Free Republic

A union operative generously praised New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman when he announced he was taking a Papa John’s pizza franchisee to court on behalf of workers who claim they were underpaid. The state attorney general, like the unions, called it “wage theft.” The thing is, the union official knew about the government’s lawsuit before the pizza franchise did. “Fast-food workers all across the city and country are organizing for higher pay and union rights,” said Kendall Fells, organizing director for Fast Food Forward, a group dedicated to increasing wages and benefits for fast-food workers. Fells added: "This suit...

".......An Instagram of that “No Cops No Prisons” banner displays a number of hashtags, including #turnuptheanger, a hashtag associated with TMOC. (The first mention of #turnuptheanger on Twitter, for example, directs to a Facebook page hosted by the Trayvon Martin Organizing Committee NYC.) It’s not the only apparent link between the “dead cops” chant and TMOC. At the beginning of the video and before the call to kill police, you can hear what sounds like, “arms up, shoot back!” That slogan appears on TMOC’s Twitter account....... [SNIP] ......There are not many TMOC members willing to openly admit that they’re part...

Mayor de Blasio held court on Friday with ringleaders of the city protests that have led to cop assaults and other mayhem — lending a sympathetic ear as they ticked off their demands. Hizzoner had tried to keep the location of his meeting with the members of Justice League NYC a secret, but reporters discovered it was at the Midtown offices of a union connected to the one that employs a man charged with busting an NYPD lieutenant’s nose on the Brooklyn Bridge. “They have a list of demands, some which I agree with, some which I don’t,” de Blasio...

I went down to Al Sharpton March at Freedom Plaza today, which featured the Mothers of Trayvon Martin and Eric Garner with a crowd of mostly out of towners that numbered between 8,000 to 10,000 at the height of it all. The march and rally pretty much ended with around 3pm with Sharpton making a very brief appearance and mostly White Leftwingers hijacking the march afterwards as the out of towners headed for their buses. The signage held up by these Leftists radical included environmental messages, the overthrow of the capitalist system. One sign proclaimed that, "Capitalism was the disease...

NEWARK – A small crowd of about 50 labor leaders, community members and elected officials in Newark on Friday applauded a big move by U.S. President Barack Obama. On Thursday night, Obama announced he would use his executive authority to prevent the deportation of up to five million undocumented immigrants and allow many to work legally. The move echoed from Washington, D.C. to the steps of Grace Episcopal Church on Broad Street. “I am so, so happy. I want to say thank you to President Obama for this executive order. Me and my husband will benefit from this,” said Celia,...

Fresno resident Stephanie Kamey said Friday that President Barack Obama’s unilateral decision to halt deportations for nearly 5 million undocumented immigrants felt “bittersweet” and still leaves her family “wanting.” .... Kamey said members of her family are spread throughout the U.S., Mexico and Guatemala. Her two young nephews, whose father died, are being recruited by gangs in Guatemala because they “still have no pathway” to immigrate to America to live with her in a safer environment, Kamey said. “See, I’ll never know what it’s like to have my entire family sitting down for Thanksgiving or Christmas together and it’s because...

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - Statement of SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry on the joint announcement that the United State and China have agreed to ambitious new goals for steep reductions in carbon emissions over the next two decades: "The U.S.-China pact on bigger, faster reductions in carbon emissions is a victory for working people the world over. This climate pact by the world's two largest carbon emitters will result in not only healthier air, but healthier communities and healthier economies. "We celebrate this victory on the heels of the biggest climate change protest in history, with a huge contingent of...

Video at link: Mary Kay Henry, international president of the Service Employees International Union, spoke at a press conference on Nov. 6, 2014 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., urging President Barack Obama to grant amnesty to millions of illegal aliens in the United States. (CNSNews.com/Penny Starr) (CNSNews.com) – The chief of an international labor union said on Thursday that the Republicans are “bullying” President Barack Obama about taking executive action that would grant amnesty to millions of people who are in the country illegally. “Republican leaders are already playing politics by trying to stop the president from...

A raise negotiated by Fresno County supervisors for its largest union was rejected after voting came to a close Thursday afternoon. The vote was an “overwhelming no,” said Riley Talford, a senior shop steward for SEIU’s supervisory employees. He did not disclose the final results. He said the vote showed that the county has to do “a better job and show respect to the employees who are serving this county.”

In recent arguments against states requiring voters to show a photo ID, the United Auto Workers Local 6000 has compared concerns about voter fraud to belief in the fictional Loch Ness monster and Yeti. The union wrote on its Facebook page that requiring a photo ID for voting is the goal of the “billionaire funded” American Legislative Exchange Council, and is intended to create obstacles for voters who might support a more “progressive” agenda. When its own members, however, want to exercise their freedoms under the new right-to-work law in Michigan to opt out of paying union dues as a...

