News that two major labor unions will co-opt an “Occupy” protest in Washington next month solidifies two facts about the waning protest movement: it is an entirely ordinary function of left-wing activism, and it is wholly unserious about addressing special interests’ influence over the political process. The Washington Post reports that the Service Employees International Union and the Communications Workers of America will stage a protest at the Capitol next month in conjunction with occupiers. The protest’s stated goal, according to SEIU president Mary Kay Henry: to intimidate Republicans into …
The “Occupy Wall Street” crowd may be dramatically out of step with the American electorate, but Big Labor likes what it sees. The AFL-CIO union has bought two prominently-placed Google ads for a pair of initiatives supporting the protests. The search term “occupy wall street” turns up two sidebar ads that link to AFL-CIO websites, as seen in the screenshot below (click to enlarge). Google Adwords, the site’s advertising service, charges 10 cents per click for a prominently-placed ad on that search results page. The first ad points to aflcio.org/iam99percent, …
The Big Labor full-court press is in full swing ahead of President Barack Obama’s speech next week in which he will roll-out a new jobs plan. What do they want? You guessed it: more government spending (as if an auto industry bailout, Obamacare, and a $780 billion stimulus weren’t enough.) Yesterday, AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka continued beating the drum and calling for President Obama to aggressively push forward with more government spending in order to stimulate the economy, all while abjuring conservatives’ complaints that Washington is spending too much. Trumka wants …
Some people will never be satisfied. Case in point: AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka, who today lambasted President Barack Obama for not doing enough to create jobs—which in his world means “spend more on infrastructure so my union constituency benefits.” Unfortunately for America, Obama has already done too much spending. USA Today reports on the union leader’s remarks at a breakfast sponsored by The Christian Science Monitor: Trumka said that, rather than cut, the government needs to spend more money on infrastructure to update crumbling highways, rails and other public entities, as …
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO do not agree on much. But they have joined forces to persuade Congress to spend more on infrastructure. On the surface it looks like a story of right and left uniting for the common good. As AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told the Chamber’s board of directors: “We’re pretty strange bedfellows. There have been many times we haven’t agreed, and I’m sure there will be many more. But in the end, I think we all want the same thing: productive and profitable businesses, prosperous families …
Reports from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) are being misrepresented by leftist organizations like the AFL-CIO and the Alliance for American Manufacturing. The purpose of these misrepresentations? To create a false and misleading picture of the relationship between international trade and employment. Close examination reveals that trade deficits are not to blame for the high level of unemployment in the United States. EPI has released several studies on job displacement triggered by international trade. Job displacement consists of a person moving from one job to another, and is not to …
It’s hard not to sympathize with organized labor—at least to some extent. After all, during the 2008 elections, unions donated roughly half a billion dollars to Democrats, and so far have few legislative victories to show for their efforts; the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), the Respect Act, and the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act have all stalled in Congress. Union leaders were further outraged by last month’s bipartisan Senate vote against Craig Becker, President Obama’s nominee to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Rather than accept another setback, however, …
Labor union leaders made a trip to the White House yesterday to hear President Obama’s latest pitch for health care legislation. But judging from remarks earlier in the day from AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, the meeting wasn’t a typical administration powwow with Big Labor. Speaking at the National Press Club in Washington, Trumka outlined his strong opposition to the Senate bill’s 40 percent tax on “Cadillac” health insurance packages — the kind union officials negotiate for themselves and their members. After his speech, Trumka was among 10 labor leaders invited …
The Service Employees International Union takes the top prize as President Obama’s favorite labor union. President Andy Stern and Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger have visited the White House nearly 60 times, including 11 meetings with Obama and another with Vice President Biden. The White House yesterday released more than 25,000 visitor records from Sept. 16-30. Included in the release were nearly 2,000 pre-Sept. 16 records based on specific requests. The records are publicly available on WhiteHouse.gov. SEIU’s Stern and Burger visited the White House three times in September; a fourth meeting …
As conventional wisdom reminds us: You are known by the company you keep. So what is one to make of the AFL-CIO and Jobs with Justice, two labor-movement heavyweights, allying themselves with the International Socialist Organization (ISO)? According to the ISO’s North Texas branch, last night, the AFL-CIO and Jobs with Justice met with the ISO tonight to discuss “why we need the [Employee Free Choice Act] and how we can win it.” After all, the ISO hardly seems like the type of group Big Labor would want to have …
