As the AFL-CIO Executive Council meets in Orlando this week, the Workforce Fairness Institute put this great video out.

For more on the job-destroying and hallucinogenically-named Employee Free FORCED Choice Act, go here.
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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

Follow LaborUnionReport on Twitter.

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

Cross-posted.

Vowing to spend one-quarter of a million dollars less than last year’s AFL-CIO Executive Council meeting, the leaders of the 57-union federation are meeting this week for their annual winter meeting at the Buena Vista Palace Hotel in Orlando, Florida.

Earlier this afternoon, Vice President Joe Biden met with the union leaders and, according to the Wall Street Journal, was “muted, and even defensive at times.”

Nevertheless, Biden paid homage to an otherwise disappointed group of labor bosses who have little to show for putting Biden and his boss, Barack Obama, in the White House.

“I know it doesn’t seem like it, but we’ve come a long way in 12 months,” Biden told several hundred union officials. “In terms of the NLRB, we’re going to get it done. In the fight for EFCA, we’ve got to sit down and figure out where we go from here…. I think we’re going to get it done.”

[snip]

“I think they owe some answers this time,” said Thomas Buffenbarger, president of the International Association of Machinists. “There’s always something that crops up and gets in the way of labor’s agenda.”

BusinessWeek says that union bosses are “reeling” from the losses they’ve suffered under Obama and the Democrats.

“The labor movement is at a crossroads, and it has to rethink its political strategy,” said Amy Dean, a former labor official who is co-author of “A New New Deal,” a book about reshaping the labor movement. “The conversations that we are having at our kitchen tables and our living rooms that express our disappointment with this administration are very similar to the conversations that we had under the Bush administration.”

[snip]

“We’re demoralized,” said Robert Haynes, president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO. “We’re not happy about anything.”

Struggling to cope with their lack of progress, several are laying the blame at the feet of the GOP:

“I think that everyone is frustrated literally, but it’s important to understand who we have to be frustrated with,” said United Steelworkers president Leo Gerard.

Gerard said unions are angry about Republican tactics they view as obstructionist and a few conservative Senate Democrats who are making it tough for Obama to push through his agenda. Gerard said that Democrats may not count on the usual support they expect from union members in this fall’s elections.

“If we don’t have clear progress and clear attempts at progress, we’re going to have a hard time motivating our folks,” he said.

And, Ms. Dean, a former AFL-CIO organizer says “unions made the mistake of waiting for an agenda ‘and as a result, got rolled.’”
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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

Follow LaborUnionReport on Twitter.

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

Cross-posted.

Following the near-certain death of the union bosses’ hallucinogenically-named (and growingly unpopular)Employee Free Choice Act, the Democrats in the Senate are looking to throw their union cronies a bone by getting SEIU and AFL-CIO attorney Craig Becker seated to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) quickly, perhaps as soon as this week.

As the rules and the policies set forth through the NLRB affect nearly every private-sector workplace (except airlines and railroads), the persons who serve as NLRB members, regardless of their backgrounds, should be able to decide on cases with an open mind and issue decisions that are balanced, based on the law.

The problem with Becker, according to many, is not that he’s merely a union radical (there are already enough of those to populate a big city—say Washington, DC or Detroit?).  The problem with Becker is that he is a union extremist and, by all accounts, appears to be opposed to individual rights for employees and their employers.

According to the worker advocacy group the National Right to Work Foundation, Becker:

• Supports “home visits,” in which union goons repeatedly harass workers at home until they sign union authorization cards (see here for an example of this intimidating practice)
• Advocates letting government arbiters impose contracts on workers and employers on workers, without even allowing the workers to vote on the contract (a practice which even Far Left icon George McGovern opposes)
• Believes employers should be absolutely prohibited from sharing any truthful and noncoercive information with employees about the effects of unionization
• Illogically and radically compares union certification elections to US Congressional elections, stating that the only question decided in such elections should be which union gets monopoly control over workers, not whether they wish to remain independent and union free. [Emphasis added.]

Katie Packer, executive director of the Workforce Fairness Institute, delves further into Mr. Becker’s “threat to freedom“:

Currently, Becker serves as Associate General Counsel to both the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the American Federation of Labor & Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO).

Most Americans have probably never heard of Mr. Becker and he may be a perfectly nice human being, but his views on the absolute and autocratic power labor should wield over small businesses is enough to make one shudder.

Becker has written that, “employers should be stripped of any legally cognizable interest in their employees’ election of representatives.” Simply stated, Becker believes small businesses should have no say whatsoever over their own future, while union bosses have complete control.

