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Bill Clinton accepted a $225,000 speaking fee from the nonprofit Washington Hospital Center smack in the middle of two big rounds of layoffs in 2012 — one of a number of tax-exempt organizations that have paid big money to hear the former president talk. The $225,000 payment wasn’t made public by the hospital on its annual Internal Revenue Service forms, but rather appeared among dozens of lucrative speeches by Mr. Clinton reported on his wife’s final ethics filing as secretary of state. “No disrespect to Bill Clinton, but that money could’ve gone a long way and been put to better...

PITTSBURGH--An estimated 300 workers and bused-in labor activists tied up Pittsburgh traffic when they marched downtown to rally outside the corporate offices of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Monday's rally follows demonstrations outside the same building last week when police cited nine demonstrators for trespassing. The activists from the Service Employees International Union, which is trying to organize some of the hospital network's workers, and others were also pressing for higher wages for cooks, custodians and other blue-collar health workers.

Connecticut's US senator, Richard Blumenthal, and a congress-person, Rosa DeLauro, have been subpoenaed in a case alleging that the SEIU's pressure tactics on nursing home managements during labor disputes amounted to unlawful extortion. Neither politician has been accused of any wrongdoing, but unless a judge grants a delay, both will be forced to produce any documents in their possession pertaining to the SEIU. Other Connecticut politicians will be subject to depositions, including Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy, state Attorney General George Jepson, andConnecticut state senators John Fonfara and Russ Morin. All are Democrats. Again, none of the politicians has been accused...

U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., have been pulled into a lawsuit between two local chapters of the Service Employees International Union, which represent health care workers, and nursing homes. At issue is whether a campaign to pressure the management of the nursing homes during labor disputes crossed the line into extortion. ... both lawmakers are now in the uncomfortable situation of being deposed by lawyers representing the nursing homes and are forced to provide a wide array of documents relating to their interactions with the SEIU. The subpoenas, obtained by the Washington Examiner, require them...

HOUSTON, TX – The nation’s leading labor union will plan to spend $300 million in 2014 trying to unseat Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and four other Republican Governors. More: AFL-CIO to Target Walker, Other Governors People’s World reported that the AFL-CIO announced on Thursday morning during a press conference in Houston that they would spend money trying to unseat Governor Walker. Other Governors that the labor organization is targeting are John Kasich (R-Ohio), Tom Corbett (R-Pennsylvania), Rick Snyder (R-Michigan), and Rick Scott (R-Florida). The American Federation of Teachers backed the AFL-CIO’s plan. President Randi Weingarten said: “In many ways it...

Nice job ya got there So the union's leaders have come up with a backdoor way to force employees to fork over the dues money. It's a novel variation on the Living Wage/Minimum Wage campaign. Here's how it works: Milwaukee County officials approved a living wage requirement for local government contractors to pay at least $11.33 per hour. SEIU's Wisconsin Jobs Now campaign was the main backer of the requirement. But the new law includes a convenient way for contractors to avoid having to pay the living wage — they can agree to force their employees to join SEIU.

A California Democrat is looking to extend taxpayer-funded health-care benefits to illegal immigrants. State Sen. Ricardo Lara of Long Beach introduced legislation late last week that would extend health-care coverage to all Californians “irrespective of immigration status.” “The purpose of the Health For All Act is simple — provide health care coverage to California’s remaining uninsured by expanding Medi-Cal and creating a new health exchange where the undocumented can purchase coverage,” Lara said in a statement. Lara added that the fact that Obamacare expressly denies illegal immigrants coverage “hurts the overall health of our communities, and does not reflect California...

(Ballot) Initiative No. 39 seeks to limit nonprofit hospital executive compensation to 15 times the annual wage of the lowest paid employee. Current law sets no cap on compensation, but rather, it is considered reasonable if it is comparable to similarly situated executives, even those at for profit health organizations, according to a summary of the measure. The measure would limit the share the hospital may contribute when the compensation is paid by a parent corporation, health system or combination. It requires annual public reports and authorizes civil penalties for violation.

Pres. Obama headed to Milwaukee after State of Union address January 26, 2014, by Mike Lowe, Pres. Obama headed to Milwaukee after State of Union address MILWAUKEE (WITI) — President Barack Obama is set to deliver his State of the Union address this week. According to the White House, the speech will be optimistic and focus on the middle class. After the speech, President Obama will take his message on the road to four places — one of which is Milwaukee. This is not the first time President Obama has used his big speech to put the spotlight on Wisconsin....

Image of the "Fast for Families" fasters, who announced their new plans to push for immigration reform on Monday. After going without food and only drinking water for 22 days last, a handful of advocates with the “Fast for Families” campaign ended their fast on December 3, 2013. Now they are continuing their efforts to push for immigration reform with a national tour that kicked off on Monday. Activists with the “Fast for Families” campaign captivated national and international attention last year when they put their bodies on the line to fast in support of immigration reform with a path...

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."