Was the stimulus (A) a job creation bill or, (B) a liberal spending wish list? A new Government Accountability Office (GAO) study suggests that option B is closer to the truth. Small wonder it did not bring unemployment down. Obama publicly argued that America needed the $862 billion bill to create jobs and singled out “green job” spending as the key to an economic recovery. The stimulus itself, however, looked a lot like not letting “a good crisis go to waste” and pouring public money at liberal special interests. Remember …
LIFTING THE PAY CAP ON 8 MILLION WORKERS Unions Cap Their Member’s Pay Setting a Wage Ceiling: Currently union contracts set both a wage floor and a wage ceiling. Unionized employers may not give productive workers pay raises outside the collectively bargained contract. Seniority-Based Pay: Unions usually demand that employers reward workers for “time served” rather than “hard work.” No matter how good an employee does his job, he cannot earn higher wages than what his union contract specifies. Holding Back American Productivity: This “seniority ceiling” keeps union members from …
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 …
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]
This Fox News story perfectly encapsulates why American workers deserve to keep a secret ballot for union organizing consistent with our democratic principles. Whether the union needs 51% of workers to sign on, or 75% of the workers to sign on; without a secret ballot, they will intimidate workers at their work, home and elsewhere until they get what they want. As the video shows, this method tears businesses, communities and friendships apart.
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 …
It’s hard to pick out the scariest part of the still unfolding story of how unionized state government workers violated Joe the Plumber’s privacy for political ends. The Columbus Dispatch reports today that President-elect Barack Obama supporter, donor, and director of Ohio’s Department of Job and Family Services Helen Jones-Kelley “had no legitimate agency function or purpose” for pilfering the files of Joe the Plumber. Last month the Dispatch reported that Jones-Kelley personally requested state employees to search Joe’s files after Joe publically criticized then-candidate Obama. The Inspector General report …
President-elect Barack Obama’s chief of staff Rahm Emanuel declined to reassert Obama’s campaign promise to end the secret ballot in union organizing elections yesterday. The Wall Street Journal reports on Emanuel’s presentation to the WSJ CEO Council: He was asked his views on the push by labor unions to allow workplaces to be organized with the signing of cards attesting to union support rather than a secret ballot. Mr. Emanuel declined to say whether the White House would support the legislation, but he said the unions are addressing the concerns …
The so-called Employee Free Choice Act, otherwise known as card check, is likely to be among the left’s priorities in the 111th Congress. This new ad from the Employee Freedom Action Committee compares the legislation to a bailout for unions. Not only will it end secret ballot elections, but it will also cost jobs. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWtcEloNBvs[/youtube]
USA Today, the country’s largest newspaper, came out firmly against the Employee Free Choice Act today, concluding the legislation known as “card check” would undermine democratic principles. Heritage has written extensively on the legislation, most recently criticizing the measure for eliminating the secret ballot for union organization. USA Today didn’t think very highly of that provision either: Under a major rewrite of U.S. labor law being promoted by unions, when more than 50% of employees sign authorization cards, the NLRB would have to recognize the new union. No campaign. No …
