Free Republic

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Union workers were on strike for a second day on Monday at nine U.S. refineries and chemical plants as they sought a new national contract with oil companies covering laborers at 63 plants. The walkouts were the first in support of a nationwide pact since 1980 and targeted plants with a combined 10 percent of U.S. refining capacity. One of the plants, Tesoro Corp's (TSO.N) 166,000-barrel-per-day Martinez, California, refinery, was being shut because it was in the midst of planned maintenance work. The other refineries appeared set to continue running normally as operators initiated contingency plans, calling...

.........."As all of America now knows, the Obama SuperPAC has run an ad with former steelworker Soptic essentially accusing Governor Romney of killing his wife...... On September15, Leo Gerard's appointment to the Trade Advisory group was announced by -- yes indeed -- the Office of the Press Secretary. Said the White House of Gerard in its release:... >>>Leo W. Gerard is the International President of United Steelworkers. He is a member of the AFL-CIO's Executive Committee and chairs its Public Policy Committee. Mr. Gerard is co-chairman of the BlueGreen Alliance, and a board member of the Apollo Alliance, Campaign for...

With 50 million members, IndustriALL is set for action A newly-formed global federation of industrial unions will be a force with the muscle to take on giant international corporations on behalf of workers, the president of the United Steelworkers (USW), Leo Gerard, said on June 19. The coalition, known as IndustriALL Global Union, is being formed by a group of 1,200 trade union representatives, meeting this week in Copenhagen, Denmark. It joins together three former global labor groups: the International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF), the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions ((ICEM) and the International Textiles, Garment...

We have often heard Valerie Jarrett is the de-facto President. That might not be far from the truth. Our team has been exhaustively researching this woman,...again. We went back over notes, articles and saved links, as well digging deeper into new documents that we've gotten a hold of. Valerie Jarret is very powerful. I am hoping to keep our article brief, but there is an awful lot to share. As you may know, Valerie Jarrett is Obama,'s closest cabinet member. That is no coincidence. She is one who helped get him where he is. Sure, he knew all the street...

United Steelworkers international president Leo Gerard has a message to the flea party whiny-whiners still camping out instead of sleeping in their parents' basements -- playtime is over. Just in case the Occupy movement fails -- in other words, when it fails -- Gerard is urging union members to fill that gaping void with "more militancy." "And no wonder people are occupying. We oughta be doing more than occupying parks. We oughta start occupying bridges. We start oughta occupying the banks places themselves."

Pot calling the kettle foreign, eh? You're Ed Schultz. Sorry about that, but work with me. Your big beef on tonight's show is foreign influence on US elections. What would be the glaring, obvious, overwhelming thing you would want to avoid in your choice of a guest? Having a union boss who is himself a foreigner, you say? Bingo! Yet that's exactly the slip-up Schultz committed. View video here.