In Craig Becker’s perfect world, every worker in America would be in a union, whether they choose to be there or not.

[snip]

As a member of the board, Becker would have significant authority to enact the SEIU and AFL-CIO’s agenda by fiat meaning the executive branch would do via administrative action what they have been unable to get enacted through elected representatives in the legislature who are directly accountable to voters.

And there should be absolutely no doubt what Big Labor’s agenda is… the forced unionization of small businesses so that billions in additional dollars from union member dues can flow into their coffers and they can continue to play kingmaker funneling massive amounts of money to the politicians who do their bidding.

Craig Becker’s nomination is a threat to freedom and must not be allowed to go forward. The Senate will hold a hearing on Becker’s nomination this coming week. [Emphasis added.]

There are those who fight for freedom and there are those who fight to end freedom.

Unfortunately, Mr. Becker seems to fall in the latter of the two groups.

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“Collectivism holds that the individual has no rights, that his life and work belong to the group . . . and that the group may sacrifice him at its own whim to its own interests. The only way to implement a doctrine of that kind is by means of brute force—and statism has always been the political corollary of collectivism.” Ayn Rand.

“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

Follow LaborUnionReport on Twitter.

Cross-posted.

In sum, EFCA does three things:

1. It effectively removes the right of workers to vote by secret-ballot on the question of unionization, replacing the decades-old secret-ballot process for “majority sign-up”
2. It give a federally-appointed arbitrator the right to impose a contract on workers and their employers, which is an extraordinary and unprecedented intrusion of the government into the private sector.
3. It imposes unrealistic monetary penalties on employers (including small businesses) whom the union-controlled National Labor Relations Board rule has committed Unfair Labor Practices.

For more background on EFCA, go here.

Given that one of Secretary Solis’ previous positions while she was in Congress was on the board of the union-funded lobbying group American Rights at Work (a potential conflict noted by the Weekly Standard last year), Ms. Solis’ union loyalties are unquestionable.  However, to use the power of her office in such a brash display of union payback is appallingly lacking in tact and beneath the office which she holds.

Here’s the text of the release [with emphasis added]:

“Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that, in 2009, the unionization rate of employed wage and salary workers was 12.3 percent, in essence unchanged from the 12.4 percent rate in 2008. Among private sector employees, the rate dropped to 7.2 percent from 7.6 percent in 2008.

“The data also show the median usual weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary union members were $908 per week, compared to $710 for workers not represented by unions. Union members earn 28 percent more than their non-union counterparts.

“When coupled with data showing that union members have access to better health care, retirement and leave benefits, these numbers make it clear that union jobs are good jobs.

“As workers across the country have seen their real and nominal wages decline as a result of the recession, these numbers show a need for Congress to pass legislation to level the playing field to enable more American workers to access the benefits of union membership. This report makes clear why the administration supports the Employee Free Choice Act.“

Of course, Ms. Solis and her union comrades completely ignore the fact that unions have destroyed millions of other jobs in industries like the American auto, steel, textile, trucking and other industries.
 
Delusional.
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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776
 
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Unions and their de-facto labor party political puppets [read: Democrats] are freaking out right now!  They know that their Reign of Error may come to a crashing halt next Tuesday.

The Senate Special Election in Massachusetts next Tuesday is not going their way and, while the AFL-CIO sends its shock troops and the SEIU’s attack ads and purple shirts flood the Bay state, GOP candidate Scott Brown’s momentum seems to be gaining over his opponent Martha Coakley with Brown now leading Coakley  Even in her own polling, Martha Coakley’s “bottom has fallen out.”

“I have heard that in the last two days the bottom has fallen out of her poll numbers,” says one well-connected Democratic strategist. In her own polling, Coakley is said to be around five points behind Republican Scott Brown. “If she’s not six or eight ahead going into the election, all the intensity is on the other side in terms of turnout,” the Democrat says. “So right now, she is destined to lose.”

According to a Suffolk University poll, Brown is up by 4%.

How quickly has this race turned around?

In November, Coakley was beating Brown by 31 percentage points. Now, Brown is up by 4% — a change of 35% in two months.

How important is this election to the nation?

Well, as one newscaster stated: “If Scott Brown wins next Tuesday…he will change the world of politics as we know it.” This is what has union bosses so scared.

Unions have spent over a billion dollars electing a party that would be beholden to their “special” interests (as evidenced by the sweetheart deal union bosses got from Democrats on the “Cadillac tax” earlier this week).

