White House Deference to Big Labor Impedes Gulf Oil Spill Cleanup Efforts

White House Deference to Big Labor Impedes Gulf Oil Spill Cleanup Efforts

(Source: July 2010 Forced-Unionism Abuses Exposed) Roughly three months after BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil platform exploded, killing 11 workers and instigating the biggest offshore oil spill ever to occur during peacetime, the Obama Administration faces mounting charges that, in order to avoid offending politically powerful union officials, it has obstructed operations to clean up the spill. A wide range of critics are focusing on the White House’s refusal, in the days after oil began spewing into the Gulf of Mexico from the sunken rig, to suspend the 90-year-old Jones Act.  The Jones Act requires all shipping between U.S. ports or in U.S. coastal waters to be carried in U.S.-flagged ships that are owned and crewed by U.S. citizens. But presidential administrations can grant blanket waivers of the Jones Act during national emergencies.  In recent years, the George W. Bush Administration temporarily suspended the Jones Act to assist recovery efforts after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. However, top bosses of the AFL-CIO-affiliated Seafarers International Union (SIU), with the backing of the entire AFL-CIO hierarchy, oppose a blanket waiver.  Rather than cross Big Labor, and thus potentially risk losing some of its massive, forced dues-funded political support, the Obama Administration has required all foreign vessels that wish to participate in the cleanup and believe they may need a waiver to apply for one individually. 
FEC "legitimizes" SEIU's latest PAC scheme

FEC "legitimizes" SEIU's latest PAC scheme

  NRTW President Mark Mix Op-Ed in the Washington Examiner (read full article, click here): Imagine the outcry if McDonalds executives demanded that franchise owners collect “voluntary” contributions totaling $25,000 for the company’s Political Action Committee (PAC) from employees at every restaurant. What if the fast food titan’s headquarters followed up with a threat - pay us, or face a $37,500 fine? Do you think this heavy-handed scheme would raise a few eyebrows at the Federal Election Commission (FEC)? Replace “McDonalds” with “SEIU” in that description and you’ve got a pretty good idea of Big Labor’s latest political fundraising strategy. To meet their ambitious fundraising targets, Service Employees International Union bosses are now threatening to fine any local affiliate that doesn’t meet its PAC contribution requirements.
FEC

FEC "legitimizes" SEIU's latest PAC scheme

  NRTW President Mark Mix Op-Ed in the Washington Examiner (read full article, click here): Imagine the outcry if McDonalds executives demanded that franchise owners collect “voluntary” contributions totaling $25,000 for the company’s Political Action Committee (PAC) from employees at every restaurant. What if the fast food titan’s headquarters followed up with a threat - pay us, or face a $37,500 fine? Do you think this heavy-handed scheme would raise a few eyebrows at the Federal Election Commission (FEC)? Replace “McDonalds” with “SEIU” in that description and you’ve got a pretty good idea of Big Labor’s latest political fundraising strategy. To meet their ambitious fundraising targets, Service Employees International Union bosses are now threatening to fine any local affiliate that doesn’t meet its PAC contribution requirements.
Top Union Boss Huffs and Puffs, But Cannot Blow the Facts Down

Top Union Boss Huffs and Puffs, But Cannot Blow the Facts Down

(Source: June 2010 Forced-Unionism Abuses Exposed) It doesn’t take a Sherlock Holmes or an Hercule Poirot to deduce that state policies promoting “exclusive” union bargaining and forced union dues and fees in the public sector have played a major role in driving multiple states to the verge of insolvency this year.  All it takes is the willingness to look at, and respect, the facts. In 2009, according to respected labor economists Barry Hirsch and David Macpherson, 41% of public employees nationwide were subject to a contract negotiated by their employer with a union monopoly-bargaining agent. However, in 22 states, none of which authorize forced union dues for government employees and most of which don’t authorize public-sector union monopoly bargaining, either, fewer than 30% of public servants were unionized.  Not one of these 22 low public-sector-unionization states was to be found on Business Insider’s list, published just last month, of the nine states “most likely to default.” 
'Big Labor Picked the Wrong Guy to Bully'

'Big Labor Picked the Wrong Guy to Bully'

ROTC Instructor Wins Small Victory Over Teacher Union Bosses (Source: July 2010 NRTWC Newsletter) According to the most recent available federal data, there are roughly 73,000 public elementary and secondary schoolteachers in Massachusetts. Reportedly, more than 99% of these educators must allow the agents of a single teacher union to negotiate with their employer over matters of pay, benefits and working conditions if they wish to continue working at a public school. And the vast majority of Bay State teachers under union monopoly bargaining are also compelled to fork over dues or fees to their "exclusive" union bargaining agent, or be fired. However, as they recently demonstrated, top bosses of the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA/NEA) union and its affiliates aren't content with extracting forced union dues and fees from the vast majority of teachers in the state. The fact that even one teacher is working in a public school without paying tribute is enough to set them off. For 14 years, retired U.S. Marine Maj. Stephen Godin has vexed the bosses of the MTA-affiliated Education Association of Worcester (EAW) union by serving as a junior ROTC instructor at North High School without paying them for the privilege.