Free Republic

Minimum-wage increase proposals are getting the maximum push from Democrats in statehouses in more than half of U.S. states, highlighting the politically potent income inequality issue this year. Lawmakers in at least 30 states are sponsoring or are expected to introduce wage hike measures, according to a national review by The Associated Press. They hope to notch state-level victories as President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats remain stymied in attempts to raise the federal minimum wage above $7.25 an hour. The president is expected to mention the minimum wage in his State of the Union address Tuesday.Even in Republican-dominated capitals...

The Supreme Court has taken on an interesting case and it's decision can have massive ramifications for unions nationwide. The issue is whether unions can coerce workers to pay dues even if the disagree with the union. The case was brought by a group of home health care workers who were forced to join a union in Illinois as they receive money to take care of family members through Medicaid. The SEIU persuaded Illinois that these families who were taking care of family members at their homes who are in need of assistance, say of someone who is developmentally disabled,...

Labor Law: The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in a case that will determine if a Medicaid recipient caring for her child is a state worker required to turn part of her meager resources over to union bosses. Illinois resident Pam Harris is a 55-year-old mom earning less than the minimum wage who cares for her son Josh Harris, 25. He has Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome, a muscular degenerative disease, compounded by physical disabilities and mental illness. Josh and his family qualify for an Illinois home-based support-services program that lets disabled adults live at home. He gets $721 each month from...

Should the nation’s minimum wage be raised, as Democrats from President Obama on down are insisting? “Well, jobs are a great thing,” Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Tuesday. “So you have to be a bit careful: If you raise the minimum wage, you’re encouraging labor substitution, and you’re going to go buy machines and automate things—or cause jobs to appear outside of that jurisdiction. “And so within certain limits, you know, it does cause job destruction. If you really start pushing it, then you’re just making a huge tradeoff.” …

We hear a lot about bullying as if it’s as common as cheering at a football game. But who is really the Big Bully in our public schools? Who is throwing their weight around all the time? More specifically, who is insisting on the use of bad methods that never seem to work better this year than 10 years ago? Who is making lame excuses for poor performance so that nothing seems to get better? Who fills the air with propaganda and sophistry so that no one can think clearly about the issues facing us? Consider Whole Word. Rudolf Flesch...

Nice work, SEIU. A Chicago sandwich shop closed its doors after several employees rallied for $15 an hour wages. ... The River North Snarf’s shop was closed for four days, from December 5 until December 8, as employees went on striking for higher wages and better benefits. Now they’re out of work

WASHINGTON -- For Rep. Gary Miller and voters in his Inland Empire district, this is just the beginning: A television ad began airing Thursday in the Republican’s district seeking to ratchet up pressure on him to support a pathway to citizenship for immigrants in the country illegally. Miller is among seven GOP lawmakers nationwide targeted in the roughly $500,000 ad buy by the Service Employees International Union. Many more ads are expected because Miller is regarded as among the most vulnerable House Republicans, a top Democratic target who represents a heavily Latino district won by President Obama. Miller said in...

At least one BART union agreed Saturday to put the transit agency's contract proposal to a vote, but commuters looking for a quick end to the 2-day-old strike should hold off on the celebrations. Speaking from the entrance of the shuttered Pittsburg BART Station, Antonette Bryant, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555, said she expects that vote to result in a "resounding no." ... A spokeswoman from Service Employees International Union Local 1021, BART's largest union, declined to say whether that union also would allow a vote on the contract. ... With no negotiations scheduled, both sides said Saturday...

(Reuters) - Commuter rail workers in the San Francisco Bay Area went on strike on Friday after talks with management over a new contract broke down, throwing the morning commute into chaos in the traffic-clogged region. The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) management and employee unions have been at loggerheads for months over pay and benefits for more than 2,000 train drivers and other union workers who are demanding large pay raises in part to offset being asked to contribute to their pensions and other benefits. On Thursday, union officials said both sides had finally agreed on pay and benefits,...

BART workers went on strike early Friday morning, leaving hundreds of thousands of Bay Area commuters scrambling for ways to get to work. SEIU spokeswoman Cecille Isidro confirmed shortly after midnight that the unions were on strike. "We made concessions, but you can only bend so far before you break," Sanchez said. "This is the way they want to solve the conflict, in a fight, a street fight."

