Free Republic

The Collapse of Europe? The European Union May Be on the Verge of Regime Collapse Europe won the Cold War. Not long after the Berlin Wall fell a quarter of a century ago, the Soviet Union collapsed, the United States squandered its peace dividend in an attempt to maintain global dominance, and Europe quietly became more prosperous, more integrated, and more of a player in international affairs. Between 1989 and 2014, the European Union (EU) practically doubled its membership and catapulted into third place in population behind China and India. It currently boasts the world’s largest economy and also heads...

Members of the National Right to Work Foundation believe two German labor groups have failed to completely disclose their full level of involvement in the United Auto Workers’ attempts to set up shop in Chattanooga. As previously reported, the UAW wants to formally establish itself at Chattanooga’s Volkswagen plant. The UAW’s attempts have so far been unsuccessful. VW workers, by a tally of 712-626, for instance, voted in February not to join the UAW. Members of the NRTW represent an unspecified number of VW workers who oppose the union. They say that VW’s Global Works Council and IG Metall, a...

Your comments regarding the State of the Union Address.

**SNIP** But Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former Congressional Budget Office director who has advised Republican leaders, said Mr. Obama may not be able to convince the country that he has made enough progress fixing the economy. “It will be an uphill battle, as his policy record on growth is not strong, the recovery is still unsatisfying and the inequality message is not popular, which is why he abandoned it so quickly after declaring it the issue of our time,” he said. Stuart Stevens, an adviser to Mr. Romney during his 2012 presidential campaign, said Mr. Obama has no popular mandate for...

The Michigan Education Association is trying to block a group of clerical workers at Grand Rapids Community College from holding an election to determine if the union is still a good fit for them. The MEA filed an unfair labor practice and won’t back off until the workers agree to cancel the vote. An administrative law judge at the Michigan Employment Relations Commission will hear the matter Feb. 5 and Feb. 6. Timing is critical because the group’s four-year contract is about to expire. “They are doing everything possible not to let us vote on whether to decertify. Why would...

The Tweets at Twitter are at it again! But then "The Preezy" makes such an inviting target. The latest hashtag to gain some traction: #StateOfTheUnionInThreeWords So, as we are about to endure, yet another State of the Union speech by "The Won", the posters have their own ideas on how to make it shorter. Here are some of the posts... #StateOfTheUnionInThreeWords Arrogance, defiance, lies More free stuff I'm secretly gay. Chair Still Empty Worse than Carter screw the constitution Me me me Been On Vacation Still Bush's Fault Worst. President. Ever. Greetings Grubered Voters illegals got jobs Just more excuses...

During Robert E. Lee's 100th birthday in 1907, Charles Francis Adams, Jr., a former Union Commander and grandson of US President John Quincy Adams, spoke in tribute to Robert E. Lee at Washington and Lee College's Lee Chapel in Lexington, Virginia. His speech was printed in both Northern and Southern newspapers and is said to had lifted Lee to a renewed respect among the American people.

Adjunct faculty at Washington University in St. Louis voted narrowly to unionize this month, in a campaign marked by accusations of union intimidation and administration pressure tactics. . . . SEIU was accused of harassing adjuncts at home and generally riding roughshod over them. Mark Manteuffel, a biology instructor, told St. Louis Public Radio that union representatives showed up at his house when he wasn’t home and were “very pushy and rude” toward his wife. They asked her for his cellphone number without introducing themselves, and came back again when he wasn’t home, Manteuffel said: “And they kind of huffed...

The State of the Union address offers President Obama a huge platform to double down on his call to reclassify the Internet as a utility, advocates say. Obama inserted himself into the net neutrality fight in November, when he urged the Federal Communications Commission to adopt strong regulations ensuring that the Internet remains a level playing field for businesses and the public. But the White House has yet to say whether the issue will make it into his agenda setting speech. “The President should reiterate his support for a free and open Internet,” Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.) said, noting its...

The Michigan Education Association has threatened to file an unfair labor practice complaint against the Northport Public Schools superintendent because of conversations he had with local union officials over removing illegal language discovered in the district's labor contract. The contract, signed on June 24, 2013, states: “Each bargaining unit member shall, as a condition of employment … join the Association (union) or pay a service fee to the Association.” Under the Michigan right-to-work law enacted in 2012, workers in a unionized workplace can no longer be forced to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment. Union contracts...

union carve outs in many minimum wage hikes. Unions may be pushing for resident Obama’s massive minimum wage hike, but many seek special carveouts from existing wage laws, according to a new study. The Chamber of Commerce analyzed dozens of minimum wage laws in cities across the country and found that many of the statutes exempt unionized employees from the requirement. Unions exploit these exemptions in order to make union labor more competitive with non-union shops. “Some local ordinances in particular include an exemption for employers that enter into a collective bargaining agreement with a union,” the report says. “This...