Union expenditures in 2006 and 2008 were purposeful and with two primary (and many secondary) goals in mind:

First and foremost, union bosses have been running a deceptive campaign to get the job-destroying and hallucinogenically-named Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) made into law. As EFCA effectively strips workers of their right to vote on unionization and gives the (union-backed) federal government the right to impose contracts in the private sector, it has been union bosses’ dream for some time..

Secondly, union bosses have been campaigning for the nationalization of U.S. health care for decades. With the billions union bosses will make from nationalizing the health care industry, union bosses see health care reform as one of the two major vehicles for them to regain their stranglehold on the U.S. economy forever.

Now, however, union bosses’ dreams may be getting a bucketful of cold (Bay State) water thrown onto them if Scott Brown wins on Tuesday.

To us, it would not matter if Spongebob were running against Martha Coakley and the union special interests…but  he’s not.  So, if you’re at all interested in helping Scott Brown end union bosses’ Reign of Error and beat Andy Stern & Co., go here to help.

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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

Follow LaborUnionReport on Twitter.

Cross-posted.

Speaking at the National Press Club this afternoon, AFL-CIO president, Richard Trumka made a bold prediction: The Employee Free Choice Act–the flagship legislation of the labor movement–will pass in the first quarter of 2010.

“I think you’ll see the Employee Free Choice Act pass in the first quarter of 2010,” Trumka said. “You’ll have it have some real effect. We’ll start creating and making new jobs in this country again.”

That will probably come as news to a lot of Democrats who are looking to make a quick pivot from health care to a jobs bill. Unless EFCA was attached to a bigger jobs package… [Emphasis added.]

But, if Trumka really believes that EFCA and higher unionization will create jobs instead of destroying them, we’re not so sure anymore.

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A hearty Happy New Year to you!

Besides some breaking news and an EFCA update, we offer you our first 2010 edition of Labor Union Shorts.

First, this…

BREAKING: Becker to be Re-Nominated…

President Obama’s radical union nominee to the National Labor Relations Board, Craig Becker (who is Assistant General Counsel to both the AFL-CIO and the SEIU) had his nomination rejected by the Senate only a week ago.  However, liberal blogs Huffington Post and FireDogLake are reporting that the President is frustrated with a lack of progress on his nominations and may be renominating Becker again.

According to FireDogLake:

Now, in all likelihood, McCain will again slap a hold on Becker; the White House will then have a couple options.  It can negotiate with McCain for something else he wants; the HELP committee can hold a full hearing on Becker like McCain wants; Harry Reid can force a vote and get 60 senators to vote for Becker, which will end up being a proxy fight over the Employee Free Choice Act; or McCain’s icy heart will melt and allow Becker to go through.

In either case, as Becker’s nomination goes, so do the other 2 NLRB nominees, who must be voted on in a package with Becker.  Meanwhile, the 2-member NLRB will continue to make uncontroversial rulings on pending cases that may yet be ruled invalid by the Supreme Court.

Read more from HuffPo here

The EFCA Echo Chamber:

You may have noticed lately that there’s a lot of chatter throughout the blogosphere about the likelihood of Democrats attempting to muscle the job-destroying and hallucinogenically-named Employee Free FORCED Choice Act.

Although much of the chatter surrounding EFCA’s timing is purely conjecture at this point, the chances are the chatter is correct.

Union bosses know that their days to get anything like EFCA done in DC are numbered. In fact, there are only ten months and three weeks left before Americans head to polls to either rebuke and repudiate the leftward lean of Washington or give the Democrats an endorsement of their running the country further into the ground.  And, so far, it looks like the Democrats will be losing their 60-seat supermajority in the Senate as top Democrats run for the exits.

There’s still hope (albeit slim) that a busy legislative schedule may impede EFCA.

The 2010 legislative calendar is still unclear with the nationalization of America’s health care going into secret negotiations between House and Senate Democrats despite President Obama’s repeated promises of airing the negotiations on C-SPAN.  However, while the health care debate still goes on, it’s being reported that the President is also preparing a push for amnesty for illegals, aka Immigration Reform.  That debate will surely warm up the capital like a donkey’s a** after eating hot plate of frijoles! [Editor's note: If you thought you were subscribing to a PC post, we apologize for any misgivings.]

This begs the question:  What comes first?  EFCA?…Or making sure that 12 million illegal immigrants can become health-insured Democrat voters before November?

LUR’s Labor Shorts: Exposing Union Bosses One Skid Mark at a Time

For previous Labor Shorts, go here.

