Posts tagged Democratic
Opinion: Big Labor systematically lies to forced dues-paying workers
January 2, 2024 // I quoted directly from Article II of the United Auto Workers union’s new national contract covering tens of thousands of rank-and-file factory employees. “Employees covered by this agreement at the time it becomes effective and who are members of the Union at that time, shall be required as a condition of continued employment to continue membership in the Union for the duration of this Agreement,” the contract states. “Employees covered by this Agreement who are not members at the time this Agreement becomes effective shall be required as a condition of continued employment to become members of the Union.” This language can have no conceivable purpose other than to mislead workers about their legal rights. And except for the effective date tacked on at the end, it is exactly the same deceitful, anti-worker compulsory-membership provision that was inserted into the 2019 UAW contract by “old guard” UAW bosses, from whom current “reformist” boss Shawn Fain is eager to distance himself.
Biden backs UAW aim to unionize Tesla, Toyota
November 14, 2023 //
What the UAW and Big 3 really thought of Biden’s picket line visit
November 8, 2023 // “This is the first time in American history a president has taken a side, walking a picket line,” said Chris Spear, head of the American Trucking Associations. “It’s not only anti-business, it kicks 90 years of impartial mediation by a president to the curb.” Biden’s decision to walk the picket line, he added, was “a new low as to what one will do to curry political endorsements.”
California Planned Parenthood employees unionize, say they’re overworked as abortions increase
September 19, 2023 // The union could be one of the largest representing Planned Parenthood workers in the country. “I think this sends a ripple to not only other Planned Parenthood affiliates across the country, but other nonprofit health care organizations, that this is possible, this is coming,” he said. “This is the rebirth of the labor movement. It’s not just a hot labor summer. This is here to last.”
How YIMBYs won over unions in California
August 22, 2023 // The Trades acknowledges there’s a shortage of workers for California’s needed residential construction, and they know their existing unionized workforce is getting older. A union-backed study from 2019 stipulated that to meet the state’s affordable housing goals, California would need to recruit at least 200,000 new workers. But the Trades insist things are not so dire yet that leaders need to abandon “skilled and trained” requirements, and they say more people will be incentivized to become “skilled and trained” only if lawmakers guarantee good union jobs waiting on the other end of an apprenticeship. About 70,500 people have graduated from these apprenticeships between 2010 and 2022, according to the California Department of Industrial Relations. In the end, California lawmakers didn’t really have to make a choice, and ended up passing Wicks’ bill, along with another similar bill that included the Trades’ preferred “skilled and trained” language. For now, developers basically can choose which law they want to follow if they want to convert strip malls to housing. (Yes, really.) “AB2011 was a huge victory, but they allowed the building trades to save face by passing both bills,” said David, the YIMBY activist.
Tennessee Teachers’ Union Drops Lawsuit Demanding Right To Deduct Fees From Paychecks
August 16, 2023 // The law prohibits paycheck deductions and also bumps the minimum salary for a teacher to $50,000 by the 2026-2027 school year. Before the union withdrew its suit, the court said the union's arguments were unlikely to succeed. "We hold that the Plaintiffs are unlikely to succeed on the merits of either claim," the court said. "Plaintiffs have failed to show that the Act substantially impairs either set of contracts implicated by the change in the payroll deduction process." The union originally argued that the law was unconstitutional.
An FBI informant in Johnny Doc’s inner circle didn’t violate his right to fair trial, judge says
August 3, 2023 // Though recording someone outside of a law enforcement investigation without their consent is a crime in Pennsylvania, the FBI, based on those tapes, enlisted the cooperator to begin working as an official confidential informant out of concern that statements such as those were an attempt by Dougherty to intimidate witnesses in the case against him, Blake said. And for the next several months, the informant continued to record Dougherty at union meetings up to and throughout his 2021 trial. The labor leader learned of the mole’s existence only after his conviction and as he prepared for a second trial on extortion charges related to threats he allegedly made to a union contractor who tried to fire his nephew.
Taxpayer-funded union dues: California’s toxic idea is spreading
May 30, 2023 // The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the share of wage and salary workers who belong to unions was 10.1% in 2022, down from 10.3% in 2021. In fact, the 2022 membership rate was the lowest on record; in 1983, the first year for which comparable union data are available, it was 20.1%. Former union members are voting with their feet to leave, forcing union leaders to scramble to entice workers to stay — on the taxpayer’s dime. SEE ALSO Union bosses are still making boatloads of money, even if their ranks are dwindling. Union bosses rake it in, even as their ranks shrink It’s much easier to lure someone into your club when innocent bystanders are footing the bill.
No deal: Federal Workers Union asks U.S. court to intervene
May 23, 2023 // "This litigation is both an effort to protect our members from illegal furloughs and to correct an unconstitutional statute that frequently creates uncertainty and anxiety for millions of Americans," NAGE national president David Holway said earlier this month. "The debt ceiling has become a political football for certain members of Congress. If Congress will not raise the debt limit as it has nearly 80 times before without condition, it leaves no constitutional choice for the president." "Congress' failure of will to act is not justification to violate the Constitution," added Holway, just days after his union endorsed Biden for reelection. "But it is the reason this case had to be filed to protect the American public, federal employees, and our Constitution."
Florida teachers union sues over DeSantis’ new union restrictions
May 17, 2023 // Under the new law, union dues will no longer be automatically deducted from paychecks. Those wishing to be a part of the union need to mail in a separate check to pay their monthly dues. Unions can also be decertified if less than 60% of eligible employees are members.