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President Obama plans to meet with union leaders Monday to discuss their opposition to a proposed tax on high-cost insurance plans, a tax that would pay for his health care overhaul plan, sources told Fox News. The meeting is expected to include leaders from the AFL-CIO, Service Employees International Union and other labor organizations. Union officials told The Associated Press that they view the meeting Monday as a chance to forcefully make their case that the tax is bad policy and bad politics. Unions contend that the tax would be passed along to workers.

Union officials say President Barack Obama plans to meet with them next week to discuss their concerns about a proposed tax on high-cost insurance plans that would help pay for his health care overhaul plan. The officials say they view the meeting Monday as a chance to forcefully make their case that the tax is bad policy and bad politics. Unions contend that taxes on so-called Cadillac plans would be passed along to workers.

The Senate version of health care reform contains a tax on high end health insurance plans. A union survey indicates one in four union members will pay this tax. Labor leaders say the tax would hit not only wealthy executives with expensive health benefits, but also many rank-and-file union members who have often settled for lower wage increases in exchange for more generous health benefits. The tax would affect individual insurance policies with annual premiums above $8,500 and family policies above $23,000, which by one union survey would affect one in four union members. Unions urged their members to vote...

EXCERPT The officials say they view the meeting Monday as a chance to forcefully make their case that the tax is bad policy and bad politics. Unions contend that taxes on so-called Cadillac plans would be passed along to workers. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity Thursday because negotiations are ongoing on a final health care bill. Obama hopes to sign the bill as early as next month. The meeting is expected to include leaders from the AFL-CIO, Service Employees International Union and other labor organizations.

Looks like the Unions aren't going to be happy.

WASHINGTON -- The White House on Sunday urged senators to quickly hold a vote on its nominee to head the Transportation Security Administration, but the battle showed little signs of easing as a Republican reiterated his concerns about the pick. The White House's appointment of Erroll Southers, a former Federal Bureau of Investigation agent, has been held up by Sen. Jim DeMint, who has raised questions about Mr. Southers's position on worker unionization. The South Carolina Republican wants Mr. Southers to promise that he would oppose granting collective-bargaining rights to the TSA's tens of thousands of employees. TSA appointments rarely...

Imagine it being as hard to fire an incompetent airport screener as it is to fire an incompetent teacher. Think that might have any implications for our safety and security? Evan Kohlmann apparently doesn't. In fact, the NBC terrorism consultant thinks opposition to unionizing the employees of the Transportation Safety Administration is "nonsense" and "ridiculous." Kohlmann made his comments on MSNBC this afternoon in the course of condemning Sen. Jim DeMint for opposing TSA unionization. The Republican senator from South Carolina has put a hold on Pres. Obama's nomination of Erroll Southers to head the TSA because of the nominee's...

Starting today, January 1, 2010, General Motors will be freed of billions in health care liabilities. Last May, as part of GM’s efforts to restructure out of court, they and the United Auto Workers union agreed to an amended version of the 2007 contract. Included in those revisions were for the union to take over nearly all of members’ health care costs. Prior to today GM was liable for nearly $2 billion per quarter in health care costs related to both active and retired UAW members. Starting today the UAW’s Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association (VEBA) Trust will take over responsibility...

It seems that among the many tribulations faced by our president was the matter of finding time away from the golf course to fill top positions in two federal agencies responsible for keeping terrorists off of airplanes. As in all important national security matters, Obama dithered for months before nominating prospective heads of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Customs and Border Protection Agency. Our senate has been far too preoccupied with its abominable health crimes legislation to bother itself with national security; an issue liberals never take seriously. Eight months into his administration, Obama at last got around...

Target Corp. retooled a training video to warn workers against a bill that would make union organizing easier. Michaels Stores Inc. told investors “our businesses could be impacted” by the measure. Enrollment in Jackson Lewis LLP’s “How to Stay Union-Free” seminars tripled. Companies are rallying to fend off a so-called card-check law sought by labor leaders and backed by President Barack Obama. While the bill stalled in Congress this year as health- care legislation dominated debate, anti-union groups say they expect the president and Democrats to deliver next year on a compromise version of the legislation. “As we approach the...

The outrage among some of America’s most vocal liberals at President Barack Obama’s failure to expand government-run health care caps a year of disappointments for Obama’s allies on the left and raises worrying questions for Democrats in the 2010 midterm elections. The revolt led by former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean comes after a series of more contained disappointments among traditional Democratic constituencies that invested heavily in Obama — unions, gays, civil libertarians, Hispanics, and anti-war Democrats, among others — who have seen specific promises deferred and grand hopes of systematic change denied by an administration that has found itself severely...

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...