Coming to a Church Near You: Union Protesters

Cars honk at the union protesters, drivers pump their fists in solidarity, many thinking to themselves:

Those evil, greedy, profit-loving corporate bosses are always trying to take the bread and butter from the workers’ mouths!

Oh!…

Wait a minute!…

Those union protesters aren’t picketing the offices of some nameless corporate behemoth.

They’re picketing the church on the corner!

Why?  Because the church members dared to use their money wisely and frugally and the contractor that helped on the new addition to the church was…

*gasp!*…

…a non-union contractor!

Big Government has exposed the Carpenters’ union in California protesting the Grace Baptist Church in Bakersfield…

In Bakersfield, California the local carpenters union is protesting the Grace Baptist Church for hiring a contractor who hired non-union labor. Grace Baptist Church had no control over who the contractor hired. You would think the local carpenters union would take a pass at protesting a church, but I guess not. Though the church greeted the protesters with water, coffee, cookies and candy. Do they feel bad for standing in front of a church with a “Shame On the Grace Baptist Church”?  No.

Of course, by watching the video below, there’s no telling if the union protesters are real union members or if the Carpenters outsourced the protesting jobs.  However, it does appear to be the same Carpenters’ union local that protested outside an ice cream store in nearby Arroyo Grande.

“When there’s no more room in hell, the dead shall walk the earth.” George Romero

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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

Has Bill Clinton finally doomed Hillary’s POTUS chances?

If the allegations about Flowers, Jones, Stone, Streisand and countless others didn’t destroy their dynasty…

If fellatio in the Oval Office and an infamous blue dress didn’t ruin it for her…

Perhaps, this time…this time, Bill Clinton has finally gone too far with another woman and, as a result, ended it for Hillary.

No, he didn’t try out a new brand of cigars with her, but his championing of soon-to-be replaced Sen. Blanche Lincoln has broached the truly unforgivable—alienated the one group Hillary Clinton will need in 2012 2016 if she is ever going to become President of the United States…

Union bosses.

Bill Clinton’s message to Democrats here Friday about their heated two-way U.S. Senate battle was a simple one: a vote for incumbent Sen. Blanche Lincoln is a vote rank-and-file Arkansans, while a vote for Lt. Governor Bill Halter is a vote for outside labor unions and liberal activist groups.

Don’t be fooled, Clinton told the gathering of about 300 at Philander Smith College. The big, national unions supporting Halter are “using you and manipulating your vote,” he said.

[snip]

Clinton held up a copy of a Washington Post article and quoted from it about how national unions want to make Lincoln a poster child for “what happens when a Democrat crosses us.” The former president argued that the unions nationalized what should be an Arkansas-focused Senate race.

This has the AFL-CIO tobacco-spittin’ mad.

“Bill Clinton and Blanche Lincoln took us in the wrong direction when they supported NAFTA,” said spokesman Eddie Vale in an email to reporters. “They sent thousands of Arkansas jobs to Mexico and Canada, and yet they’re still bragging about their support of the job-killing deal. When it comes to protecting and creating jobs in Arkansas, they just don’t get it.”

Since no Democrat can move up the democratic food chain these days without kissing the pinky rings of the big union bosses and since crossing them (as Blanche Lincoln has in her opposition to the Employee Free FORCED Choice Act) is considered a mortal sin, Bill’s blasphemous bashing of the lords of labor will not be without recrimination and reprisal.

BUT, since Bubba is no longer running for office and since unions do not (typically) target children, he and Chelsea are probably off limits.  This leaves Hillary to (once again) pay the price for Bill’s transgressions and, since unions have long memories, that probably won’t happen until 2016.

“I may not have been the greatest president, but I’ve had the most fun eight years.” –Bill Clinton

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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

The SEIU: Safeguarding and taking money from illegals…for years

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…

Give me your union dues and union fees,

I will take them so ever happily…

While this may not rise to the level of harboring a fugitive, since harboring a fugitive refers to “the crime of knowingly hiding a wanted criminal from the authorities,” it comes awfully darn close.

SAN FRANCISCO – Federal immigration authorities have pressured one of San Francisco’s major building service companies, ABM, into firing hundreds of its own workers. Some 475 janitors have been told that unless they can show legal immigration status, they will lose their jobs in the near future.

