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Thursday, the Obama Administration announced that it will rescind rules requiring the disclosure of financial information for Big Labor slush funds and front groups.  And, the Obama Administration is giving you only 11 (eleven) days to comment! At least they are consistent!  Just as they did for union conflict-of-interest disclosure reporting that SEIU’s Andy Stern may be ignoring and just as it rescinded union-boss perk disclosures, the Obama Administration continues to rollback union financial disclosures. It is not surprising that Obama’s Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis would rescind these financial disclosure rules since she is the former treasurer of the...

Andrew Stern is a close friend of President Barack Obama. That's hardly a revelation. His organization, the Service Employees International Union, spent more than $60 million to get him elected. And President Obama has made clear that he is fully committed to promoting the political goals of organized labor. But Stern may have gone outside federal law in his nearly two dozen documented White House visits through this mid-September. The SEIU president is a former registered lobbyist, but has been acting as though he is still one. A prominent Washington, D.C. nonprofit group and one of its affiliates recently sent...

Prepare to hear the Obamanites scream their rebuttals...

A skirmish between powerful teachers’ unions and President Barack Obama over nearly $5 billion in education spending is shaping up as a preview of the battle to come over No Child Left Behind in Congress early next year. But the tables are turned: now the unions are worried that Obama, a Democratic ally, is going to be just as tough on them as President George W. Bush, a longtime foe.

Uncovered Video: Obama Leads SEIU Chant After Vowing to ‘Paint the Nation Purple’ http://www.breitbart.tv/uncovered-video-obama-leads-seiu-chant-after-vowing-to/ Breitbart.tv and Naked Emperor News

[Full title was edited to comply with space requirements, here's unedited version:] "Well-Kept Media Secret: UAW Conceded No Base Pay, Health, or Pension Benefits in GM, Chrysler Bankruptcy Run-ups" A New York Times article by Nick Bunkley on Friday targeted for print on Saturday about the status of contract talks between Ford Motor Company and the United Auto Workers piqued my interest in a previously neglected but important matter. Ford and the UAW are apparently close to an agreement. In describing what Ford workers are being asked to give up, Bunkley wrote the following (bolds are mine throughout this post):...

Over four days and three late nights of meetings, Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee have largely stood up to Republicans’ attacks on a proposal to overhaul the health care system. But behind the scenes and away from the C-Span cameras, their united front has given way to intraparty tensions, not just in the committee but in Congress generally. ... Senate Democrats have a filibuster-proof majority of 60 lawmakers. But a number of them are centrists, and the party cannot afford many defections, given Republicans’ nearly unanimous opposition. Further, seeking a semblance of bipartisanship, the White House still wants Ms....

  From Pennsylvania Right-to-Work:Most readers are already aware of a growing scandal involving the pro-forced unionism Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN) in New York, Baltimore, Washington, and now, California. For those who missed it, ACORN representatives were caught on camera giving advice to undercover journalists on how to open an illegal brothel, launder its profits, and commit a host of other illegal activities.According to The Washington Examiner, teacher union officials have contributed over 1.3 million dollars (in mostly forced union dues) to ACORN since 2005.We decided to do a little digging into union financial disclosure forms on...

A new tariff on tires produced in China could shift prices for inexpensive rubber into overdrive. "It changes the market for cheap tires," said Bruce Harrison, an automotive industry analyst at IHS Global Insight, a Boston-area economic forecasting firm. "We're going to see almost immediate price increases at the bottom end of the market." President Barack Obama announced last Friday the U.S. would levy steep tariffs on Chinese-manufactured tires in response to pressure from the United Steelworkers union, which represents workers at U.S. tire plants. The union argued cheap Chinese imports decrease U.S. tire production and create job losses. Retailers...

Andy Stern, head of the Service Employees International Union, has just released a statement vowing not to be "silenced" by "right wing attack dogs" targeting "progressive individuals" and "community organizations." Stern, whose union has sometimes been linked with the community organizing group ACORN, which yesterday suffered an enormous blow when the House of Representatives voted 345-45 to cut off all federal funds for the organization, said his union will not be intimidated by a right-wing "backlash" that is "fierce, ugly and anti-American." Here is the full text of Stern's statement:This is a moment of profound change for this country—from kitchen...

