U.S. Senate, he's also a religious scholar.  Week in and week out, Sherrod preaches the Gospel of Progressivism:  Greater love hath no man than he who gives generously from his neighbor's purse.

SEIU Announces Its Endorsement of Obama in 2012.  The powerful Service Employees International Union has announced their endorsement of President Obama in the 2012 general election.  The announcement came from SEIU President Mary Kay Henry, in a conference call to reporters.

Your union dues at work:
With winter looming, labor unions fortify Occupy camp.  Some of the country's most powerful unions are providing the infrastructure and amenities to keep the Occupy D.C. encampment fortified going into the winter.  The camp's portable toilets are being provided by the Service Employees International Union, the 2.1-million-member organization that helped Barack Obama win the presidency and recently backed his re-election bid.

SEIU Endorses Obama Re-Election.  As I read the memorandum in front of me, I am amazed how blind Americans are, how naïve, ignorant, credulous, and unable to discern fact from fiction, reality from fantasy.  How much more proof do they need before they realize our country is on the path of purposeful destruction?

Jerry Brown, the Unions' Governor.  Since their inception, California's government unions have found no greater ally than Jerry Brown.  In fact, it was Jerry Brown who first authorized government employees to unionize in 1978 through the Dill Act.  Since then, unions have pushed government spending on benefits and pensions to the breaking point.  The self-interested unions have built a political machine of campaign spending that ensures their candidates toe the line once elected.

Feds' Bid To Tip Scales Toward Unions.  Originally a federal statute, the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act required a company and its outside counsel to file annual reports with the government if the company arranged for the lawyer to communicate directly with employees.  However, for more than 40 years, there has been a recognized exception to this requirement if the lawyer is providing legal or practical advice to company managers on how they can communicate with employees about unions, so long as the lawyer is only talking to management.  This longstanding exception has now been targeted by the U.S. Department of Labor, which is on a mission to help unions increase their power and membership.

Obama Enlists IRS for New Union Shakedown of US Business.  The National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) has submitted Freedom of Information requests to the Department of Labor and the Internal Revenue Service following an announcement that the administration is investigating homebuilders in an attempt to bolster union membership at the expense of housing sector jobs.

Chamber sues NLRB over union poster rule.  The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has sued the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to block its new regulation that would have employers post notices informing employees of their right to form a union.  The Chamber joins at least two other prominent business groups in Washington — the National Association of Manufacturers and the National Federation of Independent Business — that have sued the labor board over the union poster rule.

Hi-speed train to financial ruin in California.  Federal spending for high-speed rail is coming under close Congressional scrutiny.  Both political parties have begun to recognize the enormous capital costs required for another Solyndra style payoff; in this case the billions of Federal dollars needed to fund a lucrative union-only jobs program.

As President, Obama Acts as Shop Steward in Chief.  Fully one-third of the $820 billion stimulus package passed almost entirely with Democratic votes in 2009 was aid to state and local governments.  This was intended to keep state and local public employee union members — much more numerous than federal employees — on the job and to keep taxpayer-funded union dues pouring into public employee union treasuries.

Manufacturers sue NLRB over union poster rule.  The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) has sued the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to stop a new regulation by the board that would require employers to post notices informing their workers of their right to organize a union.

Do the math.  It's $100,000 per job.
Can Obama save teacher jobs?  President Obama is looking to send billions of dollars to the states to stem the crush of teacher layoffs.  The proposal, which is expected to be unveiled Thursday night [9/8/2011] as part of Obama's jobs agenda, will likely mirror a $10 billion measure he signed last August to minimize the downsizing of teachers and first responders.  That legislation is estimated to have saved 100,000 positions.

New US rules will soon require posting of workers' union rights.  Beginning in mid-November, most private U.S. employers will have to tack another poster on their employee bulletin boards:  a notice spelling out workers' union rights.  The requirement — part of a flurry of pro-union rulings by the National Labor Relations Board last week — applies to all employers under NLRB jurisdiction, which excludes agricultural, railroad and airline employers.

AFL-CIO Jobs Plan: More Government Borrowing and Spending.  The United States does not have a short-term debt problem, just a "jobs crisis" that can be solved with greater government stimulus spending, according to AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.  Speaking at a press conference on jobs Wednesday [8/31/2011], Trumka called for greater government spending in areas like education and jobs.

At N.L.R.B., Flurry of Acts for Unions as Chief Exits.  The National Labor Relations Board on Tuesday released a decision that would make it easier to unionize nursing home workers.  It is the latest in a flurry of moves favorable to unions that the board completed before the term of its chairwoman, Wilma B. Liebman, expired on Sunday.  The board released two other pro-union decisions on Tuesday, both reversing decisions issued under President George W. Bush.

NLRB's Labor Day Gifts To Unions.  The National Labor Relations Board announced a trio of pro-union rulings today that are, coincidentally or not, just in time for the Labor Day holiday.  The first announcement was the rollback of a pair of previous changes that made it easier for employees to contest union representation.  The second announcement was a ruling that will make it easier for unions to organize smaller groups in workplaces, giving them a foothold in workplaces they have struggled to organize in the past.

AFL-CIO to form super PAC.  The AFL-CIO is getting ready to pump even more money into elections by forming a super PAC and targeting developments in the states, the Associated Press reported Monday [8/22/2011].

Obama Labor Department to Re-Define Term 'Employer' to Exclude Union Bosses.  Any day now, the U.S. Department of Labor, under former Big Labor treasurer and now Obama's current Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, intends to announce a new definition for the term "Employer" that will protect her union boss friends.

The Union Job Security Act Equals Endless Road Construction.  Have you noticed how there is more road construction than usual lately, which never seems to end?  In some states it has gotten so bad their departments of transportation have set up road closure email alerts on each highway.  This is a direct result of President Obama's stimulus spending.  Last summer, Obama proposed spending $50 billion on highways, bridges, transit, high-speed rail and airports.

Did Obama's auto bailout chief say, 'I did this all for the unions'?  Ron Bloom, Assistant to the President for Manufacturing Policy, is quoted in a 2009 newspaper account and a 2010 book saying of the auto bailouts that he "did this all for the unions."  But when Bloom appeared before the committee on June 22, he flatly denied ever saying those words.  Other White House officials have reportedly defended Bloom by suggesting that he did indeed say those words but was joking.

Obama bailout chief changes story.  Ron Bloom, the top White House auto bailout official who has flatly denied accusations that he once said his work on the bailouts was "all for the unions," now admits that he might, in fact, have said those words.

Obama's labor union problem.  Labor leaders bet big on an Obama victory in 2008, hoping Congress would enact, and the Democratic president would sign, "card-check" — legislation designed to turn around labor's sagging membership rolls by ending secret-ballot elections in organizing drives.  But card-check has never been able to pass the Senate — not even when Democrats took over Congress in 2006.  Instead, presidential appointees friendly to labor are deploying agency muscle.  The latest example is taking place largely out of sight — at the National Mediation Board, a little known agency that oversees union elections for railroads and airlines.

New rule would speed up union votes.  The National Labor Relations Board unveiled new rule changes Tuesday [6/21/2011] that could speed up votes on whether or not employees at a company want to belong to a union.  The proposed rules were cheered by the AFL-CIO and its allies in Congress.

The High Speed Unionization Drive-Thru.  The National Labor Relations Board, last seen attacking Boeing for having the unmitigated gall to open a production line in a right-to-work state, is hard at work on some other initiatives to assist the flagging union movement.  The NLRB just proposed some "sweeping new rules," for union elections, as the Associated Press describes them.  These rules would "dramatically speed up the time frame for union elections."

How many new pro-union rules will the NLRB ram through in coming months?  Currently, there's a three-to-one Democratic majority on the NLRB.  In August, the current chair Wilma Liebman's term will expire.  Later in the year, the term of recess-appointed union lawyer Craig Becker will also expire.  That would bring the board's composition down to a one-to-one deadlock.  Given that Republicans have taken an increasingly adversarial stance toward the NLRB in wake of its general counsel's move to sue Boeing for building a nonunion factory in South Carolina, it's unlikely that the pro-union bloc will ever get stronger than it is now.  So there's a tremendous incentive for the board to ram through as many union-friendly rules as possible as quickly as possible.

Obama Administration Accused of Backing Union Agenda With NLRB.  [Scroll down]  Now, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is proposing to change the rules that could speed up elections held among employees to decide whether to unionize. Critics say it's an attempt by Obama appointees to turn those declining numbers around.

Labor panel wants free pass for union thugs.  AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka boasted during a February news conference that he's "at the White House a couple times a week, two, three times a week."  Trumka added that he has "conversations every day with someone at the White House or in the administration."  On Monday [6/20/2011], we learned conclusively that when the AFL-CIO's Richard Trumka speaks, White House officials listen.  His words come as a dog whistle to President Obama, who never misses an opportunity to reward his biggest campaign donors.

Union bosses come first for Obama.  For decades, unions have perpetuated the myth that the interests of Big Labor's bosses and of American workers are identical.  A tenuous case for that proposition could be made decades ago when unions represented a third of all private sector workers.  But doing so today requires a studied refusal to acknowledge reality when fewer than 7 percent are union members.  Nevertheless, President Obama often seems concerned only with serving the interests of the union bosses who are among his most frequent White House guests.

