Category Archives: Organized Labor

Economy, Organized Labor, Politics

Obama Wants A ‘Living Wage’, Wink To Big Labor

From The White House Monday, President Obama made another stab at spreading the wealth around. Using the 50th anniversary of the Equal Pay Act, the wealth envy warrior is pushing what he calls the Paycheck Fairness Act. President Obama said . . .

Now is the time for Congress to step up and pass the Paycheck Fairness Act. … Now is the time to make sure that we are putting in place a minimum wage that you can live on.

There’s a couple of problems with that. First of which is, one has to have a job. You could have a $20/hr minimum obama_houdiniwage, but what good is it doing you if you don’t have a job?

Creating jobs used to be his priority. At least that’s what he’s been telling us for about 5 years now. His rhetoric alone seems to insulate him from any responsibility of his actions which, have given us nothing but trillions of so-called stimulus spending, over $16 Trillion in new and record debt, high unemployment and the lowest labor participation rate since Jimmy Carter. What jobs are being created are low paying, and not enough in number to break even with retirements and population growth.

Second, and more importantly, it is not the role of the federal government to mandate that employers pay “a living wage” to anybody. Playing on your emotions with the notion of something fair does not give him the Constitutional authority to compensate for his inability to set the framework for a vibrant and growing economy.

Now to the real reason the President is harping on raising the minimum wage. It is just another attempt at quid pro quo to BIG LABOR. Like any sleight of hand magician, when he is shows you one hand with the fairness appeal, look for what the other hand is doing.

Raising the minimum wage does nothing to create jobs. The result is that raising the minimum wage not only puts the poorest, and lowest skilled workers in the unemployment line, it ends up artificially pushing up ALL labor costs, causing inflation in every area of the economy. But it does mean pay increases for BIG LABOR. You see, the big contracts are tied to the minimum wage. When it goes up, their wages also go up. And in the case of the public sector unions, the taxpayers’ overhead also goes up. So the union “working people” with $22/hr jobs will get a raise. Isn’t that special?

Link: Obama calls on Congress to hike minimum wage, close gender pay gap  |  Labor Union Self Interest: Facts Behind Organized Labor’s Push to Raise the Federal Minimum Wage

 

Florida, Media, Organized Labor, Pensacola, Politics, Race Relations

Florida Dist 2 Race, Open Thread

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hill_lau_fl_dist_2
Mike Hill (R) / Jeremy Lau (D)

There’s been a special election underway, early voting began last Saturday, for a Representative for Florida’s District 2. The Pensacola News Journal and their editorial board both (both? don’t know what the difference could be) endorse the Republican candidate Mike Hill.

The candidates; Mike Hill (R), small business owner and founder of the Northwest Florida Tea Party who also happens to be Black, and Jeremy Lau (D), aircraft mechanic and labor union leader who happens to not be Black, are vying for your vote.

The vitriol in the comment sections in the PNJ directed against Hill are all too commonplace. The fact that Lau is also a labor union leader brings out the union thugs to gang up on him in the comment sections.

I support Mike Hill. Your mileage may vary. But I’m inviting all interested to jump in and opine for your candidate, or against the other candidate. For this post only, to facilitate the unabridged rudeness and nonsense of the Left, I am suspending the rule of being civil in your comments. You may feel free to behave here like some do on the PNJ’s website, or like you normally do.

I’ll start it with this statement from an earlier post:

” Do you want someone who will go to Tallahassee to stand up for the working people?” said Raymond Guillory on Mike Hill’s facebook page. NO Raymond, I want someone who will go to Tallahassee to stand up for ALL people. Someone who will legislate to create more jobs so more people may work. And that man is Mike Hill. The Democrat candidate Lau, is the labor union’s choice. That should tell you who he’s looking out for. He’s looking out for unions, a small percentage of “working people,” and will vote for legislation designed to increase union membership, not more jobs. He’ll vote for legislation that will buttress union’s underfunded pensions. He’ll vote for legislation that is bad for your children’s education, but good for the teachers union. And that’s not good for ALL the people.

