Free Republic

Rush Limbaugh has come out swinging in defence of the heavily Irish horse and carriage industry in New York’s Central Park after new mayor Bill de Blasio promised to put them off the streets. Over half the drivers of the 200 horses are Irish, but they are fighting a rearguard action against de Blasio, who had major support from animal rights groups. De Blasio stated that one of his first acts would be to end the horse and carriage trade and replace it with electric car tours. "We are going to quickly and aggressively move to make horse carriages no...

Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio vowed to act quickly to abolish horse-drawn carriages in the city. "We are going to get rid of the horse carriages. Period,” de Blasio said in response to a question at his press conference announcing his schools chancellor pick Monday. “It’s over,” he said.

Bill de Blasio, New York’s incoming mayor, apparently loves animals more than people. He thinks horse-drawn carriages in Central Park are “inhumane.” But abortions in New York City, which is the abortion capital of America given its ridiculously high abortion rates? No problem.Fox News reports on de Blasio’s concern about horse-drawn carriages: New York City Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio has vowed to move quickly to outlaw the horse-drawn carriages that pull tourists around the city’s famous Central Park.“We are going to get rid of the horse carriages. Period,” de Blasio, who takes office New Year’s Day, said at a news...

New York City’s brand-new mayor Bill de Blasio has an ambitious progressive agenda that includes tax increases, much talk about somehow crushing inequality and punishing “the elite.” Two issues high on de Blasio’s agenda are the creation of more abortion clinics across the five boroughs and an outright ban on horse-drawn carriage rides in Central Park. De Blasio’s animosity to the horse-drawn carriages runs deep, apparently. “We are going to get rid of horse carriages, period,” he said at a news conference Monday, according to CNN. He added that he believes the tourist attraction — popular since 1858 — is...

Suffering from a clear lack of intellectual honesty, the morally bankrupt progressive socialist mayor of New York City seems to have a knack for tax avoidance. (And remember: despite what Harry Reid would have you believe, tax avoidance is not a crime.) According to public records, Bill “punish the rich” de Blasio paid a mere 8 percent of his income in federal taxes. Just to put that in context for any liberal that has accidently stumbled across this paragraph: That’s less than that capitalist pig, Mitt Romney paid in prior years. Of course, to be fair, it is possible...

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio's bill to ban horse-drawn carriages reached the City Council on Monday, in a move to phase out the carriages that often give tours around Central Park. The legislation says that as of June 1, 2016, "it shall be unlawful to operate a horse-drawn vehicle in the city of New York or offer rides to the public on a vehicle drawn or pulled by a carriage horse." ... It also boosts the penalty for breaking horse-carriage rules to a maximum of $25,000 instead of the current $500. The proposed ban was introduced one day after...

The Teamsters Union on Friday agreed to dismiss all of its claims against three city of Dearborn employees in a case that involved union representation obligations under Michigan’s right-to-work law. The Teamsters and the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation agreed to end the lawsuit with the union also agreeing to pay attorney’s fees to MCLF. Last year, after the state's right-to-work law went into effect and it became illegal for unions to have an employee fired for not paying dues or fees, the Teamsters instituted a fee for non-members who wanted to file a grievance. "We're glad that we could settle...

A Teamsters union that represents city of Dearborn workers is backing down from a policy of charging non-union employees a fee for filing a grievance. The reversal comes after the Teamsters initially tried to punish and intimidate employees who exercised their rights to leave the union as part of the state's right-to-work law. After being taken to court over its actions, the Teamsters Local 214 ended its policy of charging non-union employees $150 for filing a grievance. The union filed paperwork with the court on Friday. It is unlikely the Teamsters would have been successful defending the policy in court....

As someone whose family operates a trucking company, there was no surprise when the announcement to organize a one million trucker march in October appeared online at reagancoalition.com and on a Facebook page. According to reagancoalition.com: There is a Facebook page called "Truckers to Shutdown America." This is one of the messages they posted: My fellow patriot this effort is to support the truckers in a major shut down of America ion [sic] a 3 day strike October 11th thru 13th. Obamacare will be in effect and most people will be ready to take action. No commerce on those days...

Teamsters Local 214 President Joseph Valenti said in a story reported by the MIRS news service that most grievances filed by the workers his union represents are "frivolous." Valenti was responding to a lawsuit filed by the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation over the Teamsters union charging $150 to file a grievance for former members who left the union by exercising the right-to-work law rights. The workers no longer pay dues or fees, but are still forced to be represented by the union in collective bargaining because unions asked for, and received, exclusive representation of all workers in a business that...

The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation filed a lawsuit Thursday on behalf of four former Teamsters union workers who say charging them a fee to file a grievance because they opted out of paying dues is in violation of the right-to-work law passed in December. Teamsters Local 214 in the city of Dearborn said effective July 1, it would charge $150 to employees who opted out of paying union dues to file a grievance, according to the lawsuit. The four workers being represented by the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation are city of Dearborn employees. "I was waiting for [right-to-work] for a...

