In Ohio, as union bosses have embraced Occupy Wall Street’s (OWS) class war between the “99 percent” and the “1 percent,” it has becomes increasingly difficult not to ask an obvious question:

Aren’t union bosses basically the 1 percent?

Throughout the run-up to Ohio’s Issue 2 election on November 8, in which voters will consider a referendum on the state’s new public sector labor reforms, I’ve met pponents of the bill at Occupy Columbus who say they are fed up with “the rich taking from the middle class.” They direct their class warfare energies at the abstract Wall Street anathema, but the scenario is literally accurate–and not in some obtuse, Marxist form–as a description of the fiscal dynamic between union bosses and rank-and-file members.

I asked one teacher how, being an Occupy demonstrator and opponent of Ohio labor reforms, she justified the $210,000 annual salary of Larry Wicks, executive director of the Ohio Education Association (OEA), of which she is a dues-paying member. She paused for thought–understandably, since that fact would seem to justify class warfare against the “rich” Mr. Wicks. Ultimately, she concurred with my criticism, and even condemned her very own OEA.

Other Ohio teachers are even less hesitant to criticize their union. One teacher (who wished to remain anonymous for her own safety) shared that she had requested a waiver to opt out of paying the union’s political assessments, to which the response was, “We’ll get back to you.” They didn’t. (more…)

Last night was a stunning success for the heroic middle class and for organized labor! Progressives seized control of two Republican state senate seats in Wisconsin–one of the few times in American history that a recall election has been successful, and on so grand a scale!

And that’s just the beginning. We are going to recall that pathetic Koch addict, so-called “governor” Scott Walker, as well! We are on the march to total victory!

True, we lost four of the other six recall elections yesterday. True, we failed to win the third seat necessary to take control of the state senate and begin rolling back Walker’s devastating attack on workers’ rights. True, we spent $30 million, much of it taken from the hard-earned dues of our members. True, we must now rally our exhausted and rather demoralized ground troops to defend two shaky Democrat-held seats next week.

Comrades–these failures point to the far greater victory that we achieved last night! We defended the “middle class” against evil corporations and Tea Party terrorists! We stood up to a tsunami of Citizens United-enabled outside money, and unleashed our own flood of Citizens United-enabled outside money! We rallied a huge crowd of red-shirted thugs at Ed Schultz’s live election coverage on MSNBC, smashing any pretense at objectivity!

Don’t you see what that means? We have sent a clear message to the nation: we are so fanatically devoted to the progressive cause that even losing elections will not deter us! The radical left and the public-sector unions have taken control of the Democratic party, and we are willing to destroy it in order to save it! We, the revolutionary vanguard of the middle class proletariat, have declared war on America–and we will not be defeated!

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Looking to the 2012 elections, top operatives with organized labor say they are going to concentrate their efforts at the state level and will withhold their support for federal candidates. In the 2008 election cycle, unions spent almost $80 million on independent broadcast advertising, mail, and advocacy to either elect or defeat candidates for federal office, according to OpenSecrets.org. Federal records also show that labor union political action committees (PACs) contributed over $66 million to federal candidates in 2008, with 92 percent of this total going to Democrats.

But, this investment did not secure enough votes to pass the “card check” legislation and other policy measures weighted against the business community. So, a change in strategy is in order. Harold Schaitberger, president of the International Association of Firefighters, told FOX News, his organization is eyeing the political terrain at the local level. But there is no reason for states, especially Right to Work states, to play defense.

Instead, they should follow the example set by Danny Martiny, a Republican state senator in Louisiana, who has introduced a bill to safeguard competitive bidding practices in the construction industry. In a pre-emptive move aimed against contracts negotiated between employers and unions before workers are hired, Martiny has introduced Senate Bill 76. This legislation prevents state government officials from mandating Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) on publicly funded construction projects.

PLAs call for construction contractors, including those non-unionized, to require their employees to be represented by a union on government-funded construction projects. In practice, they lock out non-union construction shops from the bidding process, officials with the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), a private industry group, have argued.

Although the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 generally prohibits pre-hire agreements, an exception in the law was created for the construction industry.

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On March 7, the Wisconsin Senate passed a bill reforming the public sector union bargaining process.  For weeks, the Senate remained at an impasse on the issue as absent Senate Democrats denied the quorum required to move forward.  By redrafting the bill to exclude certain fiscal items, a 2/3 quorum was no longer required to vote on the legislation.  The Senate promptly approved the bill 18-1.

After passage of the bill by the Senate, the Joint Committee of Conference then received the bill.  This committee’s responsibility is to make changes to  similar pieces of legislation passed in both the Senate and House.  Once these changes are approved by the Joint Committee of Conference, the legislation is then submitted for approval by the legislative chambers.  For a bill to be submitted to the governor for his signature — and thereby enacted into law– the language in the bill passed by the Senate and the House must be identical.   In this case, the Joint Committee of Conference approved the language of the bill passed by the Senate verbatim, submitting this to the House for Approval.