Democratic fealty to unions subverts and circumvents the popular will.
Union Owned and Operated.  In this year's State of the Union address, [President Obama] proclaimed a national goal of doubling exports by 2014.  One obvious way to increase exports is through free-trade agreements.  But unions don't like them.  No surprise then that for two years Obama has been sitting on three free-trade agreements — with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea — already negotiated by his predecessor.

AFL-CIO urges recess appointment for Warren.  The AFL-CIO is calling for a recess appointment of Elizabeth Warren as the head of the fledgling Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).  In an email sent to the labor federation's activists Thursday [6/9/2011], AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka asks them to urge President Obama to appoint Warren to the head of the agency.

Obama and free trade: Appease big labor.  President Obama is sacrificing economic growth and job creation in order to placate organized labor.  And as the crisis of the welfare state deepens, he is trying to enlarge the entitlement system and exacerbate the entitlement mentality.

Unions Not As Excited About Reelecting Obama, Says AFL-CIO's Trumka.  Uh oh:  President Barack Obama faces waning enthusiasm from union members as he prepares for his 2012 re-election bid, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said.  "It will be more challenging this time than it was last time to motivate our members," Trumka, 61, said in an interview today at Bloomberg's offices in Washington.

Obama skirts rule of law to reward pals, punish foes.  If Obamacare is so great, why do so many people want to get out from under it?  More specifically, why are more than half of those 3,095,593 in plans run by labor unions, which were among Obamacare's biggest political supporters?  Union members are only 12 percent of all employees but have gotten 50.3 percent of Obamacare waivers.

Obama's Best Times.  [Scroll down]  This week, Labor unions asked legislators to increase federal government union employee benefits and, at the same time, place pay caps on the salaries of private businesses that do business with the government, thus showing that left-wing extremists intend to continue with their efforts to intrude in the day-to-day operations of private industry.

16 state workers laid off for politics will get $422,000.  The state has agreed to pay a total of $422,000 to 16 state transportation workers who a federal jury determined were fired because they were Republicans during the Democratic administration of Gov. Rod Blagojevich, officials said Friday [4/29/2011].  The 16 were laid off from jobs at the Illinois Department of Transportation in July 2004, the second year of Blagojevich's reign.  They sued the agency for wrongful termination, and a federal jury agreed last month that they had been "fired for their political affiliations," said Donald Craven, an attorney for the workers.

Unions still in the driver's seat.  Big Labor's degree of influence in the Democratic Party has never been greater.  Whether we look at the nonstop access of Stern himself to the White House, the prominence of organized labor in the list of top third-party donors, the foot-dragging on free-trade deals or the appointments by this administration (Hilda Solis to the Labor Department and Craig Becker, formerly a lawyer for the AFL-CIO and SEIU, to the National Labor Relations Board, to name two) it is hard to think of any other special interest that wields more power than organized labor.

Obama 'transparency' Executive Order targets administration enemies.  There is a very simple way to prove that this Obama order is all about punishing his enemies and rewarding his friends:  unions that sign collective bargaining contracts with the federal government are exempt from the "disclosure" requirements.  Liberal groups, the largest of which are all unions, spent $95 million on outside expenditures alone in the 2010 cycle alone.

Rainbow PUSH Minister Prays for God to "Wither" Union Foes.  I've never found the words "collective bargaining" or "pension" in the Bible.  And no offense, but I think God is a little bigger than worrying about material things given by the state.  But that apparently didn't register with Rev. D. Alexander Bullock, head of the Detroit chapter of the Rainbow PUSH coalition.  In his prayer before the latest union protest on the Capitol steps, he prayed for God to "wither" the hands of anyone that would sign bills reforming pensions or collective bargaining.  I have to admit I don't think I've ever heard a prayer — especially in such a public setting — seeking physical harm to opponents.

Gangsta Wrap.  [Q]:  Supporting the SEIU isn't special-interest-group politics.  It's protecting the common man, the blue-collar guy, isn't it?  [A]:  If by "protecting the common man" you mean bending over backwards for 12 percent of all workers, at the expense of the other 88 percent, then yes.  But I think that verges on abuse of the term "common."  You're right to bring up the SEIU, which happens to be Obama's favorite.  They were the ones who made him a senator in 2004 — something he has not hesitated to acknowledge.  They and the AFL-CIO broke the bank in 2008 to elect Obama and install as Democratic a Congress as possible.  The unions' spending in that election was the equivalent of a third presidential campaign, and so when you consider what the political environment was like, it's amazing that Obama didn't do even better.  That's the best explanation for the incredible access that this White House has given labor leaders.

Obama administration covers up union welfare program.  The Obama administration is more than a year late in releasing an important report on federal government union costs.  Clauses within collective bargaining agreements require that the government pay some federal workers for union activities — using tax dollars.  This practice, known as "official time," is documented annually in the Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) Official Time Usage in the Federal Government Report.  Unfortunately, the Obama administration has not released any official time statistics since taking office; 2008 is the latest information available.

Mayan ruins.  The president's trip to South America has been billed as a trade mission.  And of course, trade is an important part of any strategy to boost our economy.  Unless, of course, you are part of the union leadership, which has desperately tried to sink all trade agreements, including ones with Colombia and Panama.  And by the way, the unions happen to be to biggest supporters of this president.

Obama's Shady Union Ties.  Would most people consider it quite odd that the president of the most infamous union in the country-the AFL-CIO-brags about how frequently he is a visitor to the White House?  In his words, that's two or three times a week, and that's in addition to his numerous weekly phone conversations with White House officials.  What union business could possibly require such a close alliance between the AFL-CIO and president Barack Hussein Obama?  Certainly, we can only hazard a guess, but if AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka's actions in the recent past are any indication, he's getting more than tea and crumpets during his visits.

Jamie Dupree Washington Insider.  The Obama Administration has rolled out another 129 waivers to one provision of the new health reform law, with almost half of those new exemptions going to various union groups.  The extra waivers bring the total to 1,168, giving businesses, health plans, unions and others an exemption from a portion of the law that in 2011 requires an annual benefit limit of no less than $750,000.

Bench Brawl in Wisconsin.  The Left long ago stopped pretending that court proceedings were anything other than exercises in raw-power politics, and so they've taken their fight against Wisconsin governor Scott Walker to the state supreme court — not in the form of a lawsuit, but in the form of a multimillion-dollar intervention into an election to a ten-year term on the court.  Wisconsin supreme court justice David Prosser went to bed one night a respected former prosecutor, and woke up the next morning the target of a $3 million union-run smear campaign, falsely accused of being an enabler of pedophiles.

Congress should restore democracy to union elections.  Major changes to the nation's labor laws should be made by the people's elected representatives, not partisan presidential appointees serving on obscure bureaucratic panels.  But last year, without any deliberation by Congress, two Democrats on the three-member National Mediation Board jettisoned the board's own legal precedent, dating back to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's day, to make it easier for unions to organize railroad and airline workers and harder for managers to offer counterarguments.

5 Reasons Unions Are Bad For America.  At one time in this country, there were few workplace safety laws, few restraints on employers, and incredibly exploitive working conditions that ranged from slavery, to share cropping, to putting children in dangerous working conditions.  Unions, to their everlasting credit, helped play an important role in leveling the playing field for workers.  However, as the laws changed, there was less and less need for unions. Because of that, union membership shrank.  In response, the unions became more explicitly involved in politics.  Over time, they managed to co-opt the Democratic Party, pull their strings, and rewrite our labor laws in their favor.

War On Taxpayers Update: Massachusetts.  George Noel is the director of the Massachusetts Department of Labor.  The Boston Herald reports that he addressed a union rally over the weekend, in the company of such illustrious organizations as Code Pink and MoveOn.org.  Peering across the fruited plain to Wisconsin, Noel declared:  "Make no mistake about it.  We are at war.  This war is about everyone in the middle class... If [Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and his supporters] claim to love this country, why do they hate democracy?"

A decisive moment: Public employee unions or the common good?  The president is actively weighing in on the side of the greedy — there is no other word for them — union bosses who refuse to relinquish what years of cozy relations with irresponsible politicians have dropped into their laps.  That presidential obtuseness should serve as a wakeup call to the country. ... Is the co-dependency between organized labor and the Democratic Party to be the demise of both?

Big Business & Big Labor: Don't Stop Spending.  Big Business and Big Labor don't often agree, so it's news when they do.  In a joint statement today, Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue and AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka praised President Obama's State of the Union address and encouraged Congress to pick up the president's call for more "investments" — i.e., yet more federal spending.

Obama uses 'green' emissions standards to push truckers into Teamsters union.  President Barack Obama's administration is using new "environmental standards" to force independent owner-operator truckers into becoming part of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a union that gave more than $2 million to Democrats in the last two election cycles.

The Union Threat to the Democrats' Future:  There is a crisis in state and municipal finance.  That much is clear.  What hasn't been fully understood is that the fate of the Democratic Party is bound up in the resolution of that crisis.  In the November midterm elections, the Democratic Party lost its congressional majority.  The far graver threat to the party, though, is that its base is made up disproportionately of public-employee unions, liberals, trial lawyers and other special-interest groups.

Obama's Department of Labor forces unionization.  Labor unions give more money to the Democratic Party than any other source, and critics have long accused President Barack Obama's administration of doing their bidding.  Now there is evidence that the White House has indeed put its thumb on the scale on behalf of unions.  After saying that "union jobs are, by and large, good jobs," the Department of Labor's "strategic plan" for the next five years says:  "many of the Department's outcome goals are furthered by high rates of union membership."

