Free Republic

Brave elected officials and grassroots activists are fighting to make Missouri the 25th state in the country to give workers the freedom to choose whether they want to pay dues or fees to a union. For the first time in more than 35 years lawmakers in the Show-Me state are seriously considering right-to-work. In early April, right-to-work legislation won majority approval 78-68 in the Missouri House but failed to receive the 82 "yes" votes necessary to send the bill to the Senate. A simple majority of those present is needed for early approval of a bill, but to send legislation...

The Michigan Education Association has been an outspoken critic of school districts that privatize custodial services to save money. Yet, the MEA contracts out work with non-union companies for its own janitorial services. The state's largest teachers union had contracts with six companies in 2012-13, according to financial reports it filed with the U.S. Department of Labor. The MEA paid a total of $155,623 for janitorial services in 2012-13, the records show. The MEA paid the companies between $5,500 to $86,112. Michigan Capitol Confidential confirmed that the companies are not unionized. The MEA did not respond to a request seeking...

The Jeffco Public Schools Board school board tossed out a tentative deal with its teachers union during Thursday night’s board meeting. Board president Ken Witt said he could not endorse the deal because the agreement provided raises to an estimated 56 teachers who were rated “partly effective” on the district’s evaluation rubric. ... teachers union representatives were disappointed

The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local's current legal director was disbarred from the practice of law over 20 years ago. Edward C. Chew III is the Executive Assistant to the President and Legal Director of UFCW 1776. Chew is also the Chairman of the UFCW Local 1776 Legal Trust Fund. The Supreme Court of New Jersey disbarred Chew from the practice of law “for the knowing misappropriation of client funds” in 1992. According to the Pennsylvania Disciplinary Review Board’s website, Chew remains ineligible to practice law in the state of Pennsylvania. Chew was admitted as a member of...

The Michigan Education Association could lose thousands of its members in August when the one-month window to leave the state's largest teachers union begins. Thousands of teachers already are withholding dues or fees from the union despite promises by the MEA that it will send debt collectors after those who don't sign up for automatic dues withdrawal. Patrick Wright, vice president of legal affairs for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, said he thinks the MEA could lose as many as 10,000 members this year. Last week, Doug Pratt, the MEA's director of member and political engagement, told Michigan Public...

There probably aren't many Michigan teachers who are members of the National Education Association who have heard of America Votes. Or that money they pay in dues helps fund the left-leaning political organization. Yet, the NEA is a major supporter of America Votes, which came under national scrutiny this week after a report by The Center for Public Integrity portrayed it as a "secret liberal group" that was financing liberal causes. Michigan teachers who belong to the Michigan Education Association pay $180 a year to the NEA as part of their dues. America Votes is just one of the many...

Starting August 1, the left-wing Ohio newspaper, The Toledo Blade, intends to lay off about 130 of its unionized employees due to a permanent shutdown of its Toledo production center that handles printing and inserting. ... In 2013, The Blade lost $8.5 million and has been losing millions for years. As of now there are no plans that will affect the advertising and news-gathering departments. In 2012, The Toledo Blade urged it readers to re-elect President Obama, arguing in part that "He has dealt effectively with economic recession at home

Calls for immediate action to fill thousands of vacant health care positions at VAWASHINGTON—American Federation of Government Employees National President J. David Cox Sr. issued the following statement in response to the resignation of Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Eric Shinseki:“AFGE strongly agrees with President Obama’s statements on the need to hire more doctors and nurses to fill the ranks of front-line providers delivering care to our nation’s heroes. It is imperative that the hundreds of physician vacancies be filled immediately. This must include clerks and other support personnel who work hand-in-hand with physicians to ensure that top notch...

“Henry. A SWAT team from Homeland Security just raided our factory!” “What? This must be a joke.” “No this is really serious. We got guys with guns, they put all our people out in the parking lot and won’t let us go into the plant.” “Whoa.” “What is happening?” asks Gibson Guitar CEO Henry Juszkiewicz when he arrives at his Nashville factory to question the officers. “We can’t tell you.” “What are you talking about, you can’t tell me, you can’t just come in and …” “We have a warrant!” Well, lemme see the warrant.” “We can’t show that to...

