Free Republic

The Supreme Court has announced that it will hear the case Janus v. AFSCME. It will likely prove to be one of the most consequential labor-law cases in U.S. history. At issue is whether public-sector workers can be forced to join or pay fees to a union as a condition of employment. Traditionally, labor unions in America — in both the public and private sectors — have been the “exclusive representatives” of the “bargaining units” that elected them. Essentially, union contracts cover every single worker in the “unit,” whether the worker wants anything to do with the union or not....

RUSH: This will be a great opportunity to delve into the Walter Williams column that I referred to earlier. It’s got nothing to do with the NFL. I mean, that’s not why he wrote it. It comes from way back on September 20th, about a week ago, and the title of his column… Where did this run? The link is so tiny, I can’t read it. It looks like the Daily Signal. “The Black Family Is Struggling, and It’s Not Because of Slavery.” Now, Walter Williams is a former guest host here. He’s brilliant guy, very conservative individual. Let me...

As masked leftists use clubs to shut down free speech at Berkeley and elsewhere, Democrats have unfortunately been reticent to condemn the activity. But Antifa violence is not the only kind of condemnable disruptive activity. Democrats should also disavow the organized campaign to harass Republican congressmen and stop Republican town halls. One group in the thick of this battle is “Indivisible.” The group was founded by a former staffer for Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett, and its COO, Matt Traidi, is the research coordinator for the Service Employees International Union. Indivisible provides these instructions on how to prevent other town hall...

George Webb Day 234.11. Hillary's Leakers Hackers and Henchmen SEIU Senate Offices - There Are a Ton of Them (ff 0:15 for partial rough transcript) I realize everyone comes to Washington with their own particular issue and it's hard for legislators to juggle all that at once. So, that's why in my strategy coming up to The Hill I only kind of go three at a time. Then I think about what I'm doing and kind of reassess. It's kind of one of those little loops. You know, observe and then decide and then act. Then kind of wait...

Over the weekend we covered the demonstration at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, where opponents of the M-103 anti-blasphemy motion gathered to protest the encroachment of sharia in Canada and declare their support for free speech. Predictably, the “anti-fascists” came out in even greater numbers to confront the peaceful protestors, and there were at least two significant incidents of violence. One of them, as I mentioned earlier today, was an attack on the journalist Kevin J. Johnston, who nearly lost the top of his ear to an antifa knife. His cameraman was beaten and seriously injured. As I mentioned in one...

House Republicans give the wealthiest huge tax break at the expense of working families WASHINGTON—SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry issued the following statement regarding the House vote to approve the American Health Care Act (AHCA) by 217-213.  “Republicans in the House of Representatives have just voted to destroy the lives of millions of hardworking Americans by gutting Medicaid, ripping away their healthcare, and eliminating millions of jobs. “House Republicans have consciously put the profits of corporations and the wealthy over the health of 1 in 5 Americans who count on Medicaid, including seniors, children and people with disabilities. They...

A bill aimed at improving patient care and staffing at 560 California dialysis clinics that serve more than 63,000 patients is threading its way through the state Legislature despite sharp opposition from some in the industry. Authored by state Sen. Ricardo Lara, D-Bell Gardens, the measure has been fueled by dialysis workers in California who have been attempting to unionize through SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West. SB 349 calls for a staffing ratio of one registered nurse for every eight dialysis patients, one technician for every three patients and one social worker for every 75 patients. It also mandates a 45-minute...

The security firm that patrols the headquarters of tech giant Amazon has been accused of allegedly mistreating its Muslim workers, with critics claiming the contractor does not appropriately accommodate their demands for prayer breaks 5 times a day — and retaliates against those who speak out. Three workers have filed charges claiming the company retaliated against them for complaining. quote: PJ Media The Service Employees International Union and three Muslim guards who work for Security Industry Specialists, the security contractor Amazon uses to guard its facility, accuse SIS, and by implication Amazon, of refusing to allow the guards space to pray five...

After spending big on Clinton, Obama, SEIU now facing steep budget cuts Labor giant Service Employees International Union spent $60 million on politics and lobbying as well as $19 million on the Fight for 15 movement in 2016, and now finds itself laying off headquarters staff. The union's federal filing to the Department of Labor reveal that it experienced marginal growth in 2016, adding about 15,000 members from 2015. However, that increase did not correlate with financial growth as revenue fell by $17 million, fueling a $10 million budget deficit. The union, which represents healthcare and public sector workers, spent...