2010 Election, 2012 Election, 2016 Election, Obamacare, Organized Labor, Politics

Gov’t Wages War On Opposition Party

You would be making a mistake to say that President Obama is the Commander-in-Chief of this war against Conservatives and Republicans. His fingerprints are not there.

All this IRS and DOJ abuse is indicative of the appointment of fellow travelers in those departments. A day after the head of the National Treasury Employees Union, Colleen Kelley, was at The White House, the IRS began to single out Tea Party organizations. What we are witnessing is Liberalism, capital L, pure and simple.

The answer is not impeaching Obama. The answer is repeating in 2014 and 2016 what we did in 2010. Taking the White House and replacing the department heads. Not to do to them what they did to us. But to get government back to doing what it should be doing. The Liberal infestation in government needs to be exterminated.

LiberalismPIX

It was Obamacare that spawned Tea Party opposition all across the country. It was the shellacking Democrats got in the 2010 mid-terms that shocked them into gear. Using government agencies to stop, if not suppress the competition was at play leading up to the 2012 election. Conservative non-profits were denied, through years of foot-dragging by the IRS, a chance to form and mobilize. Conservative donors were being audited by the IRS, Dept. of Labor, and EPA. While progressive non-profits got approved within weeks, whether they had a physical address or not.

Because of this, the President can claim ignorance. He wasn’t told. Oh how awful it was he will say. And he’ll also say that he’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again. That’s the M.O.

With every State, House, and Senate election from now until 2016, just make sure “we don’t get fooled again.”

Whether this is a smoking gun remains to be seen. But see if you can connect any dots.

According to the White House Visitors Log, provided here in searchable form by U.S. News and World Report, the president of the anti-Tea Party National Treasury Employees Union, Colleen Kelley, visited the White House at 12:30pm that Wednesday noon time of March 31st.

The White House lists the IRS union leader’s visit this way:

Kelley, Colleen Potus 03/31/2010 12:30

In White House language, “POTUS” stands for “President of the United States.”

The very next day after her White House meeting with the President, according to the Treasury Department’s Inspector General’s Report, IRS employees — the same employees who belong to the NTEU — set to work in earnest targeting the Tea Party and conservative groups around America. The IG report wrote it up this way:

April 1-2, 2010: The new Acting Manager, Technical Unit, suggested the need for a Sensitive Case Report on the Tea Party cases. The Determinations Unit Program Manager Agreed.

In short: the very day after the president of the quite publicly anti-Tea Party labor union — the union for IRS employees — met with President Obama, the manager of the IRS “Determinations Unit Program agreed” to open a “Sensitive Case report on the Tea party cases.” As stated by the IG report.

Isn’t that special?

Links: Obama and the IRS: The Smoking Gun?  | IRS boss knew about the targeting of Tea Party for a year – President Obama calls their actions ‘outrageous’

 

Organized Labor, Politics

No Tom Perez, No Labor Union Secretary

In yet another attempt to serve up his quid pro quo to Big Labor, Thomas Perez is President Obama’s choice for Labor Secretary. But what he is really after is a Labor Union Secretary. Foisting labor unions on the 89 percent of workers who are not union members and that don’t pay forced-union dues is his nirvana. It completes the circle of money laundering between Big Labor and Democratic campaign contributions.

Dear Gentle Reader,

Union bosses count on Barack Obama’s bureaucracy to serve as an organizing arm for Big Labor.

That’s why they know pro-forced unionism Thomas Perez is just the man for the job to be Barack Obama’s next Secretary of Labor.

A recent article in the Washington Free Beacon exposes yet another power grab Obama’s Department of Labor bureaucrats have implemented to grease the skids for forced unionization of American workers.

You see, when the DOL’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) conducts workplace inspections, workers may select one of their own to observe.

Now, for the first time ever, Obama’s OSHA has advised union bosses that they too can observe these inspections, even in nonunion workplaces.

Union operatives would get automatic access to company property and an opportunity to browbeat workers with union-boss propaganda.

