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Police are investigating after video surfaced online of a man urinating onto cereal products rolling down the line in a Memphis, Tenn., Kellogg's factory. Though the incident occurred in 2014, the company just learned of the footage on Friday, according to spokesperson Kris Charles. The video was shot during a contentious labor dispute . . The 43-second video was uploaded to the web Friday on World Star Hip Hop, a viral video web site.

Four of the six biggest campaign contributors to national campaigns are now public sector unions. Public sector unions apply power in two ways. First, they tax Americans so they can redistribute tax revenue -- and borrow even more when revenue isn’t enough. Second, they force you to pay their high salaries and pensions, not just through state taxes but through state laws that protect and enforce their contracts even if these provisions violate the Thirteenth Amendment. Some of these public servants now have retirement plans equaling those of the wealthiest corporate executives. But unlike executives they don’t have to sell...

In a case currently before the National Labor Relations Board, an administrative law judge will rule whether McDonald's Corp. (MCD) is a joint-employer of the tens of thousands of workers employed by the company's franchisees. Such a determination could make the fast-food giant, the largest restaurant chain in the world, culpable for alleged violations of labor law at some of its franchised outlets. The ruling also could raise pressure on McDonald's to boost wages and accept more responsibility for working conditions at franchisees. In addition, it could give firepower to unions and other other labor groups pressing for change in...

The First Amendment can't protect schools that lose sight of their religious mission. When the Service Employees International Union began to help organize adjunct faculty at Catholic universities, many expected school administrators to bless the effort as a blow for social justice. After all, religious higher education often comes tinged with progressive politics. But some school leaders, including those at Loyola University in Chicago, are bucking the pro-union stereotype. Over the university's objection, some non-tenure-track instructors at Loyola recently voted to join a local SEIU chapter certified by the National Labor Relations Board. During the unionization debate, Michael Sean Winters...

The AFL-CIO, the largest U.S. federation of labor unions, will launch digital attack ads targeting Republican front-runner Donald Trump next week as part of a multi-pronged effort to derail the New York billionaire's bid for the White House and dampen union workers' enthusiasm for him. Officials at the AFL-CIO, an umbrella group of 56 unions representing 12.5 million workers, told Reuters the ads will depict Trump as anti-union, and will appear on Facebook and Twitter. "Donald Trump has tapped into the very real and understandable anger of working people. But while he says he's with America's working people, when you...

Unions have been demanding a $15 minimum wage. But when passed, they turn around and seek an exemption for union businesses, effectively denying their members the fruits of their victory. The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, a member of the 1,200-strong California Federation of Labor, recently did just that. It led a fight for a citywide $15 minimum wage—while vehemently opposing an exemption for non-profits and small businesses. Immediately after the legislation was passed, however, they began lobbying for an exemption for unionized businesses. This was too much for even the union-friendly Los Angeles Times, which captioned its editorial...

A newly-introduced bill would allow a majority of employees in a workplace to vote to force their colleagues to pay money to a union. The Detroit Free Press covers the issue here: “Bills would allow employees to vote on right-to-work.” “If the employees are upset that they have to pay, then they can vote no,” Rep. Robert Kosowski, D-Westland, told the Freep. “It gives full authority to the union people.” But workers already get to vote on whether or not they want to financially support a union. Under Michigan’s right-to-work law, employees have full authority to fund a union if...

Chcago Public Schools officials told principals on Wednesday that the district is "short of the necessary cash for the remainder of the school year" partly because of a pension payment of nearly $700 million due this summer. ... Last month, principals had to absorb $26 million in midyear budget cuts to district-operated schools. Principals tapped internal accounts, cut planned technology and textbook purchases and didn't fill vacant positions to avert layoffs. On Wednesday, principals were told to hold off on $45 million budgeted for "non-personnel" expenses. The district said it wants to save another $10 million through a limit on...

The debate started with a bleep, when Sen. Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis, questioned Republican Sen. Dan Brown of Rolla, the bill's Senate carrier. "Senator, you know, out of all due respect, this is some bull (expletive)," Nasheed said. Brown disagreed, and Nasheed was chastised for not maintaining decorum. "Senator, what you're doing right now — what you're doing is trying to undermine and do away with unions as we know it. That's what you're doing."

An unexpected burst of plain speaking recently swerved the race for the Democratic presidential nomination off the customary narrative. Howard Dean, the former head of the Democratic National Committee and candidate for the party's 2004 nomination, not only admitted but asserted that labor unions are super PACs. While on the campaign trail, Dean — a Hillary Clinton supporter — described unions as super PACs while attempting to counter suggestions that Clinton was beholden to Wall Street, after collecting significant sums for speeches at financial industry events. “Why does Hillary Clinton have to put up with a double standard?” Dean asked....