A community organization group with ties to labor unions and to George Soros is out with a dramatic get-out-the-vote ad featuring an African-American mother forcing her son to wear a bullet-proof vest in order to protect himself from being shot by police and “vigilantes.”Dream Defenders, the group behind the ad, first gained national attention last year when it held a 31 day protest at the Florida state capitol following George Zimmerman’s acquittal in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. The group’s executive director is Phillip Agnew who is paid as an organizer by Service Employees International Union, one of the...

SEIU, the Center for American Progress, American Women, Planned Parenthood and other partners have announced today the launch of Fair Shot Action, what they call, “a new effort aimed at engaging voters on issues surrounding women.“ According to their press release, the coalition will help voters understand, “which candidates support women’s access to reproductive health” which is code for abortion on demand as they describe it as, “an area that has been under attack during the last year as a result of the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision.”A major component of the new effort will be a new online tool...

If you haven’t previously read about who Judith Faulkner is, it’s imperative – especially if you live in Wisconsin – to read this post first, Will Money & Power in Wisconsin Politics Influence Health Care Policy?, particularly the last third of it. You see, it turns out that one of the biggest backers of liberal politicians and big labor in Wisconsin is actually none other than….an evil corporation!

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about Westover Vineyards of Castro Valley. Owner Bill Smyth is preparing to shutter his winery because the California Department of Industrial Relations slapped him with $115,550 in fines, back wages and penalties for using unpaid volunteers. Those fees put Westover in the red. Why did the state go after him? Smyth suspected a complaint by a "disgruntled" former volunteer. On Monday, I heard from Scott Cantacessi, whose wife, Kim, worked/volunteered at Westover for 17 years. On her last day, as she was walking to her car, Cantacessi fell and fractured her arm. "I...

Opponent Mary Burke weighed down by jobs plan plagiarism allegationsMary Burke weighed down by jobs plan plagiarism allegations. Gov. Scott Walker is casting himself as a turnaround artist, seeking re-election with a pitch to voters that he revamped the state’s spending and business climate in just four years. For a governor with presidential aspirations, it’s a case he’s likely preparing for a national audience as well — but first he’ll have to get through a tighter-than-expected re-election race against Democrat Mary Burke, a former state secretary of commerce. As if that wasn’t enough, analysts say that his race could also...

A Michigan court ruled that the state branch of the powerful Service Employees International Union does not have to pay back tens of millions of dollars in dues taken from home health care workers who were forced into unionization. The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled last week that the SEIU Healthcare Michigan does not have to pay back more than $34 million in dues collected from over 40,000 home health care workers. Many were forced into the union under state requirements that they join because they were taking care of sick family members at home.

Conveyor Belt Sushi, Japan A dining concept that lets you pick from a wide range of one of Japan's best-known foods. NOTE: Click on the referenced link to watch the video. P.S. This technology will doom the SEIU/$15.00 minimum wage movement.

Koch Brothers go on offensive to expose dark money in politics. The Koch brothers—taking a break from such nefarious endeavors as spending money in support of their political positions and, worse, donating to hospitals—are going on the offensive with a campaign to expose the vast web of dark money spun by the Democracy Alliance. The Democracy Alliance is a secretive left-wing organization which connects big-money progressive donors to a long list of progressive organizations. A chart mapping out all the groups financed by the Democracy Alliance was distributed by Republicans on the Senate floor on Monday, and it makes clear...

Want robots at McDonald's? Hike minimum wage: Zell Matthew J. Belvedere | @Matt_Belvedere Wednesday, 3 Sep 2014 Video Federal and state efforts to increase the minimum wage are misguided and pose serious risks to the economy and the job market, billionaire Sam Zell told CNBC on Wednesday. "The tinkering with the minimum wage is a very dangerous game," the chairman of Equity Group Investments said in a "Squawk Box" interview. "You start talking about a $13 or a $15 minimum wage, and you're going to have robots that are operating McDonald's."

Three things fast food workers should do with the “extra” money you’ll get if the national minimum wage is raised from $7.25 to $15 per hour. For argument sake, let’s call the average minimum wage $7.85 to account for California, New York, Arizona, Colorado, Montana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Nevada, Ohio, Illinois and Florida, all of whom have something in the neighborhood of $8 (give or take).  Socialist enclaves of Oregon, Washington, Vermont, and Connecticut are in the $9 range, with Washington the winner at $9.32. Let’s also set the number of hours per week at 30 for the average burger-flipper or fry...