Free Republic

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – As the story goes, former Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa has attended every event at Giants Stadium since 1976, buried in a final resting place somewhere under the west end zone. As former New York Giants punter Sean Landeta once joked, "It gives a whole new meaning to kicking into the coffin corner." More than 20 years after a self-described mob hit man set the rumor mill in motion with an interview in Playboy magazine, the question lingers: Is the answer to one of the enduring mysteries of the 20th century buried beneath the stadium — and...

The number of union workers employed by the government for the first time outnumbered union ranks in the private sector last year, the result of massive layoffs that plunged the rate of private sector union membership to a record low. Local, state and government workers made up 51.5 percent of all union members in 2009, up from 48.7 percent a year ago, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. Overall, union membership declined by 771,000 workers, to 15.3 million. But with the number of nonunion workers also shrinking, the rate of union membership fell only slightly to 12.3 percent of...

In pursuit of an Eagle Scout badge, Kevin Anderson, 17, has toiled for more than 200 hours hours over several weeks to clear a walking path in an east Allentown park. Little did the do-gooder know that his altruistic act would put him in the cross hairs of the city's largest municipal union. Nick Balzano, president of the local Service Employees International Union, told Allentown City Council Tuesday that the union is considering filing a grievance against the city for allowing Anderson to clear a 1,000-foot walking and biking path at Kimmets Lock Park. "We'll be looking into the Cub...

Joe gets up at noon because six conservatives got up at 6am to go to work and are forced by the government to pay 40-60% of their wages in taxes so that Joe can sit on his fat ass all day and watch his big screen TV and play video games on his computer. Before Joe heads down to the union hall for his protest assignment that day, he’ll go to Starbucks to buy coffee and a Danish at 1pm. But before that, he’ll stop by the local medicinal marijuana shop to get high because a liberal legislature enacted a...

Adding to Obama's woes and his sinking poll numbers are his too-close connection to big union organized labor as their approval ratings continue to fall. On August 5, 2009, only 29% of the nation's voters strongly approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President.

Advocates of legalization have crafted a plan that could alienate businesses and key Republicans, including Sen. John McCain. But it is designed to lure a powerful new ally -- organized labor. BY PETER WALLSTEN With their prospects in Congress sinking along with the economy, liberal advocates of giving undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship are launching a risky strategy to push lawmakers and the White House to take up their cause. They are devising a proposal in which millions of undocumented workers would be legalized now, while the number of foreign workers allowed to enter the country would be examined...

The carpenters union has hired dozens of homeless people to stand in for union members to wage a "shame" campaign against a nonunion contractor, a Tulsa World investigation shows. The Local 943 Carpenters Union has organized a 2-year effort to coerce Green Country Interiors Inc. to pay union wages and benefits to its construction workers, said David Hannagan, president and part owner of Green Country. Beginning in April 2007, the carpenters union began placing personnel and large banners at businesses that had hired Green Country for construction work. At the first site, Crowne Plaza Hotel, 100 E. Second St., the...

Sen. Barack Obama won the endorsement of the Teamsters earlier this year after privately telling the union he supported ending the strict federal oversight imposed to root out corruption, according to officials from the union and the Obama campaign. It's an unusual stance for a presidential candidate. Policy makers have largely treated monitoring of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters as a legal matter left to the Justice Department since an independent review board was set up in 1992 to eliminate mob influence in the union.

Unions spent more than $100 million getting out the vote, knocked on millions of doors and delivered Election Day support to Democrats running for the House by a more than 2-to-1 ratio. Now organized labor is spelling out what it wants from the new Democratic Congress. The priorities include raising the minimum wage, expanding health care and improving pension protections. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney sees the elections as a "mandate for a union agenda." Likewise, says Bill Samuel, legislative director for the AFL-CIO, "we have an opportunity to push our agenda... The AFL-CIO executive council is scheduled to meet Tuesday...

Defying Mayor Daley and challenging Wal-Mart and Target to follow through on their threats, a bitterly divided City Council voted Wednesday to require Chicago's big-box retailers to pay employees a "living wage" of at least $10 an hour and $3 in benefits by 2010. The 35-14, veto-proof vote is an overwhelming victory for organized labor and the latest in a string of legislative defeats for a corruption-weakened Daley. "They're afraid of candidates running against them. That's what it is. That was the real issue," Daley said, denying that the vote was a sign of his diminishing grip on a Council...