In response to a Michigan Capitol Confidential article about higher compensation for union executives, the Michigan Education Association sent a letter justifying the salary increases by making false claims to local leaders. The memo, which was sent Dec. 2 to all local presidents and is reprinted on the union’s Facebook page, says: Yesterday we filed our annual LM-2 filing with the US Department of Labor. The Mackinac Center is reporting ‘huge’ pay increases for MEA Executives. As some of you know, the LM-2 lists every person to whom MEA has written a check to over the past year – for...

After a teachers union president lost a legal battle involving forcing a non-union member to pay part of her salary for union-related activities, she responded by publishing the names of all former members who opted out of the union in a newsletter. Under Michigan's right-to-work law, employees can no longer be required to belong to or support a union as a condition of employment. According to Adam Neuman, the former Brighton Education Association member who sued to avoid having to pay part of BEA Union President Ellen Lafferty’s salary, the BEA president also put bright red “I Opted IN” buttons...

The United Auto Workers gained a partial and unconventional recognition from Volkswagen AG after proving to the company that it represents at least 45 percent of workers at the company’s plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, a company spokesman said on Monday. The union on Monday said membership at its Local 42 in Chattanooga “exceeds a majority of workers at the plant.” It is the first time the UAW has been recognized at a foreign-owned auto assembly plant in the South, but it is short of the UAW’s goal of attaining exclusive bargaining rights for all of the plant’s 1,500 blue-collar workers....

In the debate over whether or not people should be forced to pay money to unions as a condition of employment, opponents of right-to-work laws often claim that workers who exercise their rights under the law are “freeloaders.” That is, that they are taking advantage of benefits from union bargaining while not paying their “fair share.” The Michigan Education Association, like most unions, supports collectively representing workers whether they are in the association or not because of the leverage it gives them at the bargaining table. Still, no private organization should have to provide benefits to people who aren’t paying...

Dennis Van Roekel is going out in style in his final year as president of the National Education Association. Van Roekel received a $123,000 raise in 2014, boosting his annual salary to $429,509 and his total compensation to $541,632, according to documents the union recently filed with the U.S. Department of Labor. The NEA’s membership dropped 40,700 members in 2014, falling to 2.96 million and dipping below the 3-million mark for the first time in nine years. The Michigan Education Association is this state's NEA affiliate. Its members paid $7 million in dues to the national union in 2013, according...

To everything there is a season and now is the time for election dissection. How do we reconcile an electorate that raised the minimum wage everywhere possible and opted for Republicans who profess not to believe in it? And what do we make of the – even for America – pathetically low turnout? One-third of Americans struggle to make ends meet. That’s 106 million people who often don’t know how they’ll pay rent, get childcare or retire. Even in our fractious America, that’s a large group with shared interests – decent wages, reliable work hours, affordable child and health care,...

Organizers of a post-Thanksgiving protest on behalf of workers at a Walmart in downtown Washington, D.C. identified only one of the participants as actually working at that store. The admission underscores the fact that few Walmart workers have been involved in the protests. "Thirty striking workers from Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland took part in today’s protest, and Melinda Gaino, one of the striking workers, works at the H Street Store," said Julie Anderson, a spokeswoman for the 1.3 million member United Food and Commercial Workers union, which organized the event. Walmart spokesman Kory Lundberg claimed the number was far...

MICHAEL KARAS/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Attendees recently sat around Kean University's custom-made oak conference table. Breaking News: Legislator calls for investigation into Kean University's $219K conference tableIt costs more than $44,000 in tuition to attend Kean University for four years, and many of the school’s students struggle to pay the bill.  But the taxpayer-supported school in the township of Union spent $219,000 so far and has authorized up to $270,000 — about the average price of a house in the nearby working-class neighborhood — for a custom-made, circular conference table that seats 23 and features data ports, microphones and an illuminated...

As charter public school authorizers await details of sanctions State Superintendent of Public Instruction Michael Flanagan has threatened for poorly performing charter schools, choice advocates are asking why the state doesn't subject conventional public schools to the same accountability. Flanagan has threatened to suspend charter school authorizers’ ability to create more schools if their current ones don't meet performance standards. The Michigan Association of Public School Academies and Great Lakes Education Project claim that no conventional school has ever been shut down for poor academic performance, an allegation that may be hard to verify. On the other side, top state...