**SNIP** Sawant said the 15 Now campaign continues to unite low-wage workers and raise awareness for the UW’s unequal wages. In a recent New York Times article, “Student Debt Grows Faster at Universities with Highest Paid Leaders,” the UW was cited as one of the “most unequal” of public universities. The report defines “unequal” as universities that not only have high executive pay, but also high levels of student debt, as well as low-wage and contingent faculty labor. “It’s important for workers to be in solidarity. UW gets state funding, but it’s run like a corporation,” Sawant said. “It’s shameful...

Some people claim the Confederate monument at Arlington may have been the first to honor Black Confederates.

The Treasury Department has revealed to the House Ways and Means Committee that Internal Revenue Service employees spent over 500,000 hours on union activities last year. They estimated the cost to taxpayers at $23.5 million in salary and benefits. “Many Americans would be shocked to learn that IRS employees are unionized,” House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Charles Boustany, R-La., told Secrets. “The IRS has wasted tens of millions of taxpayer dollars and over a half a million employee hours for union activities. It is absurd the IRS has the audacity to habitually come to this committee asking for...

In the past several years, one of the topics covered in detail on these pages has been the surge in such gimmicks designed to disguise lack of demand and end customer sales, used extensively by US automotive manufacturers, better known as “channel stuffing”, of which General Motors is particularly guilty and whose inventory at dealer lots just hit a new record high. But did you know that when it comes to flat or declining sales and stagnant end demand, channel stuffing is merely the beginning? Presenting… Where the World’s Unsold Cars Go To Die Above is just a few of...

Few workers would turn down a raise. Union members, however, can have raises turned down on their behalf. Employees of a Pennsylvania grocery store learned this the hard way. Managers at the Giant Eagle grocery in Edinboro, Pa., wanted to reward hard work. So they boosted the wages of two dozen high-performing employees above their union rates. But United Food and Commercial Workers Local 23 was not pleased. The union argued the pay increases violated their contract, took Giant Eagle to court and forced it to rescind the raises. Why did Local 23 oppose higher pay for its members? Because...

A union representing workers in the Wyoming Public Schools district gave up as much as $12,700 in annual salary and concessions that would have been paid to its members so the union could keep language in the contract that makes the payment of dues or fees mandatory as a condition of employment. But the state's right-to-work law makes that illegal if the contract takes effect after a specific date, and, Matt Lewis, director of finance and human resources for Wyoming Public Schools, said district officials believe that clause is not enforceable. The Kent County Education Association wanted the district to...

The public schools in Washington, D.C., spent $29,349 per pupil in the 2010-2011 school year, according to the latest data from National Center for Education Statistics, but in 2013 fully 83 percent of the eighth graders in these schools were not "proficient" in reading and 81 percent were not "proficient" in math. These are the government schools in our nation's capital city -- where for decades politicians of both parties have obstreperously pushed for more federal involvement in education and more federal spending on education. Government has manifestly failed the families who must send their children to these schools, and...

The Wyoming Public Schools needs more bus drivers and district officials say they have "exhausted our options" trying to find new workers. Yet, a Michigan Education Association UniServ Director asked the district to fire a substitute bus driver because he did not sign paperwork to join the union. School district officials said the bus driver didn't have to join the union as a condition of employment under the state's right-to-work law. In an April 16 email to the district, obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request, MEA UniServ Director Sandy Paesens asked the district to tell the substitute bus...

The Wayne-Westland Community Schools district automatically deducts union dues from employee paychecks, which the Michigan Attorney General's office says is a violation of state law. An attorney representing Wayne-Westland said the district can do it because the appeals process in an Ingham County court case involving dues deduction hasn’t been exhausted yet. Public Act 53 of 2012, which made it illegal for school districts to take union dues out of the paychecks for school employee unions, has been challenged twice in court since it became effective March 16, 2012. Both courts ruled against the unions. The legal issues became complicated...

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...

The Democracy Alliance, a top-secret collective of ultra-rich left-wing political donors, has a new member — Randi Weingarten, who heads the labor union that represented Douglas County teachers until two years ago when the district went union-free. ... Weingarten is president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), an arm of the AFL-CIO whose affiliates include the Douglas County Federation. ... Ben DeGrow, Independence Institute senior education policy analyst, said Weingarten’s joining the Democracy Alliance shows that the union is using dues collected from teachers to pursue an extreme political agenda. ... Unlike other school districts, Douglas County no longer...