Video: Chicago Park Dist. Worker Mad At Unions Political Spending

October 11, 2010 | Filed Under Budget, Chicago, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, Government, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Liberals, Public Employees Unions, SEIU, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

A Chicago Park District employee is seen on this video attacking his union for spending his dues on political causes that he doesn’t support.

This Park District employee works for the Service Employees International Unions (SEIU) and was asked his thoughts on union spending at the Palos Tea Party’s American Voter Rally in Tinley Park, IL on Oct. 10, 2010.

One has to wonder how many other union members are upset like this — not just of the SEIU but all unions across the country? Over the last few decades unions have spent billions of their member’s dues money on extremely left-wing causes. Why, just a few weeks ago dozens of unions got together to spend their member’s dues money supporting a rally sponsored by actual, hardcore communist and socialist groups.

And unions are spending millions this term, too. They desperately want to keep overspending, socialist-leaning Democrats in power. And all this money being spent comes right out of the pockets of the rank and file union members.
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FBI Investigating Obama Confidant and Union Chief Andy Stern?

September 28, 2010 | Filed Under Andy Stern, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, FBI, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, President, SEIU, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

This is pretty momentous information. According to two people interviewed by federal agents the FBI and the U.S. Labor Dept. are investigating former Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Andy Stern.

The two organized labor officials met with federal agents this summer to answer questions about a six-figure book contract that Stern landed in 2006 and his role in approving money to pay the salary of an SEIU leader in California who allegedly performed no work.

It should be remembered that Andy Stern has been one of the most frequent visitors to the White House and has served as a close adviser to President Barack Obama.

Stern unexpectedly resigned in April as president of one of the most powerful unions in the nation. This news might explain why. He may have known that he was being investigated.
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Unions: Democrat’s Own Extremists Taking The Local Parties Over?

September 27, 2010 | Filed Under Budget, Business, Capitalism, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, Free Trade, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, Public Employees Unions, SEIU, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Michael Barone, one of media’s sharpest observers of America’s political scene, has noted an interesting trend in Democrat politics: unions are knocking out regular liberal Democrats in America’s big cities. Barone calls it a civil war raging in the Democrat Party.

He points to several big city campaigns in which unions rose up to defeat the “gentry liberals,” as Barone calls them, and have replaced them in primaries with union backed, ultra liberals. For proof Barone points to several races in New York, Maryland, and Washington D.C.

In each there was a split between the public employee unions that do so much to finance Democratic campaigns and the gentry liberals who provide Democratic votes in places like Manhattan, the Montgomery County suburbs of Maryland, and Northwest Washington, D.C. And in each case the public employee unions won.

The most disastrous election result, at least for school children, is the loss of Mayor Adrian Fenty whose hiring of school chief Michelle Rhee gained accolades from school reformers across the nation and an equal amount of opprobrium from unions. Fenty lost to ultra lib Vincent Gray — a wholly bought union hack — who has promised to dump reformer Rhee and kowtow to all teacher’s union demands.
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Leftwits Try to Top Beck With October Rally in D.C.

September 26, 2010 | Filed Under AFL-CIO, Anti-Americanism, Anti-Semitism, Anti-War, Communism, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Government, Green Party, Liberals, Public Employees Unions, SEIU, Socialism, Unions, Warner Todd Huston, Washington D.C. | 3 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

The leftists are trying to emulate both Glenn Beck and the Tea Party movement by having their own march on D.C. and it is coming in but a few days. They are claiming that “hundreds of thousands” of their extreme leftist compatriots will gather at the Lincoln Memorial on October 2 for a left-wing bacchanalia at our nation’s capitol.

They are calling it “One Nation Working Together,” and it is yet one more left-wing, extremist attempt to employ Orwellian language to name an event because, Lord knows, they don’t include the millions of conservative Americans in that “one nation” title!

Here is what they are saying of their poor attempt to emulate Beck:
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SEIU Union Hack Admits that Local TV Stations Help ‘Get Our Message Across’

September 22, 2010 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Lobbyists, Public Employees Unions, SEIU, Unions, Warner Todd Huston, Wisconsin | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Daniel Bice of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has a gem of a report wherein a union operative admits on tape that he and his union pals intend to launch a big campaign against Wisconsin’s GOP Gubernatorial candidate Scott Walker. That news isn’t much of a surprise, of course, but what is a surprise is that this union hack admitted on tape that Milwaukee’s local TV stations and local politicians are both sympathetic to and assisting in the union’s getting its message out.