Union members had disrupted funeral of a child, harassed mournersA judge ordered one of Chicago’s most politically powerful labor unions to suspend picketing against 16 funeral homes last week after receiving reports that striking Teamsters had, among other things, disturbed a child’s funeral.SCI Illinois Services, Inc., one of the nation’s largest funeral home chains, asked a district court to intervene after striking funeral directors and drivers with Teamsters Local 727 allegedly harassed grieving families.“We are grateful that the court agreed to issue this temporary restraining order, and we are hopeful that it will help protect grieving families who are experiencing...

A judge ordered one of Chicago’s most politically powerful labor unions to suspend picketing against 16 funeral homes last week after receiving reports that striking Teamsters had, among other things, disturbed a child’s funeral. SCI Illinois Services, Inc., one of the nation’s largest funeral home chains, asked a district court to intervene after striking funeral directors and drivers with Teamsters Local 727 allegedly harassed grieving families. The funeral home was eventually forced to call the police when picketers allegedly disrupted a child’s funeral with laughter. The officer asked the Teamsters to leave, but protesters returned when he drove away.

I’m not buying it.  The big news that came out last week about the labor unions unhappy with Obamacare just doesn’t strike true.  On July 12, James Hoffa of the Teamsters, Joseph Hansen of the Food and Commercial Workers, and D. Taylor of UNITE-HERE wrote a harsh letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.  The letter stated that unless Mr. Obama enacts an “equitable fix”, the Affordable Care Act “will shatter not only our hard-earned health benefits, but destroy the foundation of the 40 hour work week.” Ok, let’s just back up a minute.  Aren’t...

Bear in mind that Big Labor went to bat for ObamaCare in a big way throughout the months-long debate over its passage. When Tea Party activists demonstrated to raise opposition to the legislation, unions like the Teamsters counterprotested, sometimes violently, in an attempt to intimidate conservatives into acquiescence. Unions spent big money in the 2010 election hoping to protect Democrats from the consequences of their votes on ObamaCare, arguing that the bill would help the working class by sticking it to insurers and fat cats. Now that the law is about to be implemented, though, it suddenly looks awful to...

Last Thursday, in remarkably blunt language, the heads of three major labor unions – James Hoffa of the Teamsters, Joseph Hansen of UFCW, and Donald “D.” Taylor of UNITE-HERE — wrote a letter to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid denouncing Obamacare’s impact on employer-sponsored health insurance. Some of the highlights: “The ACA will shatter not only our hard-earned health benefits, but destroy the foundation of the 40 hour work week that is the backbone of the American middle class.” “This vision [of universal health care] has come back to haunt us.” “Our persuasive arguments have been disregarded and met with...

The Affordable Care Act now has a formidable opponent in U.S. labor unions. The unions were a key ally in the law’s passage: They spent a large sum of money on the congressional campaigns of Democrats in 2006 and 2008, and union leaders lobbied in favor of health care reform in 2009 and 2010. But with growing worries that the legislation will disrupt the health benefits of its members, America’s largest unions are asking Congress to step in. Save Time Make Money! A new stock idea each week for less than the cost of a trade. CLICK HERE for your...

Please click here if you are not redirected within a few seconds. Now They Tell Us… Union Leaders Now Say Obamacare Will Destroy ‘Health & Well-Being’ of US Workers Posted by Jim Hoft on Monday, July 15, 2013, 2:09 PM     It wasn’t that long ago that union leaders were rallying for Barack Obama and threatening to take those “sons-a-bitches” (conservatives) out. But that was before the election. Now, leaders of three major U.S. unions, including the highly influential Teamsters, sent a letter today to Democrats warning that Obamacare will “destroy the foundation of the 40 hour work week...

Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM) President David B. Durkee issued the following statement in response to the impending re-entry by Hostess Brands, LLC, into the snack cake market:“This coming week, Hostess Brands, LLC, is expected to re-enter the wholesale snack cake market.  Despite the fanfare, the long-term viability of this effort is highly uncertain. Rather than hire professional, experienced bakers who have produced quality snack cakes in the company’s bakeries for decades, Hostess management has chosen instead to hire primarily workers with little or no experience in the demanding wholesale snack cake baking industry.“The BCTGM...

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The 1.4-million-member United Food and Commercial Workers broke away from the AFL-CIO on Friday, the third major union to leave the labor organization this week because of differences over how to address declining membership. The 1.8-million-member Service Workers International Union and the 1.4-million-member International Teamsters Union left the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations, or AFL-CIO, at the start of its convention in Chicago on Monday. The leaders of those unions said they favored more aggressive organizing efforts than the AFL-CIO, arguing the parent organization devoted too many resources to political campaigns and lobbying, and that...