The Union Label - July 27, 2006
Posted on July 27, 2006 at 4:39 pm by Chuck Muth
REID’S BIG WET KISS TO BIG LABOR
“Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, has been lobbying his party to give his state a more prominent spot in the 2008 presidential primary calendar. This past weekend he finally made some headway when a Democratic National Committee panel recommended allowing two states — Nevada and South Carolina — to horn in on the coveted spots held by New Hampshire and Iowa.
“…Las Vegas is chock full of members of the Culinary Workers Union Local 226, one of the last healthy refuges of the AFL-CIO. New Hampshire politicians are already howling…(but) if the real reason the DNC is thinking about shuffling around state primaries is to give organized labor more power, this is one fight where we know the outcome in advance.”
- Brendan Miniter, Political Diary, 7/25/06
ENDING DOUBLE LOYALTY
“Faced with declining union membership, labor leaders are preparing for the worst when the National Labor Relations Board issues rulings this summer that could expand the definition of a ‘supervisor’ in the workplace — and further diminish unions by as many as 8 million members.
“…’We strongly believe that anybody who has supervisory authority should be exempt,’ said Stephen Bokat, senior vice president and general counsel for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. ‘You cannot have double loyalty in a unionized facility,’ Bokat added. ‘If you are directing subordinates, then you should report to management, but that won’t work if you are also a member of a union because your loyalties are divided.’”
- CNS News, 7/24/06
TAXPAYER FUNDED UNION PROPAGANDA
“California is facing a $4 billion budget deficit, so you might reasonably assume that the state can’t afford the luxury of funding think tanks for wealthy special interest groups. Yet the budget signed late last month by Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger includes $6 million for something called the Labor Institute, a pro-union public policy research outfit housed at the University of California. In doing so, Arnold reversed his previous position, suggesting a heavy whiff of election-year politics.
“The Labor Institute got its start back in 2001 under Mr. Schwarzenegger’s Democratic predecessor, Gray Davis, and over the years has received nearly $23 million in taxpayer funding. Founded by left-wing professors at UCLA and UC Berkeley, the LA Times described it as ‘a place where union leaders and academics can come together to explore workforce issues and trends.’
“Uh huh. In reality, the institute is little more than a training ground for activists. It works closely with public-sector labor leaders and sympathetic Democratic lawmakers in Sacramento to promote union-backed legislation. And its research reports — on everything from living-wage laws to gender discrimination to family leave — have a Big Labor bias that borders on propaganda.”
- Jason L. Riley, Political Diary, 7/24/06
YOUR UNION DUES AT WORK
* Susan Lynn Gregg, 36, a former secretary of the Copper Country Chapter of the Michigan Education Association, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court on July 10 to making false statements on a loan application. The loan, made for $29,000, led to something a good deal more serious: an attempt to cover up the disappearance of $178,000 from the union’s coffers over the course of 1999-2005.
* On June 26, Vince L. Matthews, former business for Sheet Metal Workers Local 29, was sentenced to five years probation and ordered to make $73,291 in restitution to the local. Matthews had pleaded guilty in April to one count of embezzling $93,298 in funds.
* On June 19, Michael Iasevoli, 40, a former officer of Local 745 of the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union, pleaded guilty in federal court in New Haven to embezzling $138,000 from his union.
* On May 31, Loretta Schween, a former clerical employee of United Auto Workers Region 4, was sentenced in federal court to three years probation for theft from her union and ordered to make restitution in the amount of $32,040.
* On June 8, Josefina Suarez, former president of Local 1662 of the American Federation of Government Employees, pled guilty in federal court to one count of embezzling funds.
* On June 12, Lynn R. Lamphear, former president of Graphic Communications International Union Local 503-M, pleaded guilty in federal court to embezzling $8,441 in union funds.
- SOURCE: Union Corruption Update