Former SEIU boss jailed, media yawnsThomas Lifson September 18, 2009 Imagine if an official of a major conservative organization received 25 year prison sentence for child molestation. Would the media avert their eyes? Yet the head of the Sacramento chapter of major Obama ally, the Service Employees International Union, a man who represented thousands of state employees, received this sentence earlier this week, and the media yawned. Here is an account from the website of a local television station in Sacramento: A former union official and California Department of Insurance employee was sentenced Tuesday to 25 years in prison after...

President Barack Obama’s address to the AFL-CIO on Tuesday will shed light on a precarious friendship that will be tested in the near future. Though the president is expected to celebrate his relationship with unions that fervently supported his 2008 campaign, differences between Obama and organized labor will be at the forefront during his address at the AFL-CIO’s convention. On healthcare, Obama has voiced support for a public insurance option but is not insisting on one. Organized labor wants a public option to drive down healthcare costs, and the AFL-CIO is expected to approve a resolution that backs a government...

He is looking a bit sweaty and stressed. Must have heard his ACORN army is falling apart.

Trade: President Obama has fired the opening salvo in a trade war with China by slapping 35% tariffs on its tires. But besides giving China a kick, this protectionism will harm Americans across the economy.Sec. 421 of the 1974 Trade Act, intended to control surges in imports. But the markets paid attention. Global stock futures tumbled over the weekend. Asian markets dropped sharply Monday, fearing a wave of U.S. protectionism. China called the U.S. move "rampant protectionism" and vowed to investigate dumping charges against U.S. auto parts and chicken, two industries that have made inroads into the China market. The...

A full-blown trade row erupted on Sunday night between the US and China after Beijing accused Washington of “rampant protectionism” for imposing heavy duties on imported Chinese tyres and threatened action against imports of US poultry and vehicles. Trade relations between two of the world’s biggest economies deteriorated after Barack Obama, US president, signed an order late on Friday to impose a new duty of 35 per cent on Chinese tyre imports on top of an existing 4 per cent tariff.

The White House leaked word late Friday evening that the U.S. will impose a 35% tariff on imported Chinese tires used by millions of low-income Americans. We wonder if President Obama understands the political forces he's unleashing with this blatant protectionism. Mr. Obama is setting a precedent in the tire case because he is applying a previously unused part of the trade law known as Section 421. This allows U.S. industries or unions to seek protection from "surges" of Chinese imports, with a lower burden of proof than normal antidumping or countervailing duty cases. President Bush nixed the four Section...

President Barack Obama on Friday slapped punitive tariffs on all car and light truck tires entering the United States from China in a decision that could anger the strategically important Asian powerhouse but placate union supporters important to his health care push at home. Obama had until Sept. 17 -- next week -- to accept, reject or modify a U.S. International Trade Commission ruling that a rising tide of Chinese tires into the U.S. hurts American producers. A powerful union, United Steelworkers, blames the increase for the loss of thousands of American jobs.

Obama decides to impose tariffs on Chinese tire imports for 3 years WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama has decided to slap punitive tariffs on all car and light truck tires entering the United States from China. Obama had until Sept. 17 -- next week -- to accept, reject or modify a U.S. International Trade Commission ruling that a rising tide of Chinese tires into the U.S. hurts American producers. A powerful union, United Steelworkers, blames the increase for the loss of thousands of American jobs. The federal trade panel recommended a 55 percent tariff in the first year, 45...

Controversial legislation that would make it easier to organize unions will pass this year, Vice President Joe Biden said today. Appearing at a Labor Day rally in Pittsburgh, Biden praised the role of unions in building the middle class and said the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) will make it through Congress before the end of the year, the Associated Press reports. That's a very optimistic timeline, considering that Democrats are already putting all their legislative muscle behind healthcare reform.

In a speech to the AFL-CIO, the president accuses critics and special interests of using scare tactics and spreading 'lies' in healthcare debate. Reporting from Cincinnati - In a combative Labor Day speech, President Obama said that the healthcare debate had gone on too long and accused opponents of spreading "lies" meant to persuade Americans that his proposed overhaul would cruelly deny care to the elderly. The president, speaking at an AFL-CIO picnic, said that "special interests" were determined to "scare the heck out of people.

Obama credits Unions with creating modern benefits like paid leave and minimum wage . The facts are that unions had nothing to do with the federal laws that created both. In fact Unions opposed the passage of federal laws that provided such benefits. At a federal level FMLA passed in 1993 provides provides for only 12 weeks of unpaid family leave to workers that work at a business with 50 or more employees. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paid_Family_Leave. At the time of the law's passage about 30% of workers nationwide received such benefits, and today about the same number do so. FMLA did not...

