Free Republic

A machinists union is seeking an election at a Boeing plant in South Carolina. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers is asking a federal agency to set an election so more than 2,400 Boeing production workers in South Carolina can vote on whether to form a union. Fred Wszolek, spokesman for the Workforce Fairness Institute, says the move is surprising. "It's interesting that it's a much smaller number than the actual number of Boeing employees in Charleston. It's only about a third," he observes. "They must have defined some sort of micro-union that they think they can win...

The Obama administration has found a way to give unions relief from an Obamacare tax nearly three weeks after Republicans rejected a Democratic push to include the labor carve-out in the latest budget deal.The Department of Health and Human Services quietly released a final rule last week that includes an intention to exempt some union insurance plans from a substantial new tax known as the reinsurance fee.As part of Obamacare, the tax was supposed to be levied against all insurance plans to share the risk for insurers taking on the sickest patients next year.But unions, which were among the strongest...