One of the most obnoxious trends in the nation, and one that is particularly acute in California, is the continued push to enshrine public employees as a special, privileged caste of Americans, exempt from the rules and obligations that apply to the rest of us. As I documented in my 2009 book, Plunder!, public employees often now receive the kind of pay, benefits, and protections more fitting for France, where civil service is the highest calling. In the United States, we traditionally valued entrepreneurship and freedom above pencil-pushing and bureaucracy. But times have changed. In California, a raft of public-employee...

Labor unions have been known to do many despicable things to grab dues money from workers who don’t want anything to do with them. A current Minnesota case is about as bad as you’ll ever find. In 2013, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) got one of its favored politicians, Minnesota governor Mark Dayton, to sign an order declaring that home healthcare providers who receive Medicaid money to care for disabled family members were government employees. But they were “employees” only because that made them eligible for unionization. The SEIU figured that it had a good shot at finagling a...

As union honchos for government workers describe it, the paycheck protection legislation that passed the state Senate last month amounts to a political gag order on workers. But if there's any actual “gagging” going on, it's in attempting to swallow this union shibboleth. The Senate bill bars state, local government and school district employers from deducting any portion of union dues from workers' paychecks that fund political activity. Deductions for contract negotiations and other costs remain unchanged.

LAUSD .. schools are under-enrolled. "There are places where we have schools that are basically four blocks away from each other — and at a time, that made sense," Rodriguez says. Now, he says, "Buildings built for 1,000 kids may have something like 400. "It's expensive." ... Today, LAUSD's enrollment is around 514,000, a number that the district estimates will fall below half a million by 2018. But L.A. Unified's costs have not gone down. They've gone up. This year's $7.59 billion budget is half a billion dollars more than last year's. The nation's second largest school district is facing...

Union leaders in California continued a protest even after neighbors and police informed them they were at the wrong house because their target, Rep. Steve Knight (R., Calif.), had moved away months ago. The group of over 50 protestors, who arrived in Service Employees International Union (SEIU) vans, carried a fake coffin to the house to send a message that Knight's votes in Congress were "killing" them, according to a report in the local Antelope Valley Press. Police arrived at the scene to alert the union protestors that they were in the wrong place, but the activists—who had already been...

A group serving as a central hub of information for congressional town halls was founded by a former Hillary Clinton campaign staffer and its parent company is located at the same address as an organization funded by liberal billionaire George Soros. Democrats have insisted that recent town hall outbursts against Republican politicians occurred organically, likening them to the Tea Party, while President Donald Trump yesterday tweeted that the "so-called angry crowds in home districts of some Republicans are actually, in numerous occasions, planned out by liberal activists. Sad!" The Town Hall Project, a group that serves as a one-stop shop...

Omarosa Manigault, a top adviser to President Trump, said she has a recording of a recent contentious exchange with a White House reporter. April Ryan, a veteran White House correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks (AURN) told The Washington Post she was “physically intimidated” by Manigault after an exchange last week. "She stood right in my face like she was going to hit me,” Ryan told the newspaper. “I said, 'You better back up.' " Now, Manigault says she has a recording of the dispute that was also shared with some other reporters, according to the Post. Ryan said she...

http://chieforganizer.org/ "Is a Progressive Tea Party a Good Idea?" "Report from Behind the Bunker, that What We’re Doing is Working" Worth looking at from one of VJ's inner circle.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In response to President Trump’s executive actions on building a border wall, immigration enforcement and restoring the “Secure Communities Program” today, SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry issued the following statement: “For a president who claims to represent and lead from a posture that is not partisan and of the people, Donald Trump’s executive actions have proven that his agenda is anything but that. It is clear our president is choosing to pander to extremists and act as a puppet for their agenda aimed at dividing and weakening our nation rather than honoring the commitment he made in...

What is the worth of a public employees union? Well not much these days according to the actions of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). SEIU announced last week that its members must be prepared for a thirty percent (30%) budget reduction including an immediate ten- percent (10%) reduction in 2017. Of course the SEIU union bosses blamed it all on President-elect Donald Trump but there is really more to it than that. Private sector union membership has been on the decline for decades. It is the result of a combination of things – mechanization, international trade agreements, and a...

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) — the second largest union operating in Massachusetts, with some 87,000 members in the state — is slashing its roughly $300 million national operating budget by 30 percent, citing the "threats" posed to organized labor by President-elect Trump. SEIU's international president told staff earlier this month that because the far right will control all three branches of the federal government, workers will face serious threats to their ability to join unions. SEIU local 32BJ is fighting for a $15 minimum wage and to unionize 1,500 workers at Logan Airport. 32BJ's Roxana Rivera said it’s...