NILRR Weekly Newsclips November 1, 2013


 

A black and white image of an eagle with its wings spread.

 

Top Teamster official may be sanctioned for threats

Washington Examiner Online, October 31, 2013

International Brotherhood of Teamsters General President James Hoffa will review possible charges against Sean O’Brien, president of IBT’s Local 25, which represents the Boston area. The charges were recommended by the Teamsters’ Independent Review Board after O’Brien threatened members of a rival faction inside his union.

$45 million not enough for Philadelphia teachers’ union

Watchdog.org, October 31, 2013

DOES NOT COMPUTE: The Philadelphia school district received $45 million from the state, but Jerry Jordan and the PFT want it to magically multiply.

Not only did 4 out of 5 of its school district’s students fail to achieve proficiency in mathematics, according to the most recent biannual assessment by the U.S. Department of Education, but the president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, Jerry Jordan, this week displayed difficulty with simple division.

Though money seems to be flexible, Jordan and the PFT are not, as they continue to resist a new contract.  Three months into the academic year, the union still is in negotiations with the school district and the city’s schools remain in crisis.

Why Unions Are Pouring Money Into Virginia & Why You Should Care

RedState.com, October

Union bosses and other out-of-state liberals–from Hollywood to New York–are pouring millions into the Virginia governor’s race.

They are, without a doubt, hell-bent on defeating Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and putting long-time Democratic party boss and fund-raiser Terry McAuliffe into the governor’s seat.

Last month, the AFL-CIO resolved at its convention to develop a Southern Strategy. The intention is not just to expand union membership but to expand their political influence.

The reality is, if the state legislature becomes controlled by Democrats (either now or later), Virginia’s Right-to-Work status could go away with a simple vote or two in the statehouse and McAuliffe’s signature.

Wisconsin teachers file lawsuit seeking elections on union representation

Watchdog.org, October 30, 2013

“All five teachers are employed in workplaces where they are subject to a union monopoly bargaining agreement, which means all five have been forced to accept the union’s so-called ‘representation,’â€according to a statement issued Wednesday by the National Right to Work Foundation, a Virginia-based nonprofit organization that provides legal aid to employees whose “human or civil rights have been violated by compulsory unionism abuses.â€

Surgical hospital staff wins battle over alleged forced unionization

Thousand Oaks Acorn Online,

Roughly 200 nurses and support staff at Thousand Oaks Surgical Hospital have been freed from unwanted unionization after winning a settlement dispute against the hospital’s parent company and two major affiliates of Service Employees International Union.

TOSH nurses and support staff allege that, in May, they were absorbed into existing Los Robles labor union agreements without a vote and were forced to pay dues— a move that prompted a group of employees to seek advice from the National Right to Work (NRTW) Legal Defense Foundation.

Americans keep moving to states with low taxes and housing costs

Washington Examiner, October 30, 2013

Critics charge that Texas’s growth depends on the oil and gas industries and is weighted toward low-wage jobs. But in fact, Texas’s low-tax, light-regulation policies have produced a highly diversified economy that from 2002 to 2011 created nearly one-third of the nation’s highest-paying jobs. In those years, its number of upper- and middle-income jobs grew 24 percent.

Where are Americans moving, and why? Timothy Noah, writing in the Washington Monthly, professes to be puzzled. He points out that people have been moving out of states with high per capita incomes — Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, Maryland — to states with lower income levels.

Blue-collar support for McAuliffe frays at the edges

Watchdog.org, October 30, 2013

Big Labor bosses are backing the Democrat in his gubernatorial race against Republican Ken Cuccinelli. Unions accounted for six of the top 15 cash donors in McAuliffe’s latest campaign report. They were the fifth and sixth biggest in-kind contributors.

But it’s not clear that rank-and-file members are as committed to McAuliffe. Cuccinelli, meanwhile, is working to peel off votes with a populist, non-corporate message.

But Greg Mourad, vice president of the National Right to Work Committee, says union members don’t necessarily follow their leaders’ political choices.

“It’s not at all uncommon for 50 to 60 percent to disagree,†he told Watchdog. “Union members split the same way the public is split.â€

US Lost $9.7 Billion in GM Bailout So Far

Bloomberg.com, October 29, 2013

The U.S. Treasury’s bailout fund has lost about $9.7 billion on its rescue of General Motors Co. (GM) and would need to sell its remaining shares in the automaker for an average of $147.95 to break even, a report to Congress said.

Big Labor applauds Richard Griffin’s confirmation to Labor Relations Board

Washington Examiner Online, October 30, 2013

Big Labor applauded the Senate for confirming Richard Griffin on Tuesday as general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board.

The Senate voted 62-37 to end a filibuster against Griffin’s nomination and 55-44 to confirm him. The NLRB oversees labor-management conflicts in the private sector.

Kadner: Union tells retirees to repay pension

By Phil Kadner pkadner@southtownstar.com October 29, 2013 9:16PM

Imagine a retired man going to his mailbox one morning and finding a letter informing him that a mistake has been made in his pension payments and he owes more than $100,000.

No joke. And it’s not some scam.

“I darn near had a heart attack,†recalled Ron Kosinski, 79, a former sheet metal worker who was notified that he owes $105,500.

Government workers miss 50% more work than private-sector workers

Bizpacreview.com, October 29, 2011

Citing Bureau of Labor Statistics data, CNS News reported Tuesday that government workers are 38 percent more likely to skip days entirely than those in the private economy.

The bureau calculates the information from surveys of 60,000 households of private-sector (rarely unionized) and public-sector (often unionized) employees who have full-time jobs but report working fewer than 35 hours in a given week.

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