In 2005, the Michigan Employment Relations Commission inappropriately allowed and administered a union certification election for home-based caregivers, despite them not being public employees. Unfortunately for those 40,000-some workers, who primarily are family members and friends caring for the state's most vulnerable residents, MERC made the decision in April not to correct its own mistake. For that reason, the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation this month filed an appeal in court, on behalf of people like Patricia Haynes and Steven Glossop, to have even a portion of the dues returned and the union certification declared illegal. "Our clients and tens of...

Luisa Blue, head of the local Service Employees International Union in San Jose, has five more months to spend a million dollars. The union received a grant from Covered California, the state’s health insurance marketplace and is using some of the money to call people in their homes at night and on the weekend, as part of a massive education effort.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi cheerfully led Spanish-language chants of “Si se puede” — or “Yes we can” — at a rally Tuesday for amnesty and immigration, but turnout for the event at the National Mall was far below the organizers’ predictions of 100,000 attendees. The barriers at the event were set to accommodate 35,000 people, but less than half the area was occupied. Loudspeakers and a large display screen at the rear of the area were almost devoid of listeners or viewers. The rally was held on public land during a widely hyped government shutdown that has seen the...

.....In arguing for a lighter punishment, Freeman's attorneys said their client had devoted much of his life to helping others and caring for his family. Prosecutors responded to that portrayal by pointing to a slew of wrongdoing Freeman is accused of having committed — including bigamy and having sexual affairs with union staff members — beyond the offenses for which he was convicted in January. ....Until his fall from grace, Freeman represented about 190,000 home-care workers in the SEIU chapter and an affiliated local, whose members made as little as $9 an hour. He wielded significant clout in Los Angeles,...

The City of Irvine, which likes to boast about being a melting pot, is perhaps a fitting location for an immigration reform rally. First, members of SEIU-United Service Workers West activists will make signs and banners from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday as part of their national day of action for immigration reform. Then, they will meet with their fresh news signs at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at 71 Fortune Drive, Irvine, march to the office of Congressman John Campbell at 20 Pacifica and rally for reform. Organizing for Action (OFA-CA) has also been holding rallies throughout Orange County, particularly...

Okay everybody: just sit down and shut up! WeÂ’ve got a Government to shut down here, and it WILL hurt! You! ThatÂ’s an order. As you know, the Barrycades at the World War II Memorial went up immediately following the announcement of the the painful government shutdown. The stated reason for the closure was to ensure that none of our cherished WWII Veterans were endangered by government drones - now forced to fly unguided during this painful government shutdown. You can tell that your government was really concerned about this potential hazard as War Memorials have never been closed during...

It appears that the Obama administration is violating the First Rule of Holes. Yesterday the administration looked awful when it “closed” and barricaded the World War II memorial on the Mall. The memorial is, by its nature, open. There is nothing to close. --SNIP-- ...these protesters were marching towards the press gaggle and I was asking them to show their federal IDs to prove they were in fact federal workers. No one wore their federal ID and none would provide it to prove their claim. Then, remarkably, a guy carrying a sign passed by wearing a McDonald’s employee shirt, which...

After about an hour, about 20 SEIU protesters arrived on the scene chanting “Boehner, get us back to work” and claiming they were federal employees furloughed because of the shutdown. In the video below these protesters were marching towards the press gaggle and I was asking them to show their federal IDs to prove they were in fact federal workers. No one wore their federal ID and none would provide it to prove their claim. Then, remarkably, a guy carrying a sign passed by wearing a McDonald’s employee shirt, which I noted. I then began asking them how much they...

As Obamacare enrollment begins, the Department of Health and Human Services has a helpful tip for the program's so-called Navigators: "Do not leave documents that contain PII [Personally Identifiable Information] or tax return information on printers and fax machines." The warning is contained in Section 2.4.3 of the 207-page Health Insurance Marketplace Navigator Standard Operating Procedures Manual. The same section asks navigators to "double-check" the fax number before faxing Obamacare enrollee's tax returns: "When faxing PII or tax return information, double-check that the recipient's fax number is correct and that someone is able to pick up the faxed information immediately."...

The Detroit News reported that the State Bureau of Elections began a formal investigation of the Service Employees International Union regarding its financing of a ballot proposal last year. Proposal 4, which would have locked into the state constitution the skimming of millions of dollars each year from the caretakers of disabled people, was defeated by 14 percentage points. Chad Livengood in The News reported: The complaint focuses on a group called Citizens for Affordable Quality Home Care and an East Lansing company called Home Care First Inc. Citizens for Affordable Quality Home Care sponsored the ballot proposal. In campaign...