Congress Should Block Union Transparency Rollback.  The Obama Administration recently rolled back union financial transparency reforms.  New regulations will exempt many union trust funds, such as strike funds and apprenticeship programs, from financial disclosure laws.  These regulations also end financial reporting for many government unions.

The Obama Team's Other Lost Election.  President Obama has done more favors, more often, for organized labor than any other president, outpacing even FDR and Harry Truman in the lightning speed with which he has rushed to fulfill the union agenda.  Calling Obama pro-union is putting it mildly.  His paybacks to unions have come in every conceivable form:  appointments, executive orders, legislation, bailouts, regulations, policy changes (notably at the Department of Labor), protectionism.

Former union leader joins liberal think tank.  Anna Burger, the former number two at the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), has joined the board of directors at the Center for American Progress Action Fund.  In a statement, John Podesta, chairman of the board, said the group was "pleased" that Burger was coming on board.

Obama to Give Highest Civilian Award to Union Boss.  President Obama today named AFL-CIO President Emeritus John Sweeney as a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.  The award is presented to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.

Union chief doesn't deserve a presidential medal.  According to the White House, Sweeney has been selected to receive the nation's highest civilian honor because "he revitalized the American labor movement, emphasizing union organizing and social justice, and was a powerful advocate for America's workers."  Of course, the claim that Sweeney revitalized the organized labor in any meaningful way is dubious.  As recently as 1956, organized labor was 38 percent of the work force.  Today it's 7 percent and declining.

Lame ducks paying their union dues.  Last month, citizens across the country sent a strong message to politicians — Republicans and Democrats alike — that they do not want more congressional meddling.  But the leaders of the lame-duck Congress didn't listen.  One of Big Labor's top objectives is to ram the so-called Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act (reintroduced last week as S. 3991) into law.  Under this cynically mislabeled legislation, all states and localities would be denied the option to refuse to grant a single public-safety union the power to speak for all front-line employees, including those who don't want to join.

Time to Tackle Right to Work.  There are many things Republicans in control of state governments should do:  limit spending, cut tax rates, reduce regulation.  But there is one reform that stout-hearted Republicans running those five rust belt states should definitely do:  pass right to work laws.  The Taft-Hartley Act allows each state the option of enacting right to work laws, which allow workers to not join a labor union as a condition of employment.  Twenty-two states have adopted right to work laws, and these states closely resemble the twenty-two states that Obama lost in 2008.

Unions target your private retirement savings.  Forcing everybody into a government retirement system that pays out equally to Americans who have scrimped and saved and to those in organized labor who have grossly mismanaged their pension plans seems almost too crazy to contemplate.  But unions are desperate, and Democrats are in hock to Big Labor in a big way.

Sherman's March.  A California congressman wants to eliminate right-to-work laws in 22 states where workers don't have to join unions.  If even-higher unemployment is his goal, he has the right idea.

AFL-CIO Joins Marxist/Progressive Get Out the Vote Alliance.  On the national level it seems as if the Unions have changed priorities.  No longer is their primary objective to protect the rights of their own rank and file, their objectives has moved into politics and selling the progressive and/or Marxist agenda.  Hence their support of many of the Administrations policies such as Obamacare, the auto bailout and the financial regulation bill in some cases (such as Obamcare) over the objections of their membership.

With Tax Hikes, Look For the Union Label.  The sight of rich people pleading to be taxed more has attracted attention to the November ballot initiative.  But otherwise, support for the ballot measure, which would slap a tax of from 5 percent to 9 percent on the income of those earning more than $200,000 a year ($400,000 for those filing jointly), is entirely predictable.  The chief force behind it is the state's unions, who've contributed some $2 million to the campaign for the initiative, led by the state employees' union, the teachers' union and the Service Employees International Union, the largest union in the state with 100,000 workers, many of them working in the heavily-regulated area of health care.

Tea Party Vs. SEIU.  [Catherine Engelbrecht] and her associates collected publicly available polling data to prove that the fraudulent voting they saw was real, rampant and organized. ... One woman was found to have registered six times in one day.  There were 1,597 registrations that named the same person with a variety of signatures.  One person turned in more registrations in one day than was physically possible.  "Vacant lots had several voters registered on them.  An eight-bed halfway house had more than 40 voters registered at its address," according to Engelbrecht.  "We then decided to look at who was registering the voters."  It turned out most of the fraudulent registrations were done by a group called Houston Votes, headed by Sean Castle, who also works for the Service Employees International Union.

Obama sacrificed non-union employees for UAW cronies.  By turning President Obama into the storyteller-in-chief again, the White House believes it can win back depressed and economically stressed voters.  But victims of Obama's Chicago politics don't want to hear any more of his own well-worn tales of struggle and sacrifice.  They've got their own tragedies to tell — heart-wrenching dramas of personal and financial suffering at the very hands of Obama.

Then there's Obama's favorite special interest, unions.  Big business is a major corrupting influence in Washington.  But when it comes to influencing our elections, the president should probably note that the biggest special interest in the country is not corporations.  "Labor union PACs have spent more this year than every PAC in these industries, combined:  oil and gas, mining, Wall Street, commercial banks, defense contractors, HMOs, telecom, and lobbyists," my Examiner colleague Tim Carney reported earlier this week.  According to the Center for Responsive Politics, 12 of the top 20 biggest political contributors are labor unions.  Labor unions represent just 7.5 percent of the private work force and 40 percent of public employees.  They are the very definition of a special interest.

The special-interest president.  Hardly a week goes by without President Obama accusing Republicans of being beholden to special interests. ... [On Monday 9/6/2010], he told union members that Republicans would "have those special interests riding shotgun, then they'd hit the gas, and we'd be right back in the ditch."  Fortunately, those same union members will have their shovels at the ready to fill the nation's ditches with $50 billion in stimulus funding the president proposed this week for use on infrastructure projects.  Thanks to the Davis-Bacon Act, most of that taxpayer cash will wind up in the back pockets of Big Labor.  It's no coincidence that this group played a decisive role in delivering the votes that put Mr. Obama in the White House.

Michigan:  You're in the union now, like it or not .  Imagine — one morning you wake up, and find you've been forced to join the United Auto Workers against your will because of a special deal cut your Democratic governor cut to reward the union for its political activity.  That's the reality for thousands of Michigan day care providers.  Some of them are suing.

Stimulating the unions.  As President Obama's poll numbers continue to slide, congressional Democrats faced with increasingly tough re-election contests are turning to their best remaining friend, Big Labor, for help.  Tuesday's [8/10/2010] enactment of a $26 billion "jobs bill" was carefully tailored to please public-sector unions, especially those representing teachers.

Why Democrats are Pushing the $165 Billion Union Pension Bailout.  Somewhere lurking in the hot, putrid halls of Congress this summer is a union bailout bill of epic proportions and long-term ramifications.  Whether or not Democrats can ultimately push it (or something like it) into passage is yet to be determined.  However, with rumors that Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) signed on as a co-sponsor on Thursday [7/29/2010], it would appear that the union bailout is quietly creeping along.  If it passes, though, its ramifications surpass the mere $165 billion-plus price tag, as it will influence the political landscape for decades to come.

The Labor Movement, Obama's Friend or Foe in November?  House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio says, "The fact is the president's policies are killing job creation in America, killing our economy, and the American people know it...  Let's stop this stimulus spending that all it's doing is running up debt on the back of our kids and grandkids, and make sure they're not going to increase taxes at a time when our economy is so weak."  [AFL-CIO President Richard] Trumka is trying to steer his members away from that line of thinking...

The Editor asks...
Can you not think for yourselves?

The Unionized States of America.  We now live in the Unionized States of America — a phrase that evokes how Obama and company have gone into overdrive to empower their union allies at our expense.

Unions first, troops last.  Funding for troops in Afghanistan and Iraq could be held up by the war brewing on Capitol Hill among congressional Democrats and the White House.  When the Senate returns to take up the $45.5 billion supplemental appropriations bill that passed the House on July 1, the central issue to resolve will be how best to appease Big Labor.

Unions are the Biggest Threat to Farm Workers.  President Obama's team has discovered another errant profit-seeking, job-producing villain — the blueberry farmers of America. ... Congress is considering legislation that would limit migrant family income by raising the legal work age to 14, and by restricting the hours that youngsters can work.  On the surface, this proposal sounds well intentioned.  Dig a little deeper, however, and we find that it is yet another push by organized labor — the Obama administration's closest ally — to increase its fortunes.

DISCLOSE Act shields Democrat-leaning groups from disclosure requirements.  Washington is shocked top Democrats gave the National Rifle Association — one of the most powerful lobbies in town — its own loophole in legislation designed to increase disclosure requirements on campaign spending following the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision.  The untold story is that Democrats assuaged organized labor's early opposition to the bill by tailoring its provisions to eke out space for unions.

Are unions impeding oil cleanup efforts in the Gulf of Mexico?  President Obama is impeding clean-up efforts in the Gulf by kowtowing to unions and members of the American maritime industry, critics have charged in recent days.  At issue is the president's refusal to waive the Jones Act, a century-old law that effectively bars foreign-owned ships from moving between U.S. ports, a necessary component of participating in the cleanup effort.