Once the Obama Administration has let Big Labor in the door, union bosses could make frivolous accusations of safety violations to try to get the company to sell out its workers with a “card check” agreement.

Over the last four years, the Obama Administration has implemented one behind-the-scenes sweetheart deal after another to make it easier for union bosses to ensnare workers into forced-dues-paying ranks.

That’s why if you haven’t already, please watch and share the National Right to Work Committee’s urgent video alert exposing Perez’s long history of using his positions of power to do Big Labor’s bidding.

Based on Thomas Perez’s record, you can expect more of the same if he’s confirmed.

Sincerely,

Mark Mix

P. S. The National Right to Work Committee relies on your voluntary contributions to fund its programs. Please chip in with a contribution of $10 or more today.
Economy, Organized Labor, Politics, Supreme Court

SEC, Obama’s Back Door IRS

Having been caught violating the civil rights of thousands of Americans trying to assemble, contribute, and advocate a cause, the IRS

Mary Jo White, SEC Chair
SEC Chair, Mary Jo White

scandal has been shut down. That, after all, was just symptomatic of the way liberals play politics. They don’t compete in the arena of ideas, they use the government to intimidate the political opposition. And in this case, to help Obama get re-elected by harassing conservative contributors and PACs that would contribute to the Romney campaign. This is what the IRS inquiries into conservative non-profit applications was all about. And it worked. But don’t hold your breath for any lawsuits about their civil rights or First Amendment rights being denied.

But the political intimidation is not over. Liberals also use regulators like the SEC or EPA to do the job that the IRS can not. All of which was triggered by the Citizens United Supreme Court case that guaranteed corporations the same rights to exercise political speech as a person has.

The back door to what the IRS was doing, which was finding out the names and businesses that contributed to conservative organizations for conservative causes, and preventing as much as possible contributions to organizations that would advocate against a liberal agenda, a clear violation of civil rights, is now called the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Reacting to, ostensibly, a coalition of Democratic elected officials, activists and labor unions, the SEC is considering making up a new disclosure rule for publicly traded companies. The SEC is considering a regulation mandating that publicly traded corporations disclose all their political donations to their shareholders. Still a violation of civil rights of the shareholders and the corporation. It is Big Brother using the power of intimidation to shut down any and all political opposition. It is instructive too that the assumption is that corporations would not also give to liberals.

A petition to the S.E.C. asking it to issue the rule has already garnered close to half a million comments, far more than any petition or rule in the agency’s history, with the vast majority in favor of it. While relatively few petitions result in action by the S.E.C., the commission staff filed a notice late last year indicating that it was considering recommending a rule.

In response to the growing pressure, House Republicans introduced legislation last Thursday that would make it illegal for the commission to issue any political disclosure regulations applying to companies under its jurisdiction. Earlier this month, the leaders of three of Washington’s most powerful trade associations — the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and the Business Roundtable — issued a rare joint letter to the chief executives of Fortune 200 companies, encouraging them to stand against proxy resolutions and other proposals from shareholder activists demanding more disclosure of political spending.

What we continue to see is the political warfare conducted by liberals. It is liberalism on display. It is what they do. They restrict rights, restrict liberties, ignore the constitution, depress economies, increase debt, spread misery all in the name of social justice. Social justice isn’t justice. It’s harassment.

Link: SEC nears decision on requiring businesses to disclose donations

Immigration, Organized Labor, Politics

SEIU May Day Membership Drive, Illegal Immigrants

Did you know that the SEIU was up front on the humanitarian plight of illegal aliens? Well, they are not. What they are after is amnesty and enrolling undocumented workers into the union fold. They call it “Growing Momentum.”

Finally, in the last sentence, the truth comes out. Their push for immigration reform has less to do with the humanitarian aspect than it does for growing union membership among undocumented workers.

Organized Labor, Politics

School Failing? Send More Money

Want more government money for your union buds? Come up with a great name for a bill, then ask taxpayers to fund it. For example, Senate bill S 708: Success in the Middle Act of 2013.