The tape features the voice of John-David Morgan, an operative for the Service Employees International Union Local 1 (SEIU), on Sept. 10 near the Y-Not II tavern on E. Lyon St. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Morgan was recorded by a Walker campaign staffer on his cell Phone who then turned it over the Bice at the Journal-Sentinel.

The union hack admitted on tape that he is working with County Board members — such as Supervisor John Weishan — to get the goods on Walker. “I’ve got county supervisors to do this stuff so, you know, it’s not just the labor union,” Morgan said.
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Michigan Home Healthcare Workers Sue State Over Forced Unionization

September 16, 2010 | Filed Under AFSCME, Budget, Business, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Government, Corruption, Health, Jobs, Liberals, Michigan, Public Employees Unions, SEIU, Taxes, UAW, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

So imagine that you are working out of your home or the home of a friend. Say you are helping care for your own developmentally disabled relative or that of another. You are working for a family, not a company, and you are not employed by the state. Then one day you get a letter in the mail that says you have been forced by the state to join a union and henceforth you will be paying dues by having some of your salary removed by the state and given to the union. Does this sound like you are living and working in America? It is if you are a home healthcare worker in the State of Michigan.

Because of a special deal made behind the scenes between Mich. Gov. Jennifer Granholm and two unions, the United Auto Workers (UAW) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Michigan’s 40,000 in-home healthcare workers were unionized by a shady “vote” of less than 20% of these workers in 2006 via a mail-in ballot that most workers had no idea even existed.

The forced unionization has been in and out of courts since 2006 and now it is about to go back in again as a group of in-home healthcare workers is suing the state for driving them into a union against their will.
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SEIU and NUHW Goes Head-To-Head in Big Labor Death Match

September 15, 2010 | Filed Under Business, California, Economy/Finances, Elections, Liberals, SEIU, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

For more than a year I’ve written off an on about the vicious fight between the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and offshoot union the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW). The NUHW left the SEIU in a huff several years ago when the SEIU implemented a hostile takeover of the California-based NUHW that it had been affiliated with.

This month that fight has fallen upon the workers of Kaiser Permanente in the Los Angeles Medical Center where a vote is soon to be taken by KP employees to decide which of the rival unions will represent them.

Starting this week the 43,000 KP workers will be making their choice known and the vying for votes by the two unions has been “hostile,” as NUHW member Edvin Hakopian said.
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SEIUs Anna Burger to Retire

September 12, 2010 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, Public Employees Unions, SEIU, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

The New York Times gave a glowing review of Ana Burger’s career as a most divisive member of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). But how could one be less arrogant and pushy than would seem natural for a union that set out to fashion itself an “international” union?

Burger, 59, was supposed to be the heir apparent to former President Andy Stern, himself a petulant and arrogant figure. But it was not to be. When Stern stepped down from heading the SEIU, Burger was passed over for another by the membership.

And now she is retiring from her 14-year-long position as secretary-treasurer of the SEIU after 38 years in Big Labor.

Apparently, though, Burger retires “frustrated,” as the Times has it. She leaves as the power of Big Labor seems to be on the wane. Fewer unions, fewer members, and fewer political supporters seem to be the immediate future of Big Labor.
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Majority of Union Members Now Work for Government

September 9, 2010 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, John Kennedy, Labor Law, Liberals, Public Employees Unions, Regulation, SEIU, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

It is the most important hill that folks interested in good government have yet to conquer and that is the elimination of government employee unions. The Heritage Foundation reports the sad and disgusting news that the majority of union members now work for government, an intolerable situation to say the least.

The BLS’s annual report on union membership shows the labor movement’s decline in membership continued in 2009. While a full 23.0 percent of Americans belonged to labor unions in 1980, by 2008 only 12.4 percent did. In 2009, that figure dropped slightly to 12.3 percent.[2] There are now 15.3 million union members in the United States, 770,000 fewer than in 2008.

…What is newsworthy, however, is another figure reported by the BLS: 52 percent of all union members work for the federal or state and local governments, a sharp increase from the 49 percent in 2008. A majority of American union members are now employed by the government; three times more union members now work in the Post Office than in the auto industry.

