There is no entity with closer ties to the Obama administration than the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). According to the White House visitor logs SEIU President Andy Stern and Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger visited the White House 58 times in 2009 alone, including 11 meetings with Obama and another with Vice President Biden. The SEIU is popular in the White House because no other union is as politically active as the SEIU. Stern told the Las Vegas Sun, “We spent a fortune to elect Barack Obama — $60.7 million to …
Organized labor has demonstrated why workers should spend some time this Thanksgiving giving thanks for the secret ballot. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) “have been sparring for the right to represent 10,000 home health-care workers” in California. The SEIU has not exactly been using kid gloves. One SEIU organizer admitted that “he was encouraged ‘to pressure voters to change the ballot’ and that on one occasion he himself changed a vote to SEIU’s favor.” Other workers reported that SEIU organizers made …
Critics of the Employee Free Choice Act have called it a misnomer – a law that would, in fact, restrict workers’ free choice. EFCA would effectively eliminate secret ballots in union elections and replace them with “card check,” in which workers publicly sign petitions to join unions. Analysts warn that depriving workers of the privacy of the voting booth would lead to widespread intimidation and that card-check does not reflect workers’ true desires. Leading unions, such as the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), dismiss these fears and argue that publicly-signed …
Media Matters has taken it upon itself to criticize our recent video highlighting the problems with the government-imposed contracts that the misnamed Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) forces on workers and businesses. You can see the video here: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8kEwUDn7wo[/youtube] In the video Rian Wathen, formerly of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) local 700 in Indianapolis, explains how permitting the government to impose contracts would imbalance negotiations and give unions every incentive to send the contract to the government to write. He should know. After working as the local’s Organizing …
Quid Pro Quo. The American Heritage Dictionary defines this Latin phrase as “an equal exchange or substitution.” Here’s another definition: When 17 United States Senators and Representatives accept contributions in excess of $359,000 during the 2006 and 2008 congressional elections from political action committees (PACs) funded by several major labor unions. Then, these same Member of Congress—hailing from both sides of the aisle—co-sponsor the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). What’s even more troubling than the fact that EFCA’s co-sponsors have all taken money from Organized Labor is that these major …
Rian Wathen, Former Organizing Director for the UFCW, discusses card check. He discusses how union organizers can use corrupt methods to get people to sign cards that, under the Employee Free Choice Act, would authorize a union without a secret ballot election. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZhAvhEnO34[/youtube]
The Washington Post reports: The Service Employees International Union, considered the most influential union in the nation, has notified the union that represents about 220 of its national field staff and organizers that 75 of them are being laid off. In return, the workers’ union, which goes by the somewhat postmodern name of the Union of Union Representatives, has filed unfair labor practices charges against SEIU with the National Labor Relations Board. The staff union’s leaders say that SEIU is engaging in the same kind of practices that some businesses …
Words can’t describe what occurred at yesterday’s hearing of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. After encouraging the audience to applaud his remarks on the Employee Free Choice Act, Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) was forced to scold union members when they become belligerent — hissing, booing and even throwing things at Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN). [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMnmpD1fwnw[/youtube]
Liberals are introducing the misnamed Employee Free Choice Act today on Capitol Hill. The legislation would effectively eliminate workers’ rights to a secret ballot vote on joining a union. Heritage’s James Sherk has done extensive research on card check, including a new paper that outlines why the bill would create government-run workplaces. Last month at a Heritage event, former UFCW Local 700 Organizing Director Rian Wathen described how unions will creatively manipulate workers into signing union cards if EFCA takes away their right to a secret vote. Click here to see …
Aside from the Stimulus Package, the Liberals in Congress have something else up their sleeve on their agenda. It is known as the “Employee Free Choice Act”, but names can be misleading. The premise of this bill is to “establish stronger penalties for violation of employee rights when workers seek to form a union and during first-contract negotiation.” However, the danger of this bill is laid out in Section 2: [Emphasis mine] If the Board finds that a majority of the employees in a unit appropriate for bargaining has signed …
