The Union Label - October 14, 2006
Posted on October 14, 2006 at 1:02 pm by Chuck Muth
GUNNING FOR REPUBLICANS
“After being outhustled by Republicans in voter turnout drives in recent years, the A.F.L.-C.I.O. plans to spend $40 million nationwide on voter education and turnout, emphasizing swing states like Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania.”
- New York Times, 10/8/06
BIG LABOR TAKES ONE IN THE SHORTS
“Labor leaders across the country have promised to challenge the U.S. National Labor Relations Board’s decision that expands the definition of a ‘supervisor’ in the workplace and could diminish unions by as many as 8 million members.
“The NLRB’s ruling that employees who regularly run shifts should be considered supervisors and be exempt from provisions in the National Labor Relations Act on union membership is ‘illogical, dishonest and anti-democratic,’ said Anna Burger, chair of the Change to Win union federation.”
- CNS News, 10/5/06
UNION BOSS KILLS POSTAL REFORM
“It’s no fun being on the hot seat. ‘I feel badly,’ William H. Young , president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, said yesterday about blocking legislation to overhaul the U.S. Postal Service. . . . Although the bill has drawn little public attention, it represented a decade-long effort to revamp Postal Service business operations.
“…During negotiations on the bill, the NALC, which has 300,000 members, created the impression that it would be in (the bill’s sponsor, Republican Sen. Susan) Collins’s corner. But as Collins tried to move the bill last month, in the hours before Congress recessed for the campaign season, Young announced his opposition. That earned him a round of finger-pointing by lobbyists in the mailing industry and congressional aides.
“…(Young) denied allegations by critics that he was fronting for postal executives who are uneasy about more rigorous oversight proposed in the bill or that he wanted to see if Democrats could regain power in the November elections and perhaps offer the union a better deal.”
- Washington Post, 10/11/06
UNIONS VS. PORT SECURITY
“U.S. harbors are filled with workers convicted of serious crimes. Just last year the Justice Department filed a RICO suit charging that the 65,000-member East Coast-based International Longshoremen’s Association is a ‘vehicle for organized crime.’
“But the House-Senate conference (on the port security bill) drastically watered down a Senate-passed requirement that aligned the standards for hiring dock workers with those used at airports and nuclear plants. The statute still bans workers who have been convicted of treason, espionage and terror-related offenses–a mere handful at most. But a seven-year time-out period on hiring those who’ve committed crimes such as murder, bribery, identity fraud and the illegal use of firearms was dropped in the dead of night at the behest of unions fearful that too many of their members could lose their jobs.”
- John Fund on the Trail, 10/2/06
DUES-FUNDED LAP DANCES
“When the bill arrived for the $400 steakhouse dinner, the $60 hotel breakfast, and the $15,000 of fun at a strip club, Steven Thomas and Thomas Leonard chose to use their union credit cards to pay. They may end up paying a much steeper price. Spending union money for personal enjoyment is a federal crime punishable by a maximum $10,000 fine and five years in prison.
“An Aug. 31 internal report describes how a Toledo construction union subsidized the lifestyles of Mr. Thomas and Mr. Leonard, top officers for Laborers’ Local 500, which has run operating deficits and lost 18 percent of its membership during the last five years.”
- Toledo Blade, 9/12/06
UNIONS FIGHT PAYCHECK PROTECTION
“In Colorado two unions have gone to court with the state’s top elections official in order to avoid having to ask their members permission before using their dues money on politics in the state. The Associated Press reported that in a court hearing ‘labor-union leaders urged Secretary of State Gigi Dennis…to drop her requirement that unions and other member-based groups get each member’s written permission before the groups can donate money from membership dues to political campaigns.’ The latest ruling on the issue declares that the unions may proceed with political giving even without written permission from dues-paying members.”
- Center for Union Facts, 10/13/06
EMPLOYER REPORT
If you want even more information on what’s going on in today’s Big Labor movement than you get right here in the pages of The Union Label, surf on over to Peter List’s “Employer Report” website.
A former union leader himself, List has seen the light: “American business is under attack from labor unions, over-burdensome regulation, and unrelenting litigation that is costing employers and our economy billions of dollars and has cost millions of Americans their jobs as capital has been forced to seek refuge overseas.”
In addition to a treasure-trove of union-related news stories and opinion columns, List’s website also includes a blog, background on current legislation which is trying to do away with secret ballots in union organizing elections (more on this in tomorrow’s Muth’s Truths column), and a page dedicated to “Union Avoidance” for employers.
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
“Whatever happened to the days of an average union protest with some tear gas and horse-mounted police to make the evening news?”
- Blogger “Kulture,” 9/30/06