This is a travesty. Unions are one of the main causes of budgets going into the red in states all across the country. The incestuous relationship between politicians greedy for union political contributions and unions donating to them in order to get ever grater pay and benefits (all conveniently cutting out the will of the voters and destroying good, fiscally responsible government) has about ruined this country.
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A Reminder of What Union Leaders Feel About Our Political System

September 8, 2010 | Filed Under Andy Stern, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, Public Employees Unions, SEIU, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Back in 2007 Andy Stern, the now former President of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), attended a forum sponsored by the NDN Globalization Initiative and during the question and answer period after his remarks he said that he was “totally involved in distorting the political system.” Here the president of one of America’s most powerful unions just said that he feels his job is to purposefully subvert America’s political system.

Sadly, this union thug doesn’t care much about the integrity of our political system, eh?

It should also be remembered that since Democrats are the handmaiden of Big Labor this, by extension, is the same way that Democrats feel about our American political system. They have no interest in its integrity and will “distort” it whenever they feel like it..

See the full, hour-long video here.
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SEIU’s Illegal Fund-Raising Scheme

September 7, 2010 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Labor Law, Law, Liberals, President, Regulation, SEIU, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, has an interesting expose in the Washington Examiner revealing how the U.S. government has decided to allow an obviously illegal fund-raising scheme that the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) invented to fuel its spending on political causes and campaigns.

The SEIU has decided to fine any of its locals that does not meet a $25,000 Political Action Committee (PAC) contribution limit. The fine imposed is $37,500. This means that union headquarters is telling the locals that they MUST donate a “voluntary” $27,000 or face this exorbitant fine.
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Hypocrisy Is Big Labor’s Big Problem

September 7, 2010 | Filed Under AFL-CIO, Business, Capitalism, Free Trade, Jobs, Liberals, Public Employees Unions, SEIU, The Heritage Foundation, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Deroy Murdock over at the National Review has a great column detailing a dozen or so instances of rank hypocrisy perpetrated by unions. Deroy says that for all of Bog Labor’s yammering about worker’s right: “Such class-warfare sloganeering would be easier to stomach if Big Labor were internally consistent.”

Murdock gives all sorts of examples of unions violating their own supposedly closely held tenets. From unions firing employees for trying to organize the union’s own office workers, to unions using non-union labor to build their own offices, unions prove to be filled with liars and hypocrites.

Check out Deroy Murdock’s piece, “Hypocrisy Is Big Labor’s Big Problem .”
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State Pensions are Unsustainable, Taxpayers Left with Huge Bill

August 30, 2010 | Filed Under Budget, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, Government, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Liberals, Pensions, Public Employees Unions, SEIU, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Once again Bill Zettler has a great piece on the mess that is public employee pensions in Illinois. He makes an extremely relevant point asking the question of why the taxpayers are stuck paying off government worker’s pensions to the tune of billions while the employees themselves only have to pay a measly 8% contribution to their own funds?

In the private sector, Zettler points out, pension contributions by the workers rarely dip below 11% but these government workers are asked to contribute a scant 8% for theirs leaving the taxpayers on the hook for most of the rest of the payouts.

Why is that? Well it’s because pliant politicians that have pockets full of public employee union members donations have fixed the contributions at the low 8% level.

This needs to change.
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SEIU Attacking Fellow Union for Concessions

July 30, 2010 | Filed Under Budget, California, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, Public Employees Unions, SEIU, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Engineers and Architects Association, a 48,000 member public employees union in L.A., has come under attack from the politically active Service Employees International Union (SEIU) for having the civic sense to realize that the high times of ever rising pay at the taxpayer’s expense is coming to an end.

In a deal about to be voted on, the Engineers and Architects Association agreed to present to its members a new contract that would require them to pay a whopping extra $10 per visit to the doctor (that will put it up to $20 per visit). Also gone would be the $15 a month to “enhance their life insurance and disability insurance” paid by the city. Finally, union members would have to pay five percent of their monthly healthcare premiums.
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L.A. Union Member’s Dues Used for Pro-Illegal Alien Bus Tour

July 28, 2010 | Filed Under Arizona, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Corruption, Immigration/Immigrants, Labor Law, Liberals, Public Employees Unions, SEIU, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

A few days ago Michelle Malkin received an email from an outraged Service Employees International Union (SEIU) member in Los Angeles who was mad that his dues money was going to pay for a pro-illegal alien bus tour planned by union leaders.

The tour was supposed to start in L.A. and end up in Phoenix, Arizona and was meant to highlight the supposed evils of Arizona’s SB1070, the anti-illegal immigrant law that has been so much in the news. The union member that contacted Malkin was apparently “furious” over the union’s plans.
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Dem. Cook County Board Prez Candidate’s Big Union Haul

July 24, 2010 | Filed Under Chicago, Cook County, Cook County Board, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Government, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Liberals, SEIU, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Sun-Times reports that the next Cook County Board President might be yet another bought and paid for union stooge.