Obama's Tragic Union.  My colleague Hans Bader has [a] post up on the incomprehensible inanity of Obama's stunt of refusing foreign-flagged help, as the Gulf Coast flounders ever deeper in oil that Team Obama could have stopped from reaching their shores but did not for reasons of ideological rigidity.

International Assistance Blocked by Regulations Obama Had The Authority To Waive.  Crucial offers to help clean up BP's oil spill "have come from Belgian, Dutch, and Norwegian firms that ... possess some of the world's most advanced oil skimming ships."  But the Obama Administration wouldn't accept the help, because doing so would require it to do something past presidents have routinely done:  waive rules imposed by the Jones Act, a law backed by unions.

The Elephant and the Obama Question.  President Obama has famously asked what he could have done personally about the oil spill.  He said he could not swim down there and suck up the oil with a straw, and he's right.  But when Norway and the Netherlands offered to send the world's best oil skimming ships to the Gulf to help, Mr. Obama turned them down flat.  He did this entirely to protect his pals in the maritime shipping unions.

Surprise:  Dems want different rules for corporations, unions.  The laws being contested in Citizens United treated unions and corporations the same.  The Citizens United decision treats unions and corporations the same.  In fact, campaign finance law has attempted to treat unions and corporations the same for 43 years.  Democrats aren't having that anymore.

The union label:  Paying off Big Labor.  Rewarding Big Labor for political support, the Obama administration is virtually shutting nonunion contractors out of federal construction projects worth at least $25 million — and sticking taxpayers with untold millions in higher costs.  Just weeks after taking office, President Obama signed an executive order encouraging use of project labor agreements (PLAs), which require contractors to agree to union representation and work rules.

Obama doing labor's bidding.  In Barack Obama's Washington, a union card is a gold card.  The president is skewing policy to give the 12 percent of the American work force belonging to a labor union 100 percent of the advantages.

Obama appointees rewrite the rules for airline unions.  [Scroll down]  Because the union needs an absolute majority of employees, those who throw away their ballots and fail to vote are effectively treated as "no" votes.  It seems fair enough:  if a majority of employees either oppose a union or are too ambivalent or apathetic to choose it, the union probably does not have any business representing them.  But the change by the National Mediation Board ... means that now unions need only win support from a majority of those who actually return ballots. ... To make matters a bit worse, says James Sherk of the Heritage Foundation, the Railway Labor Act does not contain any process for decertifying a union.

Organizing For America.  Unions, grasping for relevance in a world where unionization is in steep decline, were thrown a life preserver Monday [5/10/2010] courtesy of the Obama administration.  Airlines were tossed an anchor.  By a 2-1 margin, the National Mediation Board decided Monday to change a rule governing union elections.  For 76 years, a majority of all employees was needed to vote in favor of organizing if a union was to be recognized.  Under the new rule, unions will be certified when only a majority of those voting agree.

Indentured Servitude in the USA and the Biggest Ponzi Scheme Ever.  To the casual observer, Democrat attempts to steer all federal construction work to union contractors is the same as Republicans rewarding non-union contractors.  The Republican position is in fact, that all workers get a shot to work as long as their employer proffers the lowest, best bid without regard to union status.  Clinton first wrote the executive order to steer federal construction work to union contractors.  Bush reversed the policy, and Obama has reinstated it.  What most people never see is the true motive behind this policy of reserving public work for union members only using the union-only PLA.

Fix Is On by Obama and Congress in Union Fight.  [Scroll down]  The Public Safety-Employer-Employee Cooperation Act of 2009 passed the House in 2009 but did not make it to the Senate vote for various extraneous reasons.  But it's back, and it will pass the House and Senate in this session of Congress, lifted by a Democrat majority anxious to move on the bill before November, when it appears that the composition of both Houses will change significantly.  The bill is alarming.  According to the National League of Cities, the Act violates the National Labor Relations Act of 1934 that recognized the separation of federal authority over collective bargaining within the states.

Dem-Packed NLRB May Rush Through Pro-Union Rulings.  After years of inactivity, the National Labor Relations Board is set to come roaring back.  And everyone expects it to give Big Labor a new edge in its dealings with management.

More silver pieces for unions.  Evidence rapidly accumulated that President Obama will pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship in order to do the bidding of big union bosses.  Now Washington's city council seems poised to pursue the same, sorry course. ... The president's Executive Order 13502, which of course would have great effect in the District because so much of the federal government is located here, would apply to federal construction projects worth more than $25 million.

Radical Labor Law Changes After Becker's Appointment?  [Scroll down]  So why should anyone care about this procedural maneuver?  "Because recess appointments last only until Congress adjourns at the end of 2011," noted former NLRB Chairman Peter Kirsanow, a Bush appointee, "But if the Senate confirms Becker and Pearce in exchange for getting Hayes on board also, Becker and Pearce's confirmed terms would be extended by approximately three more years — plenty of time for the Obama-controlled board to make a substantial imprint on labor law."

Obama's Big Labor payback.  Big Labor played such an essential role in delivering the White House to President Obama that the head of the influential government workers union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, told The Washington Times after the election that the union was expecting "payback."  Payback's name is H. Craig Becker.  That's who President Obama nominated for a seat overseeing federal labor laws on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Obama Makes Labor Board Appointment During Recess Over GOP Objections.  Despite intense Republican objections, President Obama on Saturday [3/27/2010] used recess appointments to fill some administration posts, including Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board.

Obama names 15 recess appointments, including union lawyer.  President Barack Obama on Saturday [3/27/2010] wielded his recess appointment powers for the first time, clearing 15 nominees to assume posts that have remained vacant for months due to insurmountable congressional roadblocks.  Among the 15 named just days before the Senate departs for Easter recess are Craig Becker and Mark Pearce, the White House's two, hotly contested nominees for the National Labor Relations Board.

Bush's union transparency rules retracted under Obama.  The Obama administration promised increased transparency in government but has rolled back rules proposed by the Bush administration that expanded the financial disclosure statements required of labor unions and their leaders.

Unions demand more from White House.  Leaders of unions, a crucial constituency for Democrats, say they're disappointed over how little U.S. President Barack Obama has delivered on labor priorities.

Big Labor's Big Payback.  For some time, the business community has been saying that Big Labor would stop at nothing to obtain political "payback" in the form of forced unionization of America's employers.  Union bosses have tried unsuccessfully to ram their job-killing agenda, namely the Employee 'Forced' Choice Act (EFCA) through Congress, at the same time, working their friends in the Obama Administration for favors and awards.  And it now appears President Obama is prepared to "payback" Big Labor's political contributions and support with a recess appointment of Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Obama's Unholy Union — With Unions.  President Obama still has one unstinting and stalwart comrade:  the unions.  After decades in inexorable and well-deserved decline, unions are back bigtime in the Obama-nation.  It is an unholy union.  It's bad for business, bad for the economy, bad for our country.

Democrat Caddell rips White House for obeisance to organized labor.  Longtime Democratic strategist Pat Caddell on Wednesday [2/17/2010] blasted the Obama White House for creating "a world in which there is no dissent," following his banishment from Colorado Democrat Andrew Romanoff's campaign for Senate.

Obama's Love of Labor Makes for One Unholy Union.  President Barack Obama's union with labor unions has become a marriage made in hell.  If he wants to save his presidency, and his party, he should seek a divorce.

The Fourth Rail:  Supporters of unions have long argued, and with good reason, that in the early days of industrializing America, unions helped eliminate child labor and forced companies to create safer working conditions for employees.  Do workers at the DMV, IRS, or your town's Public Transit Board (or their children) have substantial risk of working 16 hour days in dark, dangerous environments?  It's hard to imagine the founders of the AFL thinking that unions would devolve into organizations whose primary goal is to make it impossible to fire bad workers, to argue for an ever-increasing number of vacation days, and to eliminate secret ballots which are not just a staple of union election history but also a fundamental underpinning of liberty.

Construction Industry Opposes Obama Pro-Union Order.  A federal commission has yet to enact a year-old executive order that President Barack Obama thinks will avoid labor unrest but one that critics say discriminates against non-union companies and non-union workers in federal contracting.

Senate rushing to do favors for Big Labor before Brown is seated.  Yesterday [2/1/2010], Senate Democrats rushed through a party-line cloture vote on Obama's nominee for Solicitor General, Patricia Smith.  Smith got 60 Democratic votes even though a Republican senator produced damning evidence that she lied in Senate testimony regarding her role in a controversial program that unfairly benefited labor unions while she was New York State Labor Commissioner.  Today, the Senate is again trying to perform as many favors for Big Labor as it can before newly elected Republican Senator Scott Brown is seated and Democrats lose their supermajority.

Time to Take On the Unions.  No other single cause has been more disruptive to our economy and the principles of the American Dream than the pernicious undermining of commonsense capitalism by the greedy bullies in the teachers', auto workers', and public sector unions.  The restrictions placed upon corporate political donations by the McCain-Feingold Act simply facilitated the ability of the huge labor unions to use their cash to purchase the Democratic Party lock, stock, and Obama.

Labor Unions and the News Media.  Union ownership of a company is no guarantee that the unions won't bankrupt it.  The United Airlines employee stock ownership plan meant that UAL was eventually owned by its unions, but that didn't stop them from driving it into Chapter 11. ... Having run General Motors and Chrysler into the ground, the United Auto Workers now owns a sizable chunk of both companies — after President Obama bailed them out and made sure the UAW was taken care of first.  Does this mean that the union will now look out for the profitability of those companies?  Don't count on it.

