Free Republic

The debate over the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is being reframed now that the notorious “card check” provision—which would have taken away the right to secret ballots on union representation—will be pulled from the bill. Business groups and members of Congress on the fence will now come under tremendous pressure to support the act, although equally objectionable provisions, such as mandatory arbitration, remain. Yet there has been virtually no debate over the bill’s onerous and unprecedented penalties against employers who may fall afoul of vague National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rules as workers try to unionize. These penalties will...

Almost nobody doubts that come September, Richard Trumka will become the AFL-CIO's next president, replacing the retiring John Sweeney. Having occupied the labor federation's secretary-treasurer position for nearly 14 years, he's done everything his boss and the ideological faithful could ask of him. That's a major reason why he and his slate are running unopposed. But more than Sweeney, Trumka, a trained lawyer, has a palpably combative edge, much of it honed during his tenure as head of the United Mine Workers of America. His far Left populism was on display Thursday in his written denunciation of the "mob rule" allegedly...

A top priority for organized labor in the next congress will be passage of the inaptly named “Employee Free Choice Act.” If passed, this law would do away with secret ballots for union representation. Instead, unions would be mandated once a majority of employees of a firm signed cards (the so-called “card-check” system) expressing a preference for union representation. “The issues are efficiency and solidarity,” said David Bonior, chairman of American Rights at Work, a union lobby. “Secret ballots delay the establishment of union authority to speak for the workers. They also undermine solidarity by allowing individuals to covertly deviate...

Within hours of Joe the Plumber confronting Barack Obama on his open promise of socialism, Joe the Plumber was viciously thrust onto the international scene, becoming an example of just what happens to any average red blooded American who dares to question the making of the socialist “messiah” Obama. Twenty four hours after Joe made his way through the crowd of Obamabots in front of his home to ask the most relevant question of the 2008 election, he found himself the target of brutal Obama campaign war room character assassins. Within moments, the world learned more about Joe the Plumber...