CINCINNATI -- President Barack Obama shifted into campaign mode Monday, declaring that the time for debate on health care is over and vowing to move fast to enact a sweeping overhaul of the system this year. Speaking at a boisterous Labor Day rally of AFL-CIO members, Mr. Obama led the first "fired up, ready to go" chant of his presidency, reaching back to a hallmark of his presidential campaign. He recounted a low moment from his quest for the White House to try to seize control of a health-care debate that strayed from his grasp this summer. "Every debate at...

Here is video of a combative and arrogant President Obama today speaking to the AFL-CIO where he declared the time for debating Health Care is "over." "It's time to act." Obama said in a rather condescending voice, "The debate has been good." But he went on to make his statement that Americans have debated this enough. Obama then called "lies" concerns by anti-ObamaCare opponents about the impact of Government-run Care on the seriously ill and other matters. He then said opponents have no plan of their own, which is absolutely not true, and he knows it. I don't think President...

Hello Cincinnati. Hello Ohio. I can't think of a better place to be on Labor Day than at America's biggest Labor Day picnic-with the workers and families of the Cincinnati AFL-CIO. First, give a big round of applause to Charlie. Charlie reminds us that in these tough times, America's working men and women are ready to roll up their sleeves and get back to work.

Barack Obama declared Monday that modern benefits like paid leave, minimum wage and Social Security "all bear the union label," as he appealed to unions to help him win the health care fight in Congress. "It was labor that helped build the largest middle class in history. So, even if you're not a union member, every American owes something to America's labor movement," said Obama, whose run for the presidency was energized in no small part by unions. Obama asserted that "our recovery plan is working," but repeated that he won't be satisfied until jobs are much more plentiful. Shortly...

<p>President Barack Obama told thousands of cheering union members and activists gathered at Cincinnati's Coney Island park Monday that his economic recovery plan is working.</p> <p>"We're on the road to recovery, Ohio, don't let anybody tell you otherwise," said Obama, who took the stage as the sky cleared following a morning that threatened rain.</p>

James P. Hoffa is now saying that if Obama pulls the "public option" out of his healthcare bill, it is not a deal killer as far as union support is concerned. Hoffa said that he was only interested in what was "doable" and that they need to "get something done… and declare a victory." Now let's take a look at these quotes from Mr. Hoffa, shall we? What does it mean if we aren't seeing obliged union support without integrity for Obama's healthcare coming from Hoffa's Teamsters? Hoffa is saying that he doesn't care at all what healthcare "reform" will...

"Thank you Cincinnati. Thank you, Ohio. Thank you labor," yelled President Barack Obama over the cheers of roughly 4,000 as he took the stage at the PNC Pavilion next to Coney Island moments ago. This followed fiery speeches by labor organizers at today'a annual AFL-CIO Labor Day picnic in Cincinnati. This is the first time a sitting president has addressed the annual picnic, the largest of its kind in the nation. White House officials estimate roughly 10,000 tickets were distributed to the speech, which was moved to the pavilion from the park grounds because of rain. "This is a unique...

President Obama's announcement of his selection of Ron Bloom as "manufacturing czar" follows the weekend resignation of Van Jones, the White House "green jobs czar" who had come under fire in recent weeks for past inflammatory statements. As one White House "czar" departs amid a cloud of controversy, an undeterred President Obama is naming a new one to advise him on manufacturing, defying conservative critics who have raised concerns about these advisory positions that do not require congressional oversight. Obama chose a Labor Day union picnic on Monday as the backdrop to announce his selection of Ron Bloom, a member...

The president is getting a lot of flack these days for a cardinal sin of politics — overreach. Yes, he spent too much and tried to aggrandize too much federal power. But he’s not alone, of course. Lots of groups and politicians are guilty of overreach and it’s gotten them, like the president, in a heap of trouble. Chief among them is Big Labor. Big Labor contributed tens of millions (hundreds of millions if your count state and local races and all that phone banking help) to elect Barack Obama and Democratic majorities in the House and Senate. At the...

President Barack Obama is addressing one of his key constituencies — organized labor — on Monday as union members gather to celebrate the holiday named for their movement. As Obama prepares for a critical speech Wednesday to Congress and the nation about his efforts to overhaul health care, a supportive audience at the AFL-CIO’s annual Labor Day picnic in Cincinnati should provide welcome relief from the highly charged partisan atmosphere surrounding the issue. Besides addressing health care, Obama will tell the assembled union members he has named Ron Bloom as senior counselor for manufacturing policy. Bloom has served since February...