ABM has been a union company for decades, and many of the workers have been there for years. “They’ve been working in the buildings downtown for 15, 20, some as many as 27 years,” said Olga Miranda, president of Service Employees Local 87. [Emphasis added.]

Okay, let’s stop there for a moment, shall we?

Here is a local SEIU president stating that the unionized company has employed illegal aliens for 15, 20 and as many as 27 years…as her union has collected dues from these workers.

Such is the state of today’s unions.  Which begs the following questions:

If you see someone commiting a crime, do you have a duty to call the police…or do you “look the other way?”

If you see someone comitting a crime, do you help the criminal perpetually perpetrate the crime, as well as charge him for your time? Does that make you a criminal or a mere opportunist? If you go out and actively recruit said persons engaging in the illegal activity into your organization, wouldn’t that make you a conspirator or your organization a criminal organization?

Now, as unions are going out to recruit workers who are in this country illegally, why is it that no one has questioned Big Labor’s complicity in furthering a illegal activity? Doesn’t Big Labor have a civic duty to turn in illegal activity? How is it they can get away with taking money from workers who they know are working for a company employing said workers illegally? Aren’t they furthering a crime?

How is it that Big Labor gets a get-out-of-jail-free card on this one???

Just curious.
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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

You didn’t really think Obamacare was going to leave you untouched, did you?

There wasn’t really a question about it, was there?

Whether it’s called Obamacare or nationalized health care, we’ve been warning since October 2008 (as others have also weighed in) that Obamacare would eventually lead to single-payer insurance.

Why?  It’s a matter of simple economics.

If health care costs are expected to rise as predicted, employers will find fines less costly (and far less burdensome) than continuing coverage for their employees.  As Obamacare slowly gets digested, employers are beginning to understand that change comes at a price and so, accordingly, they are planning change as well…slowly…incrementally.

Still not convinced?  How about some more evidence:

Towers Watson, a leading human resources consulting firm, has conducted a survey of 661 human resource and benefit specialists across America. While benefit professionals are still digesting the new law, the survey shows that they are even more skeptical of Obamacare than the public is.


These benefit specialists represent a broad range of industries, and are responsible for choosing health-insurance plans for almost 4 million Americans. If their fears come true, the future of American health care is bleak. Among the highlights:

• 90 percent believe that Obamacare “will increase their organization’s health care benefit costs”;
• 88 percent intend to pass the increases onto employees by increasing employee premium contributions or other cost-sharing measures;
• 74 percent intend to “reduce health benefits and programs” by using stingier health plans, restricting eligibility for health coverage, and using spousal waivers or surcharges.

And what about Grandma?  According to the survey, seniors will feel it the fastest and most dramatically.

More than three in four employers (85%) believe that health care reform will reduce the number of large organizations offering employer-sponsored retiree medical benefits. And 43% of employers that currently offer retiree medical plans plan to reduce or eliminate them.

How’s that for “change you can believe in?”
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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

DOL Releases "Persuader" PowerPoint

As the union-controlled Department of Labor explores ways to make it more difficult for employers to communicate with employees on the subject of unionization, the DoL held a meeting this past Monday to “hear” from interested parties (even though their minds are made up) on the topic of making employers report any time employees hear from their employer on unionization.

The DoL has just released the PowerPoint of the meeting’s agenda.

The foreshadowing of the DoL’s plan comes on slides 8, 9 and 12:

As we said previously, the union-controlled Department of Labor does not want employees to hear anything negative on the facts about unionization and they are doing everything in their power to make it more difficult to hear from employers.

You can bet, by January, the DoL’s new rules will become effective.

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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

Teamsters got your goat?

You know times are tough for unions when they’re willing to take union dues from farm animals.

The Teamsters in Oakland, California filed a grievance against Mills College, complaining that the school had violated its collective bargaining agreement by hiring non-union workers to clear brush.


The Teamsters demanded that the college either (1) award backpay to the union members who lost out on the work or (2) require the 500 non-union workers to join the union.


The only problem? The 500 non-union workers were — and we’re not making this up — goats.


