Free Republic

Former Congressman Lt. Col. Allen West talks about his view of the State of the Union.

Kain Colter and a group of Northwestern players are beginning the process of forming a labor union to represent college athletes. According to ESPN's Outside the Lines, Ramogi Huma, president of the National College Players Association, filed a petition in Chicago on behalf of the players with the National Labor Relations Board. If the group is certified by the NLRB, it will be called the College Athletes Players Association (CAPA). Huma, Colter and former UMass basketball player Luke Bonner created the group with support from the United Steelworkers. [Snip] According to NCPAnow.org, the group has 11 specific goals. Minimize college...

Instead of a speech, President Obama could update the country on the State of the Union through a tweetable infographic. He won't, but let's be honest, we already know the president is going to say — as every president always does — that the "state of our union is strong." But how do we know it's true? If Obama did want to go the infographic route, here are 13 graphs he might use, in order from most troubling to strongest. How things stand now: Americans’ faith in the direction of their country is down to recession-era levels, according to an...

Nine California public school students are suing the state over its laws on teacher tenure, seniority and other protections that the plaintiffs say keep bad educators in classrooms.

Last month, the results of an international exam revealed that America’s world ranking hasn’t changed much in three years. The scores were “a picture of stagnation,” U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan remarked. 65 countries and economies participated in the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), a math, science, and reading exam that is administered every three years to 15-year-old students. In the rankings for the exam, which compare the various nations that participated, the United States scraped into the top 20 in only one subject area, reading—where it was ranked 17th. While this is alarming news, it isn’t exactly...

There’s outrage in Michigan after the union, Michigan Education Association, began fighting to win a $10,000 severance payment for a convicted child rapist. Neal Erickson, 39, was convicted of criminal sexual conduct with a minor. He was sentenced up to 30 years in prison. Erickson was the 12-year-old boy’s teacher, and molested him for three years.

A Democrat State Representative, a former Democrat State Senator and a local Union President walked into a public high school in Connecticut to receive a Communist award. Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke right? I only wish it was… According to an article on the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) News, People’s World, in December of 2013 a Communist award ceremony was held in a New Haven Connecticut public high school auditorium where the Democrat State Rep, Former Democrat State Senator and the local Union President all received awards: >snip "Former state Senator Ed Gomes, a steelworker, state representative...

The separate complaints focus on the timing of the union vote that narrowly approved Boeing’s 777X contract extension.Four individual Machinists at Boeing have filed separate complaints with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) seeking to overturn the 777X contract extension vote that passed by a slim margin last week. Anne Pomerantz, NLRB regional attorney, said the agency will investigate the charges, gather evidence and decide if any action is warranted. The process typically takes approximately 12 weeks, she said. The union members filed the unfair labor practices claims against the national headquarters of the International Association of Machinists (IAM), which...

Tesla is happy to do things differently than other automakers, from the company-owned stores to the all-electric drivetrain. It also doesn't use union workers at its factory in Fremont, California (the former NUMMI plant, pictured). But now the United Auto Workers (UAW) is testing the waters for representation at the plant, according to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle. UAW President Bob King has revealed that the UAW has created an organizing committee in Fremont. How this would change things at Tesla – and whether it would be a good or bad thing – is not really known, but...

The workers voted 51 percent to 49 percent in favor, responding to pressures from top union officials and Washington State lawmakers, who warned that Boeing might place 777X production elsewhere, potentially costing Washington more than 10,000 jobs.

Some 31,000 Boeing machinists vote on Friday on a crucial labor contract that affects the location of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars of economic activity. If the workers accept the deal, Boeing Co. would build its new 777X jetliner and wings in the Seattle area, where Boeing has built aircraft for more than 90 years. If they reject it, Boeing says it will make the wings and possibly the whole plane, elsewhere, marking a major employment and economic loss for Washington state. Boeing says it has received offers from 22 states interested in hosting a new factory to...