Obama, labor's lackey.  President Obama says the big problem in Washington is that politicians focus on pleasing special interests at the expense of the general public.  But his curious definition of "special interests" exempts one key political force:  organized labor.

Lost:  600,000 Jobs.  As if Big Labor hasn't been repaid enough for its help in electing Democrats, a new report shows that protectionism — the unions' signature issue — costs 585,000 of the rest of us our jobs.

Obama Admin Requiring Project Labor Agreements.  Almost as soon as he took office, President Barack Obama repealed a Bush executive order and issued EO #13502 which once again forces all federally contracted building projects to suffer under a PLA [Project Labor Agreement].  The fact is that President Obama stands in opposition to cost effective use of our federal construction dollars as well as free enterprise.  And why did he do this?  Perhaps the millions of dollars raised by unions to fund Obama's presidential campaign explains why?  This is no less than a pay back to Big Labor.

Warning:  This link goes to a self-described Marxist web site.
Labor Union Celebrates Gay Pride and History Month.  "Join the UFCW [United Food and Commercial Workers International Union] in celebrating Gay and Lesbian Pride Month!"

FedEx To Mount Campaign Against Bill Viewed As Pro-Union.  FedEx Corp. is launching what it describes as multi-million-dollar campaign to derail proposed federal legislation that would make it easier for the company's workers to unionize.  The effort targets chief rival United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) in particular, reiterating FedEx's recent criticism of the bill as a federal bailout for UPS.

Kneecapping FedEx.  FedEx Express is learning what could be the Democrats' economic motto — "Never Let Success Go Unpunished."  Led by Rep. James L. Oberstar, Minnesota Democrat, the House on May 21 passed legislation that contains an almost hidden provision — a mere 230 words — that would hobble FedEx Express.  It would do so by completely changing the labor laws under which the company operates.  Unless the Senate removes the language from the underlying bill reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration, a mere dozen or so workers in just one city could hamstring much of the nation's overnight delivery service.

Is Obama Designing the End of Capitalism?  All of Obama's economic policies thus far are designed to drive America into full embrace of socialism.  His chief means for this transformation:  inflation.  He is attempting to inflate the currency through two primary means:  intense deficit spending, and pushing up production costs through union subsidization.  In order to make these measures politically palatable, he cites FDR as an example of good deficit spending; he cites the credit crunch as an excuse for inflationary monetary policy; and he recommends unionization in order to boost wages.

Obama acts for unions.  President Barack Obama issued a series of executive orders today [1/30/2009] that he said should "level the playing field" for labor unions in their struggles with management.  Obama also used the occasion at the White House to announce formally a new White House task force on the problems of middle-class Americans, and installed Vice President Joe Biden as its chairman.  Union officials say the new orders by Obama will undo Bush administration policies that favored employers over workers.

Obama executive order favors union labor.  President Barack Obama on Friday issued an executive order backing the use of union labor for large-scale federal construction projects.  The order encourages federal agencies to have construction contractors and subcontractors enter project labor agreements.  Those agreements require contractors to negotiate with union officials, recognize union wages and benefits and generally abide by collective-bargaining agreements.

Detroit's Faustian Bargain.  A Democratic Green Industrial Policy was already gaining speed Thursday [11/6/2008] as American automakers groveled for money before the most openly hostile-to-auto Congress in U.S. history. ... It is, of course, no coincidence that the Big Three arrived at Washington's doorstep together.  All three have labored under "pattern bargaining" union contracts — Democrat-supported unions — that made their wage and pension costs unsustainable against non-union foreign automakers.

Union Revival Act.  It was assumed that the new larger Democratic congressional majority would be a boost for labor organizers who want to push workers into joining unions.  The reality might turn out to be a bit different.

Colorado's Labor Showdown:  Right-to-work laws tend to make it harder to organize a union, and Big Labor's national priority these days is reversing a long-term trend of falling union numbers.  So at the first hint of the initiative, Colorado's labor unions mobilized to defeat the measure, while escalating with four antibusiness ballot initiatives as political retaliation.

Barack Obama Isn't Santa Claus.  In his speech, Obama speaks of America being "a better country than one where a man in Indiana has to pack up the equipment that he's worked on for 20 years and watch as it's shipped off to China."  Yet he left out that he recently told the Las Cruces Sun-News about his plan to give citizenship to all the undocumented illegal immigrants already here taking Americans' jobs and undercutting wages.  I wonder how all the union employees who applauded this week as some 600 illegals were hauled out of their plant during an INS raid in small town Mississippi would feel about Urkel Obama's plans to turn around and give all such cheaters citizenship?

Labor Unions Prolonged the Depression.  Pre-Depression-era growth and prosperity did not return to the private sector until the early 1950s, when the spread of state right-to-work laws prohibiting forced union membership and dues greatly reduced the detrimental effects of the Wagner Act.  The U.S. has just experienced another stock market crash, and Barack Obama, the candidate now favored to be the next president, is in favor of what amounts to a new Wagner Act.

Unions Look to Democrats to Enact Sweeping Legislative Agenda.  What makes labor's current political activity so significant is that, unlike when Democrats controlled Congress and the White House in the early 1990s, this time unions want a major overhaul of labor law.  Unions are demanding that Democratic presidential candidates commit to adopting their agenda, and a Democratic president will feel an enormous obligation to uphold election promises.  If Democrats hang onto the House and increase their Senate margin, Republicans will have few opportunities to impede labor's broader agenda.

Unions pump $1 million into phone-tax campaign.  Organized labor has contributed more than $1 million to help Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa persuade voters to approve a Feb. 5 ballot measure that would maintain the city's telephone utility users tax. … Los Angeles County Federation of Labor Executive Secretary-Treasurer Maria Elena Durazo said unions are bankrolling the campaign because losing the telephone tax would hurt city services and the public employees who provide them.

Big Labor's Unfulfilled Wish List:  The federal government's union watchdog agency will have to get by on less next year.  The mammoth omnibus spending bill passed last week hacks nearly $3 million from the Office of Labor Management Standards — a small gift for Big Labor just in time for Christmas.  The budget cut was a setback for the office, which has recouped more than $100 million for American workers since 2001 as a result of increased enforcement.

Large Union Backs Obama; Another Is Likely to Do Same.  Giving Senator Barack Obama new momentum, one of the nation's largest labor unions, the United Food and Commercial Workers, endorsed him on Thursday [2/14/2008].  Another giant, the Service Employees International Union, was on the brink of backing him.

Don't Scrap the Private Ballot.  Democracy can be messy.  You find that in any number of stories about voting irregularities.  For example, in Florida's 13th congressional district, Republican Vern Buchanan won last fall by just 369 votes.  Democrat Christine Jennings cried foul, noting that some 18,000 ballots were cast without a vote for either candidate.  (The House of Representatives is investigating.)  Not to worry, though, because organized labor has a way to end electoral controversy:  Eliminate the private ballot.

Colorado opens door too wide for unions.  Will the proposed policy that would expand the access unions have to state employees truly make Colorado a "union paradise," as Republicans claim?  Is it Gov. Bill Ritter's "thank you" to organized labor for its help in his winning election?

Union Members, Not Minimum-Wage Earners, Benefit When the Minimum Wage Rises.  Supporters of raising the minimum wage argue it will raise the earnings of low-income workers.  Labor unions are among the most prominent of these supporters, a fact that makes little intuitive sense, because very few union members work for the minimum wage.  Unions, however, are not just being altruistic when they push to raise the minimum wage.  A higher minimum wage increases the expense of hiring unskilled workers.  This makes hiring skilled union members more attractive.

The heroic era of organized labor is long gone.  Soon, perhaps, a majority of organized labor will be government employees.  The labor movement will be primarily government organized as an interest group to lobby and pressure itself.  Already New York City, which has about the same size population it had 40 years ago, has 30 percent more city employees.

Labor's Under-the-Radar Power Grab.  Big Labor has made many ambitious and high-profile efforts to attract national attention, such as the so-called Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA, better known as "card-check"), stacking the National Labor Relations Board with union-friendly hacks, and impeding Boeing's plans in right-to-work states like South Carolina. ... Unfortunately for the unions, such efforts have met with only mixed success, in no small part because their publicity has provoked a ferocious and expensive backlash by labor's opponents.

Money wasted on failed political maneuvers:<

Lincoln Wins this Round; Big Labor Suffers Big Loss.  But it's more than just the money.  It's a rejection of the ideas the unions are peddling.  The unions wanted this election.  Bill Halter, Lincoln's Democratic primary opponent, is for card check.  Lincoln is not.  Card check is the unions' signature issue.  This election is just weeks after big labor suffered another major loss.  In Pennsylvania, big labor wanted Arlen Specter, offering money and institutional support.  That didn't matter to the voters, who elected not to send Specter back to Washington.

White House official:  'Organized labor just flushed $10 million down the toilet'.  A senior White House official just called me with a very pointed message for the administration's sometime allies in organized labor, who invested heavily in beating Blanche Lincoln, Obama's candidate, in Arkansas.  "Organized labor just flushed $10 million of their members' money down the toilet on a pointless exercise," the official said.  "If even half that total had been well-targeted and applied in key House races across this country, that could have made a real difference in November."