“If the college opts to have the goats become members,” said a Teamsters spokesperson, “we intend to represent them in the same aggressive manner as we do every member.” [Emphasis added, though not really needed.]

This sort of gives new meaning to George Orwell’s Animal Farm, doesn’t it?
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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

Duuude! Marijuana Workers of the World Unite!

Well, if the United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) can’t unionize Wal-Mart and Whole Foods, they might as well settle on unionizing pot growers.

At a ceremony hosted by Oakland City Council’s Rebecca Kaplan, 100 employees at medical marijuana dispensary and education hub Oaksterdam University turned in their membership cards to join the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 5.

It may well be the first union pot shop in the country, if not the world.

But, alas, there seems to be more than just high times at the bargaining table afoot:

Workers at three medical marijuana businesses in Oakland will announce Friday that they have unionized, another step in a concerted campaign aimed at bringing legitimacy to a once-hidden sector of the state’s economy and boosting the marijuana-legalization initiative.

Perhaps the UFCW bosses will start claiming taking their dues payments in seeds.

Now, wouldn’t that be something?

UPDATE:  Oh! Wait!  There’s more:

If California voters in November approve the Control and Tax Cannabis initiative, which would legalize marijuana possession and use of small amounts of marijuana for those over 21 and tax it, there could be thousands of new workers ripe for unionizing, said Dan Rush, a Local 5 organizer.

In addition to the retail clerks at the dispensaries, union organizers anticipate thousands of new cannabis-processing jobs, agricultural work for growers and security positions at dispensaries.

“These will be good union jobs with middle-class incomes,” said Ron Lind, the president of Local 5 and a vice president of the 1.3 million-member international union.

The union has not officially endorsed November’s legalization measure. Those recommendations could come in July. But Lind said the union’s national leadership is “supportive” of the local’s new outreach and it reflects the interests of members.

Yet, Big Government’s Bret Jacobson has a slightly different take on the unionized pot heads:

Well, maybe now we know why: they have been laying the groundwork to organize the entire food chain, as it were, since they have organized a pot shop in Oakland. Now you can Super Size it and smoke a spliff without ever crossing a picket line.

Indeed, unionized pot heads swinging through the unionized drive-thru:  There is something to be said for unions creating their own supply and demand.

And, we thought unions had reached their low point when the SEIU unionized strippers exotic dancers some years back!

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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

Laid off Steelworkers ready to strike Alcoa…?

Something seems amiss here:

Workers at Alcoa’s idled Massena East plant said Wednesday they are willing to go on strike if the company cannot come up with an acceptable contract proposal by Monday.

If the plant is idled, that means all of the workers are on lay off, right?

So what good is a strike?
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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

Dues-sucking unions threaten blood collection at Red Cross

 

Led by the United Food & Commercial Workers, unions including the Teamsters, SEIU, Steelworkers, CWA, and OPEIU, may be striking the Red Cross next week.

Unionized blood-services workers at the American Red Cross’ regional offices based in Toledo have notified the agency they could strike June 2 if they do not have a new contract by then.

The strike, which would involve 184 members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 75, would be one of seven walkouts being coordinated in several states by different trade unions, all to commence at 9 a.m. that day.

[snip]

However, Mr. Dudley said the UFCW is coordinating its actions with several other unions, including the Teamsters, the Service Employees International Union, the United Steelworkers, the Communications Workers of America, and the Office and Professional Employees International – representing about 1,000 workers total at Red Cross blood services offices in Michigan, California, Connecticut, Georgia, New York, and West Virginia. None of the unions reached new contracts, Mr. Dudley said.

The Red Cross has a contingency plan in the event the unions strike.

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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

Steelworkers ready to strike?

Apparently, even though the last strike last two years, they’ve forgotten what it’s like walking a picket line?

Century Aluminum is one of the largest employers in Hancock County and a weeks-long contract negotiation between the local steelworkers union and Century Aluminum have some people fearing a strike could be inevitable.

Workers went on strike at this same plant in 1998 for nearly two years, back then it was owned by a company called Southwire. The local steelworkers union said it’s ready to strike a deal.

“Negotiations aren’t going as well as we’d like,” John Beaver with United Steel Workers 9423 said. “Obviously, our goal is to reach an agreement, an agreement both parties can live with.”

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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.