Earlier this month, Service Employee International Union President Andy Stern told the Las Vegas Sun, “We spent a fortune to elect Barack Obama — $60.7 million to be exact — and we’re proud of it.” Stern should be proud of his $60.7 million investment. There is a good chance that thanks to the Obama administration, big labor will succeed in passing legislation that has the potential to reverse big labor’s decades long decline. And that will mean less jobs and a slower economic recovery for all of us. Proponents of …
Unions Rally against Democratic Elections Card Check: The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) would replace secret ballot organizing elections with publicly signed union cards, allowing union organizers to deceive, harass, and threaten workers into signing these cards and thereby unionizing. Stripping Away Privacy and Freedom: A worker may vote “no” against a union behind a curtain but may be less courageous if pressured in public. This is why most union organizers currently don’t call for elections until between 60% and 75% of a shop notes interest, knowing that there will …
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 …
One failure of news coverage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act—which would open the courts to claims of pay discrimination dating back years or decades—is that it has completely ignored a thoughtful alternative proposed by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX). Hutchison’s Title VII Fairness Act (just reintroduced as S. 166), rather than allowing any claim—no matter how old, no matter if the plaintiff delayed filing just to gain an upper hand—would start the limitations period running only when an employee reasonably suspects, or should reasonably suspect, that he or …
We’ve heard a lot lately about “redistribution of wealth.” What would the American Founders think? Property rights provide the foundation of prosperity. As Americans, we’re accustomed to a revolutionary guarantee that we may labor, earn wages and acquire property — and rest assured that what we earn and acquire will be secure. It’s a simple promise that survives despite the income tax system: Americans get to keep what we earn. The right to enjoy the rewards of your labor is a powerful incentive to work hard and pursue opportunity — …
The facts of this story hardly qualify as news. Everybody knows Big Labor is indistinguishable from the Democratic Party. But the brazenness with which the president of California’s largest Service Employees International Union local used nonprofit staffers to campaign for Democrats is stunning. The Los Angeles Times reports: Six people who worked for either the union or the charity told The Times that [Tyrone Freeman], and others at the labor organization acting on his behalf, ordered the nonprofit’s staffers to join partisan get-out-the-vote drives and other campaign efforts during and …
Next week the Labor Department will propose changes to its union financial reporting and disclosure requirements in an effort to improve transparency and accountability. The proposed rule will give rank-and-file union members more information about union finances. It is the latest effort by the Bush administration to increase transparency for labor unions after years of decline during the Clinton administration. (Visit UnionReports.gov for more information.) The proposed rule modifies a 2003 change to the LM-2 form, which is required for unions with annual receipts of $250,000 or more. It also …
In today’s Wall Street Journal, Kimberly Strassel details what exactly the labor movement is expecting from Democrats in return for their nearly $1 billion in election spending tis cycle. On the big labor wish list: a rewrite of NAFTA and an end to more trade deals new union only jobs a boost to unemployment insurance penalties for companies that hire overseas talent the outlaw of the secret ballot in union organizing elections legislation to make union officials the exclusive bargaining agent for mot police, fire, and rescue personnel the elimination …
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) is famous for striking to prevent docks from using technologies that reduce the need for union labor. The last time the ILWU went on strike it cost the economy $2 billion a day. But for the union’s efforts, it negotiated an average wage-and-benefit package of $150,000, with American consumers footing the inflated wage bill through higher costs. Not bad for jobs that do not require a high school degree. Good luck trying to get hired as a Longshoreman without union connections, though. Now …
The Department of Labor’s union enforcement office marked the 5,000th indictment in its history last month, dating back to 1964 when recordkeeping began. The Office of Labor-Management Standards has recouped more than $103 million for taxpayers since the beginning of the Bush administration, but last year became a target of liberals in Congress, who axed $12 million from its budget. In January alone, the office notched eight convictions, nine indictments and court orders of restitution totaling $121,867. That brings the totals for fiscal 2008 (since Oct. 1, 2007) to 36 …