• Fugheddaboutit! They Don’t Call it the Garbage Garden State For Nuttin!: Reputed Mobster Pleads Guilty To Racketeering Charge. “A high-ranking soldier in the Gambino Crime Family pleaded guilty yesterday to a federal charge of racketeering conspiracy for his role in running an enterprise that engaged in illegal gambling, extortion, fraud schemes and labor racketeering…”
• BFF?  A San Francisco slammer and some new friends awaited Uber-Union Boss Richie Trumka on Tuesday as the newly-anointed AFL-CIO kingpin, along with dozens of others, got themsleves arrested during an allegedly illegal sit-in in the lobby of the San Francisco Hilton.
• Union of Ailing Workplaces… A New York Times expose on one formerly-militant, now newly humbled, UAW local should remove all doubt as to what helped drive Government Motors (…er, GM…) into bankruptcy. [Here's a hint:  Some people would call it 'sabotage.']
• Is He or Isn’t He?…Why not ask Andy? Nearly two months after a request to the U.S. Attoney to investigate whether SEIU’s lavender-lapeled lord of labor Andy Stern is illegally lobbying, CNN finally did a partial puff piece on the months-old story…and asked Andy Stern if he is a lobbyist. [See more here.]
• Union Bullsh*t Watch is Back! Glass-Housed Teamsters Ticked Over “Anti-Union” Flyers As the adage goes: He who lives in a glass house should not throw rocks.
• Carpenters Build Glass Houses Too? With Apparently No Union to Save Them, Chicago’s Carpenters’ Union Lays Off Dozens of Organizers…but buys over $730,000 in cars.
• Rated ‘M’ (for Mature Audiences only): The Teamsters, the Tart & a Pocketful of Meth featuring one of the best quotes ever [upon appearing before a judge on drug charges]: “…before the accident, I was a heroin addict and used crack, but I don’t do drugs any more. I’m a Teamster.”
• Shameful: SEIU’s Top 10 Bloopers Compiled by Stern Burger With Fries, one of the growing list of SEIU-critical blogs (this one apparently written by disaffected SEIU members) that is increasingly condemning of the Union of Purple People Eaters and its Lord of Labor, Andy Stern, his Queen, Anna Burger, and their collectivist minions.
• Dis-United Labor Union Boss Crows Over SEIU-Muddied Merger. UNITE-HERE’s John Wilhelm is crowing over what he says is evidence that his rivals are falling apart and being absorbed into SEIU: “A war that they chose to start has become a war that they cannot win, although it is not yet ended.”

Until next time, we offer you our very best wishes!

Follow LaborUnionReport on Twitter.

Cross-posted.

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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” — Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

JOB DESCRIPTION

Title: Grievance/Contract Enforcement Representative (also known as a Service Center Organizer)

Purpose: To assist the leadership of Local 615 in building a powerful rank and file union, through organizing and representing workers within the Union’s jurisdiction. Specifically, the role of the Service Center is to enforce the terms of the collective bargaining agreement on behalf of members. Equally important, the Service Center’s role is to increase the capacity of the internal organizing staff to identify, recruit and train member leaders by assuming a larger share of member representation. [Emphasis added.]

By posting this ad, the SEIU apparently failed to see the irony of talking about a “rank and file union” while attempting to hire from outside the union.  Nor does the union apparently see the irony of having a so-called “service center,” which is nothing more than a non-rank-and-file-run call center run by union bosses to deal with union members’ problems (no face-to-face member contact is necessary).

Another example of a union that apparently feels that grooming rank-and-file union members to build their own union would be this ad for Organizers-in-Training, Organizers, and Journey Organizers from the American Federation of State County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME):

Organizers-in Training, the ad states, “learn the nuts and bolts of an organizing campaign from home calling unorganized workers, to organizing direct actions, to preparing for a first contract campaign.”  For this, OiTs are offered a starting salary of $36,648 with free single or family health coverage, car allowance, paid travel, 12 paid holidays, 401k, pension plan and more.  Journey Organizers (organizers with at least 3 years of organizing experience) start at $52,670 but often, according to AFSCME’s reports with the US Department of Labor, take in more than $100k.

As 2010 begins and politicians return to Washington to put the final nails in the health care reform coffin, union bosses are salivating to see EFCA return to the spotlight.  It is important to know as EFCA returns that the job-destroying bill has nothing to do with workers forming their own unions and everything to do with union bosses raking in more money.

Follow LaborUnionReport on Twitter.

Cross-posted.
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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776