Free Republic

A recurring theme from the current administration is that to be pro-organized labor is to be pro-worker. Concurrently, the administration has consistently refuted that it is using class warfare as a theme. A comment from Vice President Biden in March 2011 summed it up when he stated, "We don't see the value of collective bargaining; we see the absolute positive necessity of collective bargaining. Let's get something straight: the only people who have the capacity -- organizational capacity and muscle -- to keep, as they say, the barbarians from the gate, is organized labor. And make no mistake about it:...

Employees of the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) have defrauded that organization of over $1 billion over the last seven years. In as many as 500 cases, LIRR employees falsely claimed disability benefits to supplement their pensions, employing a sophisticated scheme involving special “facilitators” and doctors operating “disability mills.” Eleven defendants have been named so far, including a former president of the railroad union; each has been charged with conspiracy to commit health-care fraud and mail fraud. There were three doctors who participated in this scheme, and in return they received cash payments between $800 and $1,200 — along with millions...

(Reuters) - Labor unions including nurses, and transit workers were set to join the growing anti-Wall Street movement march on Wednesday through New York's financial district, and some college students walked out of classes in solidarity. The American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, Communications Workers of America and the Amalgamated Transit Union said they would be joining the protesters voicing discontent and anger over such issues as high unemployment, home foreclosures and the 2008 corporate bailouts. The nation's largest union of nurses, National Nurses United, also said it would join the New York march, set for late afternoon...

WASHINGTON — Union officials say the result in Wisconsin's recall elections should send a stern warning to other lawmakers who might threaten collective bargaining rights. But unions fell short of their goal by toppling only two of the six GOP state senators they targeted in Tuesday's voting. Some observers say the results show that labor's political clout isn't what it used to be. The outcome could mean an uphill battle for union plans to take the fight to Ohio, where voters will decide in November whether to repeal that state's law curbing union rights. Labor leaders insist their strong showing...