Your union dues at work:
Primary Lessons.  [Senator Blanche] Lincoln drew Big Labor's wrath for heresies like opposing "card check" legislation, which would have eliminated secret ballots to facilitate union organizing.  As payback, unions, aided by a battery of progressive political action groups, put their full political clout into the race, sponsoring Halter to the tune of $10 million.  But while the lavishly funded challenge did force Lincoln into a runoff, the unions' purchasing power came up short.  As one agonized Obama White House official told Politico:  "Organized labor just flushed $10 million of their members' money down the toilet on a pointless exercise."

SEIU fails in attempt to challenge Democrat who voted against Obamacare.  The SEIU made big noises about challenging Democrats who voted against Obamacare.  They even promised to create their own political party in North Carolina to challenge Rep. Larry Kissell, D-N.C., as payback.  However, it looks like either the SEIU's plans here were too ambitious, they lacked support for a new party or both.

Obama picks a fight with Mexico on behalf of the Teamsters<

Mexico Strikes Back in Trade Spat.  The Mexican government said Monday [3/16/2009] it would slap tariffs on 90 U.S. industrial and agricultural products, in a trade dispute that underscored the difficulties facing President Barack Obama as he tries to assure business and global allies that he favors free trade.  Mexico said the tariffs were in retaliation for the cancellation of a pilot program allowing Mexican trucks to transport cargo throughout the U.S.  Unions have for years fought to keep Mexican trucks off U.S. highways...

The Teamsters War.  President Obama often campaigned as a trade warrior, and now he's getting his wish.  Mexico announced yesterday that it will raise tariffs on 90 U.S. products, affecting some $2.4 billion in goods across 40 states.  The move was retaliation for the recent decision by Congress, signed into law by Mr. Obama, to close the Southern U.S. border to Mexican trucks.

Mexico Bites Back.  Congressional Democrats have a bad habit of viewing treaty obligations as favors, forgetting that trade is a two-way street.  Now that they've broken NAFTA, the Mexicans are about to educate them.

Avoidable trade war.  Because the United States reneged on a good-faith commitment, we are engaged in a minitrade war with our third-largest trading partner.  And if the Great Depression taught us anything, the middle of an economic downturn is the worst possible time to begin erecting trade barriers.

Meet Union-Buster Nancy Pelosi.  A blockbuster NewsMax Magazine story by best-selling author Peter Schweizer exposes how Democratic leaders passionately fight for liberal policies, but go to great lengths to avoid applying those policies in their personal lives.

Republicans think Labor Department has secret Obamacare 'fix' for unions.  Two Republican House lawmakers asked the Labor Department to provide "all legal analyses" it has done on a proposed Obamacare "fix" sought by Big Labor.  The lawmakers think the administration is secretly working on a such a fix but trying to keep it hidden from the public.

Obama Slams Union Strikes, IBEW Shills Anyway.  Today [10/3/2013], defending his decision to refuse to negotiate with Republicans, unlike every other Democratic president before him, Obama came out strongly against workers shutting down a manufacturing plant in order to win concessions from their employer.

Obama's Lawless Presidency.  One of his very first moves when he was swept into Washington, for instance, was to begin a program to give big payoffs to his union masters.  His first move was to put a union operative in as the head of the Department of Labor.  Hilda Solis had been a union stooge her entire career and that stoogery only increased when Obama took office and quickly put her in charge of the DoL.  This is significant because the DoL is supposed to be an unbiased arbiter between labor and the business sector.

A White House That Punishes Adversaries, Pays Off Friends.  Did the Obama administration stiff a group of non-union workers and pay off a political ally in the 2009 auto bailout?  Yes, it did, says the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Barack Obama: 'I owe those unions'.  In his book "The Audacity of Hope," then-candidate Barack Obama, when talking about his relationship with Big Labor union officials, wrote:  "I owe those unions.  When their leaders call, I do my best to call them back right away.  I don't consider this corrupting in any way."  Fours year later, it's become clear he did a lot more than just call them.  Countless giveaways to organized labor have ensured that Washington union bosses owe the president and will spend more than a billion dollars to ensure President Obama's return to the White House.  You see, the largest special interest in the upcoming elections is Big Labor.

Obama's $25 Billion Government Motors Lemon.  On Tuesday [8/14/2012], GM fell $0.26, or 1.3%, to $20.21.  At that price, the government would lose another $995 million on its GM bailout.  The report notes the government still has 500 million shares of GM and needs to sell those shares at $53 each for the government to break even on the bailout.  Worse yet, the entire financial loss suffered by taxpayers is the result of a massive and planned redistribution of wealth from them to the auto unions that form a key part of Obama's base and re-election drive.  In its analysis, the Heritage Foundation says all the taxpayer losses occurred because the administration manipulated bankruptcy law to shelter the United Auto Workers' compensation.

Unions Get Waivers Bought With Political Cash.  In a telltale Friday-night document dump, the White House released records showing the latest lucky recipients of Obama-Care cost waivers.  By the wildest of coincidences, 87% of them belong to Big Labor unions.  Interesting, since Big Labor pulled out all the stops to get the president's signature on health care reform passed in March 2010.  But as the waivers came, it's clear they never had any expectation of paying for it.

Obama Excuses Over 500,000 Union Members From Obamacare.  Remember back in the days of the debate over Obamacare when unions were the biggest voices screaming in support of the legislation?  Many labor union bosses said that nationalized healthcare was exactly what they wanted.  Further they said it was what was good for the country.  Yet now we learn that Obama has given waivers to some 550,000 union members so that they don't have to suffer under Obamacare.

Unions 1, Workers 0.  The Obama administration, it seems, would rather propose rules to increase union membership than take steps to reduce unemployment.  One rule, which has already taken effect, permits the creation of "micro-unions."  Rather than all the employees at a specific plant or business joining one big union, there can be one just for cashiers or one just for those who stock shelves.  The attraction for union leaders is obvious:  They can cherry-pick the groups most interested in joining together for the purpose of collective bargaining, bypassing workers who aren't interested.

The Congress-optional president.  On Oct. 11, after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had taken extraordinary measures to stall an embarrassing vote as long as possible, the Senate decisively rejected President Obama's "jobs" plan.  The same day, in Pittsburgh, Mr. Obama explained to his union allies that he would move forward regardless.  "We're not gonna wait for Congress," Mr. Obama explained.  "We can act administratively without additional congressional authorization and just get it done." ... This remarkable disregard for the rule of law and proper constitutional procedures fit a familiar pattern in this administration:  What it cannot achieve legislatively it will attempt to do by regulatory fiat.

Union bosses come first for Obama.  For decades, unions have perpetuated the myth that the interests of Big Labor's bosses and of American workers are identical.  A tenuous case for that proposition could be made decades ago when unions represented a third of all private sector workers.  But doing so today requires a studied refusal to acknowledge reality when fewer than 7 percent are union members.  Nevertheless, President Obama often seems concerned only with serving the interests of the union bosses who are among his most frequent White House guests.

Unionization via Regulation.  Union leaders, unable to reverse decades of continued decline in private sector membership, are seeking political solutions to their ills — specifically, changes to labor law that would favor unionization.  They pinned their hopes on the election of Barack Obama as President, following the Democrats' winning control of Congress in 2006.  With Democrats running both elected branches of the federal government, pro-union legislation — including "card check" and bailouts for underfunded union pensions — seemed imminent in the early days of the Obama administration.

Gangsta Wrap.  [Q]:  Supporting the SEIU isn't special-interest-group politics.  It's protecting the common man, the blue-collar guy, isn't it?  [A]:  If by "protecting the common man" you mean bending over backwards for 12 percent of all workers, at the expense of the other 88 percent, then yes.  But I think that verges on abuse of the term "common."  You're right to bring up the SEIU, which happens to be Obama's favorite.  They were the ones who made him a senator in 2004 — something he has not hesitated to acknowledge.  They and the AFL-CIO broke the bank in 2008 to elect Obama and install as Democratic a Congress as possible.  The unions' spending in that election was the equivalent of a third presidential campaign, and so when you consider what the political environment was like, it's amazing that Obama didn't do even better.  That's the best explanation for the incredible access that this White House has given labor leaders.

Ready for Unionized Airport Security?  As payback for union support, the Obama administration greases the wheels for the largest federal organizing effort in history.

Labor Dept: If You Let Girl Scouts Sell Cookies, You Have to Let Unions Come in Too.  Obama's NLRB is trying to push a new rule that would force any business that allows Girl Scouts or any other local groups like baseball or football teams, school bands, charity groups etc. to sell their fundraiser items or solicit donations in front of or inside of their businesses to also allow unions into their businesses to cajole employees to organize.  Even when the purpose of many union actions are meant to drive customers away from the business in order to force the employer to accede to union demands, this rule would prevent a business owner from turning disruptive union activists away from their businesses.

Obama the Posterizer.  Just when it looked like employers were getting less fearful about what President Obama might do next to worsen the business climate, the National Labor Relations Board (now with its first Democratic majority in a decade, thanks to Obama's appointees) announced on December 14 that private employers will be required to display pro-unionizing posters in their businesses under a newly proposed federal rule.

Obama's Department of Labor forces unionization.  Labor unions give more money to the Democratic Party than any other source, and critics have long accused President Barack Obama's administration of doing their bidding.  Now there is evidence that the White House has indeed put its thumb on the scale on behalf of unions.  After saying that "union jobs are, by and large, good jobs," the Department of Labor's "strategic plan" for the next five years says:  "many of the Department's outcome goals are furthered by high rates of union membership."