A bill to provide grants to States to ensure that all students in the middle grades are taught an academically rigorous curriculum with effective supports so that students complete the middle grades prepared for success in secondary school and postsecondary endeavors, to improve State and district policies and programs relating to the academic achievement of students in the middle grades, to develop and implement effective middle grades models for struggling students, and for other purposes.

Isn’t that their job? If they can’t do it, replace them. Make them compete, charter schools. Give parents a choice, school vouchers. And of course, you gotta love that “and for other purposes” line.

Economy, Florida, Immigration, Obamacare, Organized Labor, Pensacola, Politics

What’s Next For Big Labor?

Labor unions today have unknowingly fulfilled a self-fulfilling prophesy. By leveraging unfair practices upon workers to build union Labor-Unionsmembership, they did such a good job that they have lost their only reason to recruit.  Now they are left with ancient history, the mid twentieth century, to fall back on. And for the most part, no longer have a reason to exist.

BIG LABOR advocates say “Without America’s labor unions, we wouldn’t have many of the protections and benefits that we have today.” That’s a true statement. It was true 30 years ago too! Thanks to the ‘wake-up call’ delivered to employers by organized labor decades ago, which was “treat your people right or lose,” the labor movement has successfully put itself out of business so to speak. Their usefulness has diminished due to their earlier success as shown by their decreasing member rolls.

  • Total percentage private sector and public sector labor union workers: 2002 13.3%, 2012 11.3%
  • Percent of private sector labor union workers: 2002 8.6%, 2012 6.6%
  • Percent of public sector, government, labor union workers: 2002 37.3%, 2012 35.9%
  • Total number of union workers, public and private sector: 2002 16,145,000, 2012 14,366,000

Continue reading What’s Next For Big Labor? →

Organized Labor, Politics

Obama Nominates 3 To National Labor Relations Board

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While the legitimacy of the NLRB and the decisions it has made since President Obama’s illegal “recess appointments” are still in limbo, National_Labor_Relations_Board_logoPresident Obama nominated 3  board members for full terms and is hoping that they will get approved by the Senate this time.

The status of the board has been in limbo since a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously in January that Obama exceeded his constitutional authority by appointing three of its members while lawmakers were on break in January 2012, thus bypassing the usual Senate confirmation process.

The House is expected to vote on legislation this week that would prohibit the board from issuing decisions until the fate of Obama’s so-called recess appointments is known.

Link: Obama nominates new NLRB members as House threatens to halt board actions  |  Court Slaps Down Obama On NLRB Appointments-Decision Could Invalidate Hundreds Of Labor Decisions

Organized Labor, Politics

Public School Admin, Teachers, Caught Cheating

In the order of ‘no good deed goes unpunished,’ the Atlanta public school system was found to be cheating on tests that beverly_hall_cheater_of_the_year2013are supposed to measure whether it met the federal No Child Left Behind law. Schools with good test scores get extra federal dollars to spend in the classroom or on teacher bonuses. What is meant to benefit the children, was abused and used and exploited by the school administration and teachers union employees.

Juwanna Guffie was sitting in her fifth-grade classroom taking a standardized test when, authorities say, the teacher came around offering information and asking the students to rewrite their answers. Juwanna rejected the help.

“I don’t want your answers, I want to take my own test,” Juwanna told her teacher, according to Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard.

The ringleader in it all was Atlanta superintendent of public schools Beverly Hall. Ironically, Hall was the 2009 Superintendent of the Year at the American Association of School Administrators’ National Conference on Education in San Francisco.

The criminal investigation lasted 21 months and the allegations date back to 2005. In addition to Hall, 34 people were indicted: four high-level administrators, six principals; two assistant principals; six testing coordinators; 14 teachers; a school improvement specialist and a school secretary.

All of the people named in the indictment face conspiracy charges. Other charges in the 65-count indictment include false statements and writings, false swearing, theft and influencing witnesses.

When the children are supposed to be the priority in our public schools, Dr. Beverly Hall and 34 other so-called educators go a long way to make the case for school vouchers. It is union employees like those who need to be left behind. Not our children.

Link: 3 dozen indicted in Atlanta cheating scandal