In a recent story about political polarization, The Washington Post quoted a Michigan teacher who claimed the Mackinac Center for Public Policy is out to destroy public education because it has published the salaries of particular teachers. Erin Mastin, a teacher with Boyne City Public Schools, was portrayed in the article as someone concerned about divisiveness, and who believes the political system is rigged in favor of the rich and powerful. From the article: She could feel the influence of money in politics in her classroom, she said. In recent months, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a conservative Michigan-based...

The U.S.'s largest nurses union has accused Hillary Clinton campaigners of deceiving Democratic voters in Nevada at Saturday's caucuses by wearing red t-shirts that people typically identify with their union. Now the union is suggesting that Senator Bernie Sanders, who it endorsed for president, request U.N. election observers. Union spokesperson Chuck Idelson said that the red tees were not a first for Clinton supporters and that when nurses attending the caucuses pointed out the Clinton people to the press, they immediately changed back into Clinton campaign blue tees.

Hillary Clinton's campaign is attempting to trick Bernie Sanders supporters in Nevada into voting for Clinton by disguising themselves as nurses affiliated with the National Nurses United union (NNU), which has thrown its support behind Sanders. NNU executive director RoseAnn DeMoro caught Clinton staffers red-handed changing from blue Hillary Clinton campaign shirts into red shirts of the same shade as the red shirts NNU members are wearing, in an apparent attempt to confuse voters....

NBC is calling it for Clinton.

Well then, you must like losing your job to someone in Mexico who will make $3/hour. Union leaders at an air conditioner factory in Indianapolis threatened with losing 1,400 jobs to Mexico said on Tuesday the plants owner expects to pay Mexican workers $3 an hour compared to an average of more than $20 an hour for the U.S. workers. "We have not given up the fight yet," said Chuck Jones, president of the United Steelworkers union local that represents workers at the Carrier Corp plant. "But Carrier has pretty well indicated that the wage differential is too great and...

Sen. Bernie Sanders, the independent-turned-Democratic Senator from Vermont, proudly states pervasively that he does not have a super PAC (sorry, Supah PAC), and he's not beholden to Wall Street ties in the same fashion as Hillary Clinton. That's true. There is no Bernie super PAC per se, but he does benefit from the super PACs within his coalition. Moreover, he's benefited from indirect Wall Street contributions and regularly attended retreats hosted by their lobbyists, according to the Wall Street Journal: Yet the Vermont senator has benefited from at least $1.5 million in backing from super PACs and from political groups that...

Are workers safer when they’re forced to pay union fees in order to have a job? Repeating a talking point used in Michigan and other states, union leaders at the AFL-CIO are warning West Virginians a right-to-work law would lead to more injuries and deaths on the job. Right-to-work prevents unions from having workers fired for refusing to pay union fees. Right-to-work doesn’t restrict union membership or negotiations over safety equipment, training, or anything else. Recent federal data show workplace injury and fatality rates continuing a decades-long decline in right-to-work and forced unionization states alike. The latest U.S. Bureau of...

As the nation and official Washington prepared to mourn the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, watchers of the high court began to assess the immediate impact of his death on several pending cases whose decisions might have had momentous political implications. Among these is Friedrichs v. California Teacher’s Association, set to have been a landmark case regarding the mandatory collection of union dues and their use for political purposes. The ruling could have meant the death knell of collective bargaining and the political might of America’s unions. newzf After oral arguments in the case in January, The Washington Post...

Democratic Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin has vetoed legislation to make West Virginia the 26th right-to-work state, but was quickly overridden by the Republican legislature. For bills that don't deal with budgetary matters or appropriations, a simple majority is needed to override a veto. The state senate had already done so. And the State House of Delegates was expected to follow suit, given that there are 64 Republican members. The law goes into effect July 1 (via Metro News ): The House of Delegates and state Senate made quick work of Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin's vetoes on the bills that...

On February 12, the West Virginia legislature voted to override Governor Earl Ray Tomblin’s veto of the right-to-work bill it had passed on February 4. The measure will take effect in May and the state will then be the 26th state to have such a law. Exactly what do “right-to-work” laws do? They provide that workers cannot be fired because they decline to pay union dues. Public opinion polls consistently show that a solid majority of Americans agree that no one should lose his or her job for deciding not to pay what the union demands. Public opinion isn’t always...