Democrat Party candidate Toni Preckwinkle raised $1.3 million for her campaign for county board president thus far and $220,000 of that came from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

So, what we are seeing is yet another Democrat candidate owned lock, stock and barrel by a public employees union. Gee, I wonder if she’ll be amenable to union demands once in office?

Her opponent, GOP candidate Roger Keats, has raised only $19,000 so far. Not that there IS a Republican Party in the county of Crook.

If you would like to help out the Keats campaign, here is his website: http://keatsforcook.org/. You can donate directly here: Keats For Cook, PayPal.
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Union Worries that Failure to Pass Unemployment Extension Means Lost ‘Stimulus’ $

July 14, 2010 | Filed Under Budget, Business, Capitalism, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Illinois State Government, Liberals, SEIU, Taxes, Unemployment, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

If this isn’t the most perverse example of “reasoning” you’ve ever seen, then you haven’t seen any, yet. It seems the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is worried that the failure to pass an extension for unemployment insurance will deprive Illinois of “stimulus” money.

So, here is the perverse part… unemployment is for the unemployed, right? “Stimulus” is for economic growth (or at the very least economic water treading), right? So if we throw “stimulus” into the coffers of unemployment insurance, aren’t we “stimulating” unemployment and NOT stimulating economic activity?

Does this even make sense?
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Gov. Says Ill. is Broke, but His Staffers/State Workers Get Big Raises

July 8, 2010 | Filed Under AFSCME, Budget, Campaign Finance, Chicago, Cook County, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, Government, Government, Corruption, Government, Ill. County, Illinois, Illinois State Government, Jobs, Liberals, Pat Quinn, Pensions, Public Employees Unions, SEIU, State Government, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | 3 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Many businesses across Illinois are trying to stave off closing their doors by cutting salaries and hours for employees. Some aren’t so luck and are laying off thousands of workers. Add to that dismal outlook that the state’s budget is billions in the red and politicians are so at loggerheads on how to solve the crisis that no budget can be agreed upon.

Cue accidental Governor Pat Quinn whose job, as he sees it, has been to warn Illinois that we are broke, that we can’t afford the many programs we have, that the poorest of us are at risk and that taxes will have to be raised to “fix” it all.

It’s a very bleak picture, indeed. Bleak, that is, unless you are one of Quinn’s staffers. In that case you are living high off the hog and getting an up to 20 percent raise in salary thanks to the Governor’s generosity… oh, and at the taxpayers expense, of course.
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Obama Used Union Middle Man For Blago Bribery

June 30, 2010 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Rod Blagojevich, SEIU, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that union leader Thomas Balanoff of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) was contacted by President Obama to act as a go-between to help Obama friend Valerie Jarrett secure his vacated Illinois Senate Seat when now former Governor Rod Blagojevich was trying to sell the seat to the highest bidder.

Balanoff appeared as a witness at the Blago corruption trial today. He said that Obama called him the day before he was elected president.

“Tom, I want to talk to you with regard to the Senate seat,” Obama told him.

Balanoff said Obama said he had two criteria: someone who was good for the citizens of Illinois and could be elected in 2010.

Obama said he wasn’t publicly coming out in support of anyone but he believed Valerie Jarrett would fit the bill.

“I would much prefer she (remain in the White House) but she does want to be Senator and she does meet those two criteria,” Balanoff said Obama told him. “I said: ‘thank you, I’m going to reach out to Gov. Blagojevich.”

Balanoff testified that Blago broadly hinted that he’d love to be offered the top spot at Health and Human Services, but Balanoff also said he couldn’t deliver that.

Obama appointed Jarret to a position at the White House after the election.
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Most Ethical White House EVAH, Forgets to Mention $40K Payout

June 30, 2010 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, President, SEIU, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Back in the hoary days of the Obama transition Obamaniacs and other sycophants were rushing to the microphones to tell us all that we voters had just hired the most ethical White House ever. Why, White House transition team co-chair John Podesta even claimed that Obama was instituting the “strictest ethics rules ever applied” as Obama prepared to take office. But since Obama’s whirlwind campaign we’ve seen all those sternly announced ethics rules constantly waived for Obama’s friends and favorite hires. And just this week we see yet another example of those “strict” ethics rules ignored as the president’s own political director somehow forgot to mention that he got a $40,000 payout from a union while he worked for the White House.