A storm is brewing in Surgut, the seemingly sleepy hometown of Kremlin-friendly oil company Surgutneftegaz. Discontent over wages and management tactics is driving thousands of workers onto the streets in protest. Managers at the closely held company may be sitting on a cash pile estimated at more than $13 billion from sky-high oil prices, but the sense of prosperity is not felt by many of the firm's thousands of workers, say workers at the company, who have set up a fledgling independent union to make their case for better conditions. The frustrations first broke out into the open during the...

(English-language translation) Nine hours of deliberations over two days were enough for a jury to unanimously find today 10 former leaders of the Authentic Independent Union (UIA) guilty of Federal charges of conspiracy, embezzlement, and money laundering. Federal judge José A. Fusté agreed to a request from prosecutors and ordered the immediate imprisonment of the 10 convicts. "A conviction of this magnitude requires extreme measures.....Society must get the message that this conduct is in no way acceptable," the judge stated. "This type of crime has serious consequences, so I am not of the mind that this can be permitted," said...

Hispanic groups in the U.S. are planning a major boycott of American life dubbed a ”day without Latinos” to protest proposed legislation that would criminalize illegal immigration.

'Take your dead child with' 15/12/2005 22:30  - (SA)     Related Articles Patient neglect to be punished Child with broken arm 'ignored' 'No ambulances are available' Woman gives birth on floor Mom's horror hospital ordeal 'Staff eat patients' food' Poor conditions at Bara 'Neglect and abuse' at hospital Nurse slams Gauteng hospitals   Marietie Louw , Beeld  Polokwane - "Take your child's body with you when you go home." This was the shocking instruction a couple got when their baby boy died shortly after birth in the Mankweng hospital, about 30km from Polokwane. Andries Krugel said the hospital staff refused to...

SOME Houstonians who plan on moving to Louisiana and points east to get work in the Katrina rebuilding effort may discover their wages won't be as high as they might have expected. That's because President Bush signed an executive order last week rescinding the rule that contractors on projects receiving federal money pay the prevailing wage in areas damaged by the hurricane. "It's so important to have decent wages for these workers," said John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO. Sweeney visited the hurricane relief efforts in Houston and met with union leaders earlier this week. Without it, he said, contractors...

Other than a three-day weekend, most Americans don't give much thought to what they're supposed to be observing on Labor Day. In practice, it's become little more than the unofficial celebration of the end of summer. Back in 1882, when New York City's Central Labor Union inaugurated the holiday, the labor movement was quite a different thing than it is today. Once upon a time, workers had valid grievances regarding pay, hours, conditions and safety. Unions served a positive role in leveraging the collective influence of their members to pressure management to redress those grievances. But labor unions are political...

Lawyer's love of labor Richard Loccke laughs sheepishly when he's told what other lawyers say about his demeanor at the bargaining table. "I've never intimidated anybody," he says in his standard baritone. "I've never exploited anyone." As a labor lawyer who has thrived in the rough-and-tumble backrooms of collective bargaining for more than 30 years, Loccke knows full well what he brings to negotiations. His tenacious bargaining skills, mastery of the state's arbitration laws and vast client list have had an enormous impact on police salaries and municipal budgets, his friends, clients and critics say. "Rich is the best police...

Allowing government employees to unionize is a bad idea whose time is long past. I can understand, though not buy into, the logic of believing that people need labor unions to give them protection against the overwhelming economic and political power of their evil, greedy capitalist overlords. But even if one buys this argument, that logic breaks down with respect to government employee unions. I mean, given that government is the source of all good for all the people, what justification is there for believing that government employees would need protection from the power of their benevolent government? Who are...

Five labor unions that are highly critical of John J. Sweeney, the president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., are planning to announce this week that they are forming a coalition aimed at unionizing large numbers of workers, several union officials said yesterday. Labor leaders said they were planning this move because they want to form an aggressively pro-growth coalition and because they believe the A.F.L.-C.I.O. is doing too little to organize nonunion workers. This new coalition will be formed by the Service Employees International Union, the Teamsters, the laborers, the food and commercial workers and Unite Here, which represents hotel, restaurant and...

In recognition of his courage, sacrifice and leadership, we honor Brother Mikhail Volynets, President of the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine (CFTUU), with the 2004 George Meany & Lane Kirkland Human Rights Award. In the face of extreme political repression, employer interference and government corruption, Brother Volynets and the CFTUU are vigorous advocates for workers’ rights, democracy and social and economic justice.