NILRR Weekly News Clips, May 05 2014
Finally Free to Leave SEIU, Michigan Home Care Workers Do Exactly That
openmarket.org, May 1, 2013
In short, a union-friendly administration created a state body to pose as the “employer†of home care workers receiving state assistance, and then conducted a stealth organizing campaign by mail. (A similar effort in Connecticut led CEI to partner with the Connecticut-based Yankee Institute to conduct our own mail campaign informing Connecticut home care workers that if they wanted to avoid unionization, they had to return the cards stating so.)
Washington Examiner, April 26, 2014
Who has more clout on this issue, the longtime Democratic labor union that has contributed $38 million over the past quarter-century, or the guy who can come up with $100 million for this election cycle alone? The question answers itself. And so no one should be surprised that President Obama has again postponed a decision on the pipeline, and left the Laborers unhappy.
Union Leader Claims Government Entities ‘Falsifying’ Financial Problems
Michigan Capitol Confidential, April 26, 2014
In a letter sent to any member who opts to drop out of his union via Michigan’s right-to-work law, Teamsters Local 214 President Joseph Valenti claims that employers are faking claims of deficits so they don’t have to negotiate in good faith.one more time.
Health Care Union Boss Steered $1.4 Million in Legal Fees to Boyfriend
New York Post Online, May 1, 2014
Five members of the AFL-CIO’s Health Professionals and Allied Employees group claim president Ann Twomey has since 2006 “awarded virtually all of the union’s legal work to her live-in boyfriend,†attorney Richard Loccke.
Report: GM Bailout Cost Taxpayers More Than Previously Reported
Money News.com, April 30, 2014
The U.S. government suffered a steeper loss than originally reported on the American taxpayers’ General Motors bailout, according to a Treasury Department report cited by the Detroit Free Press.
High-tax states in North, Midwest are biggest losers in Gallup and IRS data
Washington Examiner, May 2, 2014
The Gallup survey found 10 states in which between 39 percent and 50 percent of those interviewed said they wanted to move elsewhere.
Leading this gloomy list is Illinois where 50 percent say they want to leave, followed closely by Connecticut at 49 percent, Maryland at 47 percent, Nevada at 43 percent and Rhode Island at 42 percent.
Hotel workers union accused of seizing dues
Honolulu Star-Advertiser, April 30, 2014
A group of employees at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki has filed federal unfair labor practice charges against UniteHere! Local 5.
With assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, a group of four employees filed the charges with the National Labor Relations Board, or NLRB.
Wall Street Journal, April 30, 2014
Senate Democrats confirmed academic David Weil to run the Labor Department’s powerful Wage and Hour Division Monday, and Big Labor is celebrating. AFL-CIO boss Richard Trumka tweeted that the 51-42 vote “is an important step toward putting a real cop on the beat to enforce our wage & hour laws.” North America’s Building Trades Union chief Sean McGarvey added: “Need him on the job ASAP.”