Patrick Gaspard was hired away from the Service Employees International Union by team Obama and as he prepared to leave the SEIU for Washington he brokered a $37,071 severance package that Gaspard just somehow forgot to disclose to the White House as he prepared to join Team Obama.

In fact, Gaspard didn’t merely forget to disclose the nearly $40,000 package. He went out of his way to check a box on his disclosure form that said he had nothing to declare. Yes, he lied.

So, what’s to be done? White House spokesman Bill Burton assured us that it’s all taken care of.
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Unions ‘Flushed $10 Million Down the Toilet’ in June Primary

June 10, 2010 | Filed Under AFL-CIO, Arkansas, Capitalism, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Liberals, Pensions, SEIU, Senate, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Ben Smith of Politico is reporting that an administration insider told him that unions just wasted millions of dollars on a forlorn hope in the Arkansas primary in an attempt to beat Democrat Blanche Lincoln.

“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.”

Big Labor — like the SEIU and the AFL-CIO — threw millions of dollars into the Arkansas campaign of Bill Halter in an attempt to chastise Democratic Senator Blanche Lincoln because she had yet to vote “yes” on the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), a union friendly bill they’ve been panting after for several years.
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IRS Asked to Review Unions’ Political Donations

May 29, 2010 | Filed Under AFL-CIO, Campaign Finance, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, Government, IRS, Liberals, President, Public Employees Unions, SEIU, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Washington Times is reporting that the Landmark Legal Foundation is requesting that the Internal Revenue Service review all the millions being spent by Big Labor on Democrat political campaigns during the 2010 midterm elections.

As we discussed earlier this week, Big Labor is spending at least $100 million on the upcoming elections — actually even more because we have no numbers reported by the AFL-CIO. Landmark is worried that this giant blanket of money could possibly raise questions of legality.
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As We Suffer, Gov’t Salaries/Jobs/Union Pyoffs Grow

May 24, 2010 | Filed Under Business, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, North Carolina, Public Employees Unions, SEIU, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

The City of Charlotte, North Carolina is still suffering an unemployment rate hovering around 12 percent. Jobs are hard to come by if you are a resident of the region, unless, of course, you work for the city government. Despite the hard times fatcats in government are still partying like it’s 1999! In fact, city salaries are likely to grow finds the Charlotte Observer.

For a whole year Charlotte City workers suffered under a pay hike freeze, but now the hard times are over as the City has announced that not only will the luxurious raises return, but more and more workers will be added to the rolls.

Let the celebration continue.
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SEIU Thugs Terrorize Teenage Boy

May 21, 2010 | Filed Under Banks, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Huffington Post, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Public Employees Unions, SEIU, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Nice work, SEIU. Service Employee International Union members descended upon the home of a banker to protest the banker’s work. The banker wasn’t home but his teenage son was and he was home alone and the 14 bus loads of union thugs scared the heck out of the poor kid.

This was no political protest, it was an inciting, angry mob of union thugs. The Fortune Magazine piece that reported the incident made a salient point about the whole thing.

Targeting homes and families seems to put SEIU in the ranks of (now jailed) radical animal-rights activists and the Kansas anti-gay fundamentalists harassing the grieving parents of a dead 20-year-old soldier at his funeral (the Supreme Court has agreed to weigh in on the latter). But that’s not a conversation that SEIU officials want to have.

Amusingly, Nina Easton makes another great point in the friendly coverage of this outrageous union thuggery. The Old Media didn’t even attend and the whole thing was covered by an activist Huffington Post blogger.
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Obama’s $23 Billion Teachers Unions Bailout

May 17, 2010 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Business, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Education, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, Public Employees Unions, Republicans, SEIU, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

As the rest of us in America lose jobs by the millions, Obama wants to spend another $23 billion more of your taxes on public employees in a teacher bailout plan proposed by Senator Tom Harkin (D, Iowa).

Harkin wants this new public employees bailout in order to prevent teachers layoffs, a concern echoed by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. “We are gravely concerned,” said Duncan in a letter to Congress, “that ongoing state and local budget challenges are threatening hundreds of thousands of teacher jobs for the upcoming school year.”

Oh, Duncan had all sorts of recommendations for Congress on this newest bailout.
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It’s Official, Henry New SEIU Prez

May 10, 2010 | Filed Under Andy Stern, Government, Corruption, Jobs, President, Public Employees Unions, SEIU, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

We’ve been reporting that it looked like the Service Employees International Union was going to ignore past President Andy Stern’s pick of Anna Burger to be ushered in as his replacement and would instead pick Mary Kay Henry for its new president.

