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NRTW "aggressively" pursues recusal motions against NLRB member Craig Becker

NRTW "aggressively" pursues recusal motions against NLRB member Craig Becker

The New American Reports: The National Right to Work Foundation [NRTW] has aggressively pursued recusal motions against Craig Becker, a recess appointment by President Obama to the National Labor Relations Board. Becker had previously served as associate general counsel for the AFL-CIO and the Service Employees International Union, an organization which has come under increasing scrutiny in connection to illicit activities by Obama and his supporters. Becker took an ethics pledge last April, at the time of his recess appointment, in which he swore to abstain for a period of two years from involving himself in any matter before the board in which a client or former employer had been involved. Despite this pledge, the NRWF [NRTW] has identified cases involving SEUI locals and in which Becker participated in the cases. Becker has insisted that local unions are “separate and distinct entities” from the SEIU itself. This contradicts the SEIU Constitution, which presumably Becker would know something about as counsel for that organization, and which describes local affiliates as “constituent subordinate bodies” of the national union.

Another SEIU Purple Paragon Fades Away:  Anna Burger Resigns

Another SEIU Purple Paragon Fades Away: Anna Burger Resigns

For those SEIU Watchers wondering when SEIU’s longtime number two Anna Burger is going to step down, the wait is over.  Answer:  Wednesday August 11, 2010 according to BNA: Anna Burger, the long-time secretary-treasurer of the Service Employees International Union, and chair of the Change to Win federation, Aug. 11 announced her retirement from both positions effective immediately. In a statement, Burger said she is “committed to building a permanent and sustained progressive majority,” adding, “we need a coordinated progressive infrastructure that protects our American values of fairness and justice, and I intend to be part of that work.”

Washington Post: State Worker Bailout Motivated by Politics

The Washington Post argues that Washington bailouts for state union workers reinforces dependency on the feds and is a political handout to their Big Labor constituency.   It's not often we agree with the Post but in this case they are right: TO GOVERN is to choose, and nothing lays bare a government's true priorities like the choices it makes about spending taxpayers' money. In that regard, the Senate's decision to spend $10 billion on education jobs this week is revealing -- and deeply discouraging. The crusade for an education jobs bill, led by the Obama administration and Democratic leaders in Congress, has always struck us as more of an election-year favor for teachers unions than an optimal use of public resources. Billed as an effort to stimulate the economy, it's not clearly more effective than alternative uses of the cash. Yes, school budgets are tight across the country, but the teacher layoff "crisis" is exaggerated. In fact, as happens each year, many teachers who got pink slips in the spring have been notified that they'll be hired after all. Many layoffs could have been -- and indeed have been -- avoided by modest union concessions. As of last school year, the money for 5.5 percent of the 6 million K-12 jobs nationwide came from Washington through the 2009 stimulus; the new money reinforces this dangerous dependency.