NLRB to require workplaces to notify workers of their right to unionize.  The pro-union regulatory assault continues.  The National Labor Relations Board is now proposing new regulations requiring workers to be notified of their right to unionize.

The Obama Team's Other Lost Election.  President Obama has done more favors, more often, for organized labor than any other president, outpacing even FDR and Harry Truman in the lightning speed with which he has rushed to fulfill the union agenda.  Calling Obama pro-union is putting it mildly.  His paybacks to unions have come in every conceivable form:  appointments, executive orders, legislation, bailouts, regulations, policy changes (notably at the Department of Labor), protectionism.

NY's electric pickpockets.  State lawmakers ignored a $315 million budget gap last week, but they did manage to take care of their labor-union pals.

Another Big Labor Union Payoff: Obama Adds $3.3 Million to Construction Project.  The government is over spent.  This single fact is beyond dispute.  Even Democrats say so.  We have but to recall that Democrat after Democrat attempted to run for office this last election by claiming fealty to small government, cost cutting, and lower spending.  So with all this small government/low spending fever sweeping the political classes, what does Barack Obama do?  He forces policies on federal building projects that inflates costs by the millions.  And why would he do this?  As a payoff to unions that gave him millions in campaign contributions, of course.

The Unions Have Won!  It was a year ago that Obama nominated Erroll Southers for the top position at TSA.  Union sycophant Southers had to drop out of the nominating process, but Obama never did give up the idea of unionizing the TSA.

Obama to Give Highest Civilian Award to Union Boss.  President Obama today named AFL-CIO President Emeritus John Sweeney as a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.  The award is presented to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.

Union chief doesn't deserve a presidential medal.  According to the White House, Sweeney has been selected to receive the nation's highest civilian honor because "he revitalized the American labor movement, emphasizing union organizing and social justice, and was a powerful advocate for America's workers."  Of course, the claim that Sweeney revitalized the organized labor in any meaningful way is dubious.  As recently as 1956, organized labor was 38 percent of the work force.  Today it's 7 percent and declining.

Union payback.  Having survived a near-death experience on Election Day thanks largely to massive donations from labor unions, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is paying back his benefactors.  The Democrat from Nevada says that during Congress' lame duck session he will try to once again force through a measure giving police and fire unions the upper hand in dealing with local communities.

Obama's $50-Billion Union Infrastructure Boondoggle.  President Obama calls his latest attempt to revive the economy a "Plan to Renew and Expand America's Roads, Railways and Runways."  I'm calling it "The Mother of all Big Dig Boondoggles."  Like the infamous "Big Dig" highway spending project in Boston, this latest White House infrastructure spending binge guarantees only two results:  Taxpayers lose; unions win.

Did someone mention the Big Dig?

President Obama's payout to community organizers.  Elected in 2008 as our first community activist president backed by a big government coalition that also included muscular public sector unions, Obama has taken their agenda nationwide.  He left little doubt early in his first term when he funneled hundreds of billions of dollars of federal stimulus money to states and cities to preserve government jobs.  The Obama administration also went to extraordinary lengths to ensure that stimulus money was used to help its big government allies.

Obama to appear at Labor Day rally with AFL-CIO president.  President Obama will spend Labor Day alongside AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, the union announced Monday.

Obama & State Takeover By Union:  Syndicalism.  Given immense potential for shutdown and sabotage, and for use as vehicles of propaganda and agitation, unions remain indispensable tools of Marxist ambition.  Unions contributed an estimated $400 million to Obama's presidential campaign.  Despite comprising only 9% of US workers, labor unions are still key to socialist schemes, and still have potential to badly damage our democracy.

House Votes on 'XXXX' State Government Union Bailout Today.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) summoned the House of Representatives back to Washington into a special, pro forma session today [8/10/2010] for Democrats to pass another $26 billion bailout bill.  In such a hurry to put more funding into the hands of their union buddies this Congressional election season, Democrats forgot to name the bill they passed through the Senate.

Stimulating the unions.  As President Obama's poll numbers continue to slide, congressional Democrats faced with increasingly tough re-election contests are turning to their best remaining friend, Big Labor, for help.  Tuesday's [8/10/2010] enactment of a $26 billion "jobs bill" was carefully tailored to please public-sector unions, especially those representing teachers.

Buying Union Votes With Food Stamps.  In an election year in which Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress are threatened, no price is too high for extra votes — even if it means taking from the poor.

Finance bill favors interests of unions, activists.  The financial reform bill expected to clear Congress this week is chock-full of provisions that have little to do with the financial crisis but cater to the long-standing agendas of labor unions and other Democratic interest groups.  Principal among them is a measure to make it easier for unions, environmental groups and other activist organizations that hold shares to put their representatives on the boards of directors of every corporation in the United States.

As Obama kowtows, unions eye the private sector.  One of the interesting things about the Obama administration is the strange dominance of labor unions.  Yes, Barack Obama and other Democratic leaders do owe the unions something:  Unions gave $400 million to Democrats in the 2008 campaign cycle, and they expect to get something in return.

The Unionized States of America.  We now live in the Unionized States of America — a phrase that evokes how Obama and company have gone into overdrive to empower their union allies at our expense.

Unions first, troops last.  Funding for troops in Afghanistan and Iraq could be held up by the war brewing on Capitol Hill among congressional Democrats and the White House.  When the Senate returns to take up the $45.5 billion supplemental appropriations bill that passed the House on July 1, the central issue to resolve will be how best to appease Big Labor.

Obama's Hard Choices for Other People.  Obama may speak of tough choices but he has been remarkably unwilling to make them, or to force his close allies to do so.  Democrats structured the stimulus bill to help prop up public employee unions and Obama continues to plead for more stimulus.  The president angrily lashed out at automobile debt holders, including state pension funds, that complained he was giving the United Auto Workers a sweetheart deal.

Unions are the Biggest Threat to Farm Workers.  President Obama's team has discovered another errant profit-seeking, job-producing villain — the blueberry farmers of America. ... Congress is considering legislation that would limit migrant family income by raising the legal work age to 14, and by restricting the hours that youngsters can work.  On the surface, this proposal sounds well intentioned.  Dig a little deeper, however, and we find that it is yet another push by organized labor — the Obama administration's closest ally — to increase its fortunes.

The union label:  Paying off Big Labor.  Rewarding Big Labor for political support, the Obama administration is virtually shutting nonunion contractors out of federal construction projects worth at least $25 million — and sticking taxpayers with untold millions in higher costs.  Just weeks after taking office, President Obama signed an executive order encouraging use of project labor agreements (PLAs), which require contractors to agree to union representation and work rules.

Obama pushing $23 billion teachers union bailout.  Yet another example of public sector employee union smash and grab, at a time when private sector workers are desperate for jobs.

ObamaCare's Longshoremen Rules.  The Senate Majority Leader's new version specifically exempts "individuals whose primary work is longshore work."  That would be the longshoremen's union, which has negotiated very costly insurance benefits.  The well-connected dock workers join other union interests such as miners, electrical linemen, EMTs, construction workers, some farmers, fishermen, foresters, early retirees and others who are absolved from this tax.

Unions Calling in Their Chits.  "That's not the change America voted for."  The implied criticism of President Obama comes not from Rush Limbaugh or Fox News but from the AFL-CIO in a newspaper ad this week letting the president and congressional Dems know unions' "bottom line for health care reform."  The unions are calling in their chits.  If health care legislation doesn't include a public option, they won't support it.  And if it does include a tax on so-called gold-plated plans, they'll oppose it.

Unions Look for New Life in World of Obama.  Unions are looking to Barack Obama and rising economic anxiety to reverse organized labor's long slide.  Through three decades of decline, union leaders have been predicting a renaissance that has not come.  But labor invested more than $300 million to help elect Mr. Obama and enlarge the Democratic majority in Congress, and it expects both to enact legislation that will make it easier for millions of workers to unionize.

The New Beast Of Big Labor.  Barack Obama's election has Big Labor strutting with confidence.  But what union bosses such as Andy Stern want should give any president pause.  Can Obama stand up to them?

Big Labor's Bill to End Secret Ballots Gains Momentum.  In April, then-Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said in Philadelphia, "I've fought to pass the Employee Free Choice Act in the Senate.  And I will make it the law of the land when I'm president of the United States of America."  President-elect Obama will move into the White House with increased Democratic majorities in both the House and Senate, which also support legislation designed to stem the tide of declining union membership.

Unions' Creepy Push Against Secret Ballot.  The first campaign promise Barack Obama should break is to push through the Employee Free Choice Act.  That harmless sounding piece of legislation would let union organizers do an end run around secret-ballot elections:  Companies would have to recognize a union if most workers signed cards in support of it.  We're not children here.  We know how those majorities can be reached.  There's repeated harassment, bullying and more inventive tactics, such as getting workers drunk, then sliding sign-up cards under their noses.  Meanwhile, any strong-armed tactics by employers can be dealt with.

After Push for Obama, Unions Seek New Rules.  After making millions of phone calls and knocking on millions of doors to elect Barack Obama, the nation's labor unions have begun a new campaign: to get the new president and Congress to pass legislation that would make it easier for workers to unionize.  Unions, delighted that they will have a friend in the White House after eight years of fighting President Bush, also plan to push for universal health coverage and a huge stimulus program to create jobs and counter the downturn.