Well, that has come to pass. It is now official that Mary Kay Henry is the new SEIU president.
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Washington to Give Unions More Power to Tell Corporations What to Do

April 30, 2010 | Filed Under Budget, Business, Capitalism, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Free Trade, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Liberals, President, Public Employees Unions, SEIU, Senate, Socialism, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Senator Chris Dodd (D, Conn.) wants to give unions more power in the boardrooms of our nation’s businesses. In essence, Dodd wants to force corporate boards under the thumb of unions by federal fiat.

Carefully hidden in Dodd’s new regulations are provisions that give new powers to board members, powers aimed at giving unions more say in the operations of businesses from the inside through investments of pension funds.

The Dodd bill takes away from the states the ability to make rules governing how corporate boards are established and run and for the first time reassigns that power to the federal government through the SEC. Democrats expect to use this new power to affect corporate boards to force pension fund investors to obtain more seats on those boards and that means union pension funds will suddenly have more influence on business simply because of their influence in Washington.

This will severely alter the relationship between business and labor, effectively erasing the ability of a company to operate in its own interests and will force it to serve the interests of Big Labor and Washington D.C.

This is just one more small step in the elimination of America’s private business community and the implementation of a quasi-socialist business state. One more anti-American arrow in Obama’s quiver shot over the bow of America.
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It’s Official Stern Protege Loses SEIU Race

April 26, 2010 | Filed Under Andy Stern, Business, Economy/Finances, Elections, Jobs, Liberals, Public Employees Unions, SEIU, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Earlier this morning I said that it looked like former Service Employees International Union head Andy Stern’s handpicked replacement wasn’t going to succeed her Svengali. Looks like that was correct.

As reported by the Wall Street Journal’s John Fund, the new SEIU head is Mary Kay Henry as we discussed earlier.

Now, we wait to see if the SEIU withdraws a bit from the national scene and again begins to cast its eyes inward as many think will happen under Mz. Henry’s leadership. Time will tell.

Stern’s Handpicked Replacement Not as Strong as Advertised

April 26, 2010 | Filed Under Andy Stern, Barack Obama, Business, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Free Trade, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, Public Employees Unions, SEIU, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Pictured: Barack Obama; Henry Nicholas;
Anna Burger; Andy Stern

Not long ago, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) President Andy Stern abruptly resigned from his powerful position and we still aren’t sure why. But as he headed for the exit, Stern recommended his long-time confidante and current SEIU Secretary-Treasurer, Anna Burger, to be his replacement. But shockingly it is beginning to look as if Stern’s druthers will not win the day.

Andy Stern has been one of the most powerful union leaders in America for a long time. Along with Burger, Stern was one of the most frequent visitors to Barack Obama’s White House, he’s spent years gobbling up smaller unions and placing them under the thumb of the SEIU with the result that his union has grown exponentially, and he’s succeeded in insinuating his union into the bowels of just about every state and local government office in the country. He’s wielded the power of multi-million dollar political campaign donation funds and has been involved at the highest level in U.S. labor policy. He was even named to Barack Obama’s Deficit Reduction Commission tasked with finding out ways to restructure federal budgeting.

I have my suspicions as to why he’s so suddenly stepped down (I spoke about those suspicions here) but what is beyond doubt is that Andy Stern has held in his hands an awful lot of power as the head of the SEIU. So it is a bit shocking to learn that his handpicked replacement might not be the shoo-in that might otherwise have been imagined.
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Andy Stern: Union Chief Fleeing Ahead of Illinois Indictment?

April 26, 2010 | Filed Under Andy Stern, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Chicago, Cook County, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Media, Media Bias, President, Public Employees Unions, Rod Blagojevich, SEIU, Senate, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Until recently, Andy Stern was the President of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), a union that has served as one of President Obama’s biggest donors as well as filling the ranks of his ground troops. In a surprise move, Stern resigned his post this month and no one is really sure why at this point.

Andy Stern has been one of the closest union chiefs to a president in history. Along with SEIU treasurer Anna Burger, he was one of the most frequent visitors to the White House. He was even chosen by President Obama to serve on his Deficit Reduction Commission — a sort of contradiction in terms that.

Upon his resignation, it has been learned that Andy Stern’s leadership of the SEIU has not brought financial solvency. As F. Vincent Vernuccio reports in the Washington Times, Stern has left the SEIU in pretty shabby shape.
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