Typically, consideration of legislation by this committee for the mark-up process takes weeks.  However, the committee completed its work on this public sector union bill just hours after posting notice of its upcoming meeting.

Much criticism has been levied at the Wisconsin Republicans for the actions of the Joint Committee Meeting.  In a dramatic outburst, Representative Peter Barca proclaimed, “This is a violation of the Open Meetings Law!”   What does the law say?  The portion which the Democrats claim is being violated is Wisconsin Open Meetings Law, in particular §19.84 of the statute.

§19.84 (1) Public notice of all meetings of a governmental body shall be given in the following manner:….(2) Every public notice of a meeting of a governmental body shall set forth the time, date, place and subject matter of the meeting, including that intended for consideration at any contemplated closed session, in such form as is reasonably likely to apprise members of the public and the news media thereof. The public notice of a meeting of a governmental body may provide for a period of public comment, during which the body may receive information from members of the public.(3) Public notice of every meeting of a governmental body shall be given at least 24 hours prior to the commencement of such meeting unless for good cause such notice is impossible or impractical, in which case shorter notice may be given, but in no case may the notice be provided less than 2 hours in advance of the meeting.”

At first glance, it appears that due to the lack of a 24 hours notice to the public, the Joint Committee of Conference violated the Wisconsin Open Meetings Law.   However, there is much more to this statute.  We must also take into consideration §19.87 regarding the notice required by legislative meetings.

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Speaking to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) Winter Meeting in Washington, D.C., over the weekend, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis admitted she was biased toward unions.

Unions only account  for 11.9 percent of the workforce, but Solis’ favoritism puts them ahead of the other 88 percent of the American workers.

From the Washington Examiner:

President Obama is staying mostly quiet about the union battle going on in Wisconsin. His labor secretary, Hilda Solis, is not.

“The fight is on!” Solis told a cheering crowd at the Democratic National Committee’s winter meeting over the weekend in Washington. Giving her support to “our brothers and sisters in public employee unions,” Solis pledged aid to unionized workers who are “under assault” in Wisconsin and elsewhere.

It’s no surprise Solis sympathizes with the unions against Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s budget reform proposal. After all, Solis often tells audiences how proud she is that her father was a Teamsters shop steward and her mother belonged to the United Steelworkers union. “Admittedly, I am a little biased,” she told the DNC, “because … I come from a union household.”

But is it the role of the secretary of labor to take sides in a fight that pits public employee union members against workers and taxpayers who support Walker’s reforms? After all, the Labor Department mission statement says its purpose is “to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners, job seekers, and retirees of the United States.” It doesn’t say anything about unionized wage earners, job seekers, and retirees.

While Obama downplays his links to the Wisconsin protesters, Solis’ language is quite similar to the president’s original knee-jerk reaction.

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Over at Forbes I recently wrote about the union plan to organize your neighborhood fast food joint, which could turn the process of ordering a Number 3 with Coke into a culinary trip to the DMV. 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.

As a member of a very successful Tea Party in Quincy, Illinois it is my distinct honor and privilege to offer my thanks and congratulations to this astroturf response to the tea parties. This hard hitting website has taken the MSNBC format to a new level. Hit us again guys, because while you spend never-ending union dollars attacking Tea Parties, we are repairing the change you said we could believe in, one candidate at a time.

This tiny group of Tea Bashers says its mission is “To prevent the Tea Party’s dangerous ideas from gaining legislative traction.” You might want to watch something other than the mainstream media. In case you haven’t heard, we have already gained legislative traction, which I’ll venture a guess that this was the reason for the emergency birth and delivery of your premature website.

We can’t think of a better way for organized labor to spend its time and money. I am so thrilled with your approach I may donate to your cause myself.

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In their first year in office, the Obama Administration has re-made the U.S. Department of Labor into the Department of Organized Labor, working hard to make certain that those who spent hundreds of millions of dollars to put them in office get a return on their investment.  While many dismiss the importance of the Department of Labor, virtually every person in America is directly touched by the rules and regulations that this federal bureaucracy creates and enforces, so changes at the top have real consequences for every working American.

As we evaluate the impact of the past year on the nation’s workforce, it is worthwhile to remember the accomplishments of President Bush’s Secretary of Labor, Elaine L. Chao.

When Secretary Chao left office, workers were safer in their workplaces than at any time in history, the Labor Department was focused upon encouraging private sector job creation, and created an enforcement environment that successfully protected workers from employers who egregiously violated the law while providing the necessary education to limit inadvertent violations.

Secretary Chao put an emphasis on clarifying workplace regulations to make it easier for employers to know the rules of the game.  Her efforts led to overtime requirements being more clear-cut for employers while explicitly guaranteeing overtime protections for blue collar workers, police and fire fighters, EMTs, construction workers and others.

The Labor Department under Secretary Chao brought transparency to the spending of Big Labor through regulations which for the first time shined a light upon labor union expenditures.  These reports revealed the massive labor expenditures supporting ACORN’s efforts,and were used by LA Times reporter Paul Pringle in his Polk Award winning series that brought down the SEIU powerbrokers in the California SEIU.

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