The Café des Artistes has been doing a steady restaurant business in New York City since 1917, but is now forced to close its doors. One of the main reasons for this happens to be the fact that the Café is unfortunate enough to be a union restaurant and the exorbitant costs of supporting a union workforce has contributed to killing the business. A blog called the 212DressingRoom, a website about New York fashion, culture, art and other rather Bohemian subjects, has detailed the sad end of the long time café written by the owner of the place, Jennifer Lang....

An economist is saying that President Hoover set the stage to worsen The Great Depression because of his pro-labor union stance. Pro-labor policies pushed by President Herbert Hoover after the stock market crash of 1929 accounted for close to two-thirds of the drop in the nation's gross domestic product over the two years that followed, causing what might otherwise have been a bad recession to slip into the Great Depression, a UCLA economist concludes in a new study. Lee E. Ohanian, a UCLA professor of economics, lays the worst of the Depression at the feet of Hoover who, in his...

Are you a union member trying to find out information of the criminal actions and shady financial dealings of your union? Well don’t expect Obama and his toady in the Labor Secretary’s office, Hilda Solis, to help you uncover any illegalities perpetrated by your union bosses. Solis’ department has just announced that it is suspending the stringent reporting requirements that labor unions must by law satisfy to assure that their financial dealings are legal and above-board. That’s right, unions have just been given a free pass for criminal actions by this president. This is proof that political donations are the...

Union bosses who have mismanaged benefits for their own members are poised to receive a $10 billion bailout from U.S. taxpayers in the form of a “reinsurance program” that has been folded into the healthcare bill, according to the Workforce Fairness Institute (WFI). This provision should be viewed as part of a larger payback effort the Obama White House and top congressional figures have set up in exchange for the support they have received from organized labor, Katie Packer, executive director of WFI said.

Today, in a meeting to convene a diverse group of labor, advocacy, faith and business leaders, SEIU Executive Vice President Eliseo Medina met with Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano to discuss immigration reform. As an added bonus, President Barack Obama made an unscheduled visit to the meeting and reiterated his support of pushing through a comprehensive immigration package this Congress. The Hill reports that: "Obama urged leaders to work together in order to pass comprehensive immigration reform. Advocates took the presidential visit as a sign of the administration's commitment to the issue." In the first of its kind meeting...

Unions And Politics: Big Labor finally has a friend in the White House and allies in control of Congress. But it still doesn't have the public on its side. If anything, it's in danger of making more enemies.This was supposed to be the renaissance year for organized labor. With Republicans routed from every position of power in Congress and the executive branch, unions saw a clear path to long-cherished goals such as card-check and national health. Instead, 2009 has been a surprising struggle. True, the administration of Barack Obama has helped where it could, as when it gave the United...

A top Obama ally predicted Wednesday in an interview with ABC News that Democrats will lose their congressional majority in next year's midterm elections if they fail to put a health-care reform bill on President Obama's desk. "I think we're talking losing control of Congress," said Andy Stern, the president of the Service Employees International Union. "[The failure of health-care reform] would totally empower Republicans to kill all change." "It's hard to imagine the Democrats convincing the public that Republicans are to blame for health-care reform going down when the Democrats have such large majorities," he added. "After last year's...

A top Obama ally predicted Wednesday in an interview with ABC News that Democrats will lose their congressional majority in next year's midterm elections if they fail to put a health-care reform bill on President Obama's desk. "I think we're talking losing control of Congress," said Andy Stern, the president of the Service Employees International Union. "[The failure of health-care reform] would totally empower Republicans to kill all change."

Union members pack Obama's town halls Matthew Mosk August 17, 2009 GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. | Andrew Carillo and Melissa McCollister cheered loudly from near the back row of the Central High School gymnasium as President Obama stepped on stage to make his pitch for health care reform. The two organizers for the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 7 proudly wore their union T-shirts, and boisterously supported the president because of what they think his initiative will do for the 25,000 grocery stockers, meatpackers and warehouse workers that they represent. "We have to negotiate for health care every time...

