Free Republic

The recent Supreme Court ruling in Janus vs AFSCME ended a practice of abuse of public sector employees by their unions. The decision prevents unions from forcing the payment of dues by non-members and is a major victory for our civil servants. Now it is time to stop similar corrupt tactics used by unions to force private sector non-union employees to pay dues. Thanks to a hand-out by the Obama National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), unions can collect involuntary dues from former members who recently cancelled membership. In 2013, the NLRB overturned the 1962 Bethlehem Steel decision, which set the...

Sought-after al-Qaida suspect leaves traces in Lackawanna By LOU MICHEL and JERRY ZREMSKI News Staff Reporters 9/22/2002 Kamal Derwish cut a mysterious figure on his travels through Lackawanna. People remember little about the plump, pious visitor from the Middle East who prayed with young people in the local mosque. And he's more mysterious than ever, now that he's believed to be on the run in Yemen, a fugitive from U.S. justice and alleged to be the ringleader of what federal officials describe as al-Qaida's "Buffalo cell." Derwish, a 29-year-old Buffalo native of Yemeni descent, served as the link between the...

Bethlehem Steel collapse leaves retired workers scrambling for benefits (AP) Sun, Feb. 09, 2003 BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Some of them went to work in the blast furnaces when they were just 18, then spent half a lifetime handling molten slag and inhaling steel dust in some of the most dangerous jobs on earth. But for the tens of thousands of Bethlehem Steel workers who stuck it out, retirement brought a rich reward: a hefty pension and a lifetime of almost free health care for themselves and their families. "It was capitalism's version of socialized medicine," said James Van Vliet, a...

New steel firm bids to add to its assets International Steel Group offers $1.5 billion for most of Bethlehem Steel, including two suburban-area plants. By Harold Brubaker Inquirer Staff Writer International Steel Group Inc. offered $1.5 billion yesterday for most assets of bankrupt steelmaker Bethlehem Steel Corp., including plants in Coatesville and Conshohocken that employ 1,500. If the deal is completed, International Steel - which bought LTV Corp.'s steel mills in April - would leapfrog United States Steel Corp. to become the nation's second-largest steel company behind Nucor Corp. The acquisition of Bethlehem Steel - which has been operating under...

Park Service may save skyline relics of Bethlehem SteelBy LARA JAKES JORDANThe Associated Press     It was bad enough, locals say, when the Bethlehem Steel blast furnaces shut down. The whole plant stilled that day - Nov. 18, 1995 - to hear a lone steelworker whistle "Amazing Grace" as the furnaces' ever-constant blue flame died out.Now the five towering furnaces themselves are in danger of demolition - unless the National Park Service saves the local skyline by designating them historic landmarks.Bethlehem Steel - or, simply, "Steel" to the surrounding city of 69,000 - stopped all work at its headquarters...