Meet the union organizers.  One of the Obama administration's first legislative priorities will be the passage of the so-called Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA).  Once EFCA becomes law, unionization will no longer be a concern primarily for employers in the industrial Midwest.  Instead, unionization will be thrust upon right-to-work states such as Texas.  EFCA is not just bad policy.  It will end this state's competitive advantage as a low-tax, union-free environment that encourages businesses to locate here and provide jobs for Texans.

A labor-union problem looms for Obama:  Two months before Barack Obama is to be sworn in as president, opening salvos are being launched over what could become one of the thorniest issues his administration will face next year.  Organized labor, which spent more than $80 million to put Democrats in the White House and Congress, wants Obama to deliver on its priority:  new rules to make it easier to unionize workplaces.

The New Beast Of Big Labor:  Barack Obama's election has Big Labor strutting with confidence.  But what union bosses such as Andy Stern want should give any president pause.  Can Obama stand up to them?

Let's 'Share the Wealth'.  "We just won an election.  It's no secret."  By "we," Andy Stern means "American workers."  He also means Big Labor.  Speaking on behalf of the fastest growing trade group in America, the Service Employees International Union — and as one of labor's most powerful figures today — Mr. Stern sets this simple bar for the Obama presidency:  "I expect nothing less than what he said he was going to do, and we should hold him accountable." ... The bit about accountability is no idle warning.  Organized labor put up some $450 million to get Democrats elected.

The Editor says...
Wow -- $450 million in union dues going to the Democratic Party.  If you are a member of a labor union but you're not a Democrat, I hope you find that offensive.  More information about labor unions can be found here.

What we don't know about Obama:  Obama, for the entire campaign, said all the right things when it comes to keeping peace with Big Labor.  He praised the power and fairness of unions.  He expressed skepticism about free trade agreements like NAFTA.  Most of all, he proudly sponsored legislation to make it much easier for workers to unionize.  Lately, he sounds like a man rethinking his enthusiasm.

Unions see better days ahead under Obama's leadership.  Happier days are here for the labor movement in the United States.  The AFL-CIO spent $53 million and its trade union affiliates $250 million to help Barack Obama win the White House, relying mostly on "field mobilization" campaigns to turn out a favorable vote.  The excitement level already has risen at the AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington.  "The most pro-working-family president in years," noted one staffer.

Obama acts for unions.  President Barack Obama issued a series of executive orders today [1/30/2009] that he said should "level the playing field" for labor unions in their struggles with management.  Obama also used the occasion at the White House to announce formally a new White House task force on the problems of middle-class Americans, and installed Vice President Joe Biden as its chairman.  Union officials say the new orders by Obama will undo Bush administration policies that favored employers over workers.

Obama Stimulates Unions, Inflation and Debt.  The George Soros-funded Center for American Progress, which was run by Obama's Transition Project co-chair, John Podesta, said Obama would launch a "Green, Unionized Economic Recovery."  The key word was "unionized," a tip-off that public money would subsidize expansion of the labor unions that backed Obama.  One of those powerful unions, the AFL-CIO, is headed by John Sweeney, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.

Obama Admin Requiring Project Labor Agreements.  Almost as soon as he took office, President Barack Obama repealed a Bush executive order and issued EO #13502 which once again forces all federally contracted building projects to suffer under a PLA [Project Labor Agreement].  The fact is that President Obama stands in opposition to cost effective use of our federal construction dollars as well as free enterprise.  And why did he do this?  Perhaps the millions of dollars raised by unions to fund Obama's presidential campaign explains why?  This is no less than a pay back to Big Labor.

Payday For Unions.  If there's any question as to why union toughs turned up at recent health care town halls and got violent, consider what they were gooning for:  a $10 billion bailout for their mismanaged pensions — at our expense.

Obama Administration Not Enforcing Union Reporting Laws.  Are you a union member trying to find out information of the criminal actions and shady financial dealings of your union?  Well don't expect Obama and his toady in the Labor Secretary's office, Hilda Solis, to help you uncover any illegalities perpetrated by your union bosses.

Lost:  600,000 Jobs.  As if Big Labor hasn't been repaid enough for its help in electing Democrats, a new report shows that protectionism — the unions' signature issue — costs 585,000 of the rest of us our jobs.

Obama, labor's lackey.  President Obama says the big problem in Washington is that politicians focus on pleasing special interests at the expense of the general public.  But his curious definition of "special interests" exempts one key political force:  organized labor.

Obama puts union strings on federal jobs.  Delivering on President Obama's promise to boost the labor movement, the administration has announced a $35 million federal construction project in New Hampshire that requires union representation for the workers and forces nonunion employees to pay dues and contribute to a union pension fund.  Mr. Obama issued an executive order in the first weeks of his presidency that would make the requirement, known as a "project labor agreement" or PLA, the norm for all government contracts on large-scale construction jobs.

Follow the Money.  We have yet to see a bill from the Democratic Congress or the Obama White House that is not actually a payoff to a key constituency.  The tsunami of dollars unleashed by the Obama Treasury Department in coordination with the Fed has obscured the fact that many of those dollars are ending up in the pockets of Friends of Obama or Friends of Nancy or Friends of Harry.

Labor's $60 Billion Payoff.  Democrats seem impervious to embarrassment as they buy votes for ObamaCare, but their latest move makes even Nebraska's Ben Nelson look cheap:  The 87% of Americans who don't belong to a union will now foot the bill for a $60 billion giveaway to those who do.

Obama's $59 billion giveaway to unions:  Public outcry over a $59 billion special deal President Obama cut with unions on Thursday [1/14/2010] should be deafening.  Repeatedly throughout his presidential campaign, Mr. Obama promised that health care negotiations would be carried on C-SPAN precisely to prevent these types of special-interest favors.

Obama Order Locking Out Non-Union Construction Companies Marks One Year Anniversary.  One year ago this past Saturday President Obama signed an executive order that reshapes the bidding process for federal construction projects in a manner that is heavily weighted in favor of unionized companies.  This was done as a sop to labor bosses who have thus far failed to win passage of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), despite large Democratic majorities in both congressional chambers.

Obama's Unholy Union — With Unions.  President Obama still has one unstinting and stalwart comrade:  the unions.  After decades in inexorable and well-deserved decline, unions are back bigtime in the Obama-nation.  It is an unholy union.  It's bad for business, bad for the economy, bad for our country.

Unions demand more from White House.  Leaders of unions, a crucial constituency for Democrats, say they're disappointed over how little U.S. President Barack Obama has delivered on labor priorities.

Big Labor's Big Payback.  For some time, the business community has been saying that Big Labor would stop at nothing to obtain political "payback" in the form of forced unionization of America's employers.  Union bosses have tried unsuccessfully to ram their job-killing agenda, namely the Employee 'Forced' Choice Act (EFCA) through Congress, at the same time, working their friends in the Obama Administration for favors and awards.  And it now appears President Obama is prepared to "payback" Big Labor's political contributions and support with a recess appointment of Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Fix Is On by Obama and Congress in Union Fight.  [Scroll down]  The Public Safety-Employer-Employee Cooperation Act of 2009 passed the House in 2009 but did not make it to the Senate vote for various extraneous reasons.  But it's back, and it will pass the House and Senate in this session of Congress, lifted by a Democrat majority anxious to move on the bill before November, when it appears that the composition of both Houses will change significantly.  The bill is alarming.

How to Fight Back against Public Unions:  A Primer.  [Scroll down]  Public employee unions will spend millions to try to defeat measures to rein in their bloated salaries and pension benefits.  They threaten even longer lines at government offices (and fewer of them), shorter hours at libraries, park districts cutting programs, and fewer policeman and firefighters.  The list goes on and on of the plagues that will hit us if we dare take on public unions.  They never address high salaries, excessive days off, sick days being used because government employees are sick of work, or pensions being used to buy piña coladas in Pensacola.  Government unions spend vast sums on this propaganda (and on lobbyists and political campaigns to elect politicians to put in their pockets), and the exact amount is now almost unknowable.  Barack Obama, in the first few days of his presidency, issued an executive order shielding unions from disclosure rules requiring them to report how they spend union dues.

In the Tank for Big Labor.  Labor union membership has declined dramatically in the past six decades, from over a third of the workforce in 1945 to just 7.2 percent of private sector employees in 2009; unions are now overwhelmingly concentrated in the public sector.  But organized labor continues to wield tremendous political influence.  Unions spent $400 million during the 2008 elections in support of Democratic candidates, and Barack Obama has been grateful.

Feds threaten to sue states over union laws.  The National Labor Relations Board on Friday [1/14/2011] threatened to sue Arizona, South Carolina, South Dakota and Utah over constitutional amendments guaranteeing workers the right to a secret ballot in union elections.

The Editor says...
Imagine that.  The federal government is threatening to file a lawsuit to prevent secret ballot elections.

Obama uses normally-neutral board to pay back unions.  President Barack Obama's administration continues its private sector unionization efforts, this time with the historically "politically neutral" National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).  A newly proposed rule from the NLRB would require private sector companies to post employees' rights under the National Labor Relations Act, the legislation that gives employees the "right" to unionize, in their workplaces.

Three SEIU Locals Waived From Obamacare Requirement.  Three local chapters of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), whose political action committee spent $27 million supporting Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election, have received temporary waivers from a provision in the Obamacare law.  The three SEIU chapters include the Local 25 in Obama's hometown of Chicago.