We've mentioned it here and there in the past, but one of the under reported stories about unions today is that few of them have fully funded pension plans and worse, many are in dire trouble. The Wall Street Journal reminds us all of the mess that union pensions are in with a July 27 piece headlined, "Union Pensions in the Red ." The WSJ reports on the unusual actions of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), one of the most powerful unions in America, as it tries to fix its pension funds. Read the rest at Publiusforum.com...

Big labor jumped into the healthcare fray Thursday, calling on union members to counter "far-right and corporate-backed" opponents of reform. "In the past several days, loud, shouting and rowdy mobs have been disrupting congressional town hall meetings across the country," the AFL-CIO said in a message to members. "They're organized by far-right and corporate backed anti-healthcare reform and anti-government groups." John Sweeney, the AFL-CIO president, urged members to attend the town hall meetings and other gatherings on healthcare. In a union memo first reported in the Huffington Post, Sweeney said the "principal battleground" will be such meetings. "We want your...

"They have asked us to send people that support health care reform to counter the ones who will try to disrupt the meeting. Please let your staff, members, friends, family all know and encourage them to attend. They can RSVP to: RSVP - sean_mckew@cardin.senate.gov Thank you! Denise Denise Riley Political Director Maryland State and District of Columbia AFL-CIO"

Like the cavalry, organized labor reportedly plans on swooping in to the rescue of beleaguered lawmakers who are getting shouted down by conservative activists at town-hall meetings during discussions of health-care overhaul legislation. The Huffington Post's Sam Stein reports that the AFL-CIO is calling on its troops to counter the anti-health care reform hecklers. An excerpt: The nation's largest federation of labor organizations has promised to directly engage with boisterous conservative protesters at Democratic town halls during the August recess. In a memo sent out on Thursday, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney outlined the blueprint for how the union conglomerate would...

As members of the U.S. House and Senate turn their sights from committee hearings and floor votes in D.C., to barbecues and luncheons back home, SEIU's Change That Works team is ready to ensure they don't forget the promises they made on the campaign trail to fix our broken healthcare system and support hardworking families. At more than 400 events, from nurse and doctor town halls to large rallies, canvasses and phone banks--wherever members of Congress are, SEIU members will be there as well. From an ambulance tour in Miles City, Mont., to bake sales in North Dakota, we are...

President Barack Obama to me: This is the moment our movement was built for. For one month, the fight for health insurance reform leaves the backrooms of Washington, D.C., and returns to communities across America. Throughout August, members of Congress are back home, where the hands they shake and the voices they hear will not belong to lobbyists, but to people like you. Home is where we're strongest. We didn't win last year's election together at a committee hearing in D.C. We won it on the doorsteps and the phone lines, at the softball games and the town meetings, and...

SEIU's "Change That Works" Campaign help fix the nation's broken healthcare system and guarantee workers can freely decide whether to join in a union. As part of the campaign: Outreach efforts and other activities are planned in 35 states SEIU members have committed to more than 1,000 members and staff working full-time in the field and dedicated 30% of the union's resources to the campaign. Already approximately $10 million has been set aside to build and mobilize public support in key states. SEIU has hired or assigned full-time state campaign directors for each of the 35 states. SEIU has created a "war-room"...

WASHINGTON -- U.S. business groups are growing increasingly frustrated with President Barack Obama's failure to resolve a cross-border trucking dispute with Mexico they say has threatened thousands of American jobs. "We've got companies that are really concerned," said Frank Vargo, vice president for international economic affairs at the National Association of Manufacturers. "Our calculation is that we've got 15,000 jobs at risk and the longer this goes on, the more likely it is that Mexican buyers are shifting suppliers," Vargo said. U.S. manufacturers hold out hope Obama's meeting early next week in Guadalajara with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian...

Organized Labor: Card check may be a dead issue, but companies aren't yet free of the union threat. An anti-business provision of the perversely named Employee Free Choice Act is still under considerationIf the card check process were to become law, the traditional method for forming a union would be replaced with a pro-union system. In current practice, workers vote to either join the union or reject it through a secret ballot. A simple majority carries the vote. Under card check, a work force would become unionized if a simple majority signed the cards that are used to measure workers'...

One of the main premises of the Orwellian-named Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is the card check feature. This feature eliminates the right of potential union employees to have the benefit of a secret ballot when they vote for or against organizing under a union. Recently, Rasmussen did a poll on the basic concept to see what the prevailing feelings were and it looks like the union position comes out heavily on the losing end of the stats with this one. What’s more, most people agree with the Republican position that opposes the union’s... Read the rest at Publiusforum.com...