After negotiations over the property stalled without a deal, the city of Sacramento is preparing to push ahead with an eminent domain lawsuit to seize control of the former Macy’s men’s clothing and furniture store at Downtown Plaza, a vital parcel in the plan for a new sports arena. [snip] The parcel is owned by CalPERS, the state’s public employee pension fund, and U.S. Bank holds a ground lease on the property, according to a city staff report. C-III, a Texas-based asset management firm, is negotiating on behalf of U.S. Bank, city officials said. [SNIP]

On the normally quiet Friday before Christmas, when most Coloradans were purchasing last minute gifts and making their final preparations for the holidays, our state workers were busy with another task: laying the groundwork for their 2014 push to receive an outsized pay increase from the state legislature. ... Colorado WINS has already set aside a lobbying date to perpetuate the familiar cycle of government workers cozying up to their Democratic lawmaker friends who will, in turn, vote to send more taxpayer dollars their way. “Register Today and put in your time off request” announces the professionally crafted graphic advertising...

It seems that the unions had good reason to fear Scott Walker. In news that is unlikely to receive wide play in the legacy media, it appears that a number of Wisconsin unions failed to achieve recertification as a result of year-end member votes. The recertification votes were a consequence of Act 10, the epoch-making collective-bargain reforms pushed through by Walker in the face of mass demonstrations, vandalism, death threats, and all but open rebellion by unions in 2011. One of act's provisions was that public-sector unions must be annually recertified by a positive vote of at least half their...

Numbers of public sector unions in Wisconsin collapsed in the wake of an historic vote that ended on Thursday. The unions are acutely feeling the impact of Act 10, Governor Scott Walker’s controversy-generating collective bargaining reforms of 2011. The reforms require public sector unions to hold annual recertification votes. In order to be certified as unions by the state, the labor groups must get the approval of over 50% of their members. For several weeks now the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission has been holding an open and ongoing vote for over 400 unions, mostly made up of public school teachers...

A Michigan union invoked the provision of the state constitution that bans slavery in their argument against right-to-work, court documents show. Teamsters Local No. 214 stated Dec. 6 that right-to-work was "a violation of the prohibitions against involuntary servitude" because members of the union had to work against their will on behalf of non-union members. The union then referred to Article I, Section 9 of the state constitution, which states: "Neither slavery, nor involuntary servitude unless for the punishment of crime, shall ever be tolerated in this state." The claim was made in response to a lawsuit filed by four...

Opponents of Michigan adopting a right-to-work law predicted dire consequences for the state if workers were given the right to decide if they wanted to opt-out of paying money to a union as a condition of employment. But their claims were largely just hyperbole. One year ago Wednesday, the capitol lawn was packed with protesters as the Legislature passed a bill that made Michigan the 24th right-to-work state in the nation. In the days, weeks and years leading up to the law being signed, a lot of predictions were made by union officials, politicians, academics and activists. Here's a look...

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....

The Michigan Education Association has been accused of hiding from teachers how to leave the union and threatening their credit ratings if they don’t pay dues. The union says teachers can only leave in the month of August and that this is in their bylaws. On Wednesday, the union appeared before a Senate committee investigating the claims. The MEA has repeatedly claimed that all of its members should know about the "August Window" and that they agree when they come on as teachers that they can only drop the union during that month. As Michigan Capitol Confidential noted: "[Doug] Pratt...

A teachers union in Ogemaw County wants $10,000 paid to a teacher who pleaded guilty to molesting an eighth-grade student. The union in the West Branch Rose City Area Schools district filed a grievance on behalf of Neal Erickson, who was sentenced in July to 15-30 years in prison, claiming he was unjustly denied a $10,000 severance package offered to all teachers, according to the school district. The West Branch-Rose City Education Association, an affiliate of the Michigan Education Association, is fighting on Erickson's behalf because it says the $10,000 was offered to all teachers who severed employment with the...