Unions Make Obama An Offer He Can’t Refuse

It’s amusing to watch President Obama try to stick it to his friends in organized labor by proposing a tax on union-negotiated health care benefits.

If it weren’t for the fact that the tax proposal would have a  devastating effect on the American economy, the situation would be downright hilarious.

Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO President

On Monday, a group of top leaders from the American labor movement gathered at the White House to share their concerns with the president.

The irony of the discussion was delicious. During the campaign, Obama and the Democratic Party (including the unions) attacked John McCain for suggesting that health care benefits should be taxed as income.

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Tags: AFL-CIO, AFSCME, Andy Stern, Anna Burger, Big Labor
Posted Jan 13th 2010 at 8:28 am in Big Labor, Healthcare, Obama, Politics | 5901068 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/kolson/2010/01/13/unions-make-obama-an-offer-he-cant-refuse/Unions+Make+Obama+An+Offer+He+Can%27t+Refuse2010-01-13+16%3A28%3A43Kyle+Olson

D.C. Schools Chief Michelle Rhee Targets ‘Sacred Cow’ of Tenure

If President Obama is really serious about education reform, he ought to consider putting D.C. school Chancellor Michelle Rhee in charge of the effort.

This lady is not afraid of a major challenge, as evidenced by her latest brawl with the AFT.

Rhee is courageously targeting the sacred cow of teachers unions – tenure. It’s the system that pretty much guarantees a teacher a job for life, if he or she can make it through the first few years. It doesn’t matter if they go on to become good, mediocre or bad teachers. With tenure, they are pretty much protected until retirement.

But Rhee understands that such a system can no longer be tolerated in Washington D.C. schools, which have a dropout rate of nearly 40 percent. She knows that the school district must have the power to sift through the teaching staff, keep the good ones, work with the middle-of-the-roaders, and get rid of the bad apples.

She also understands that it has to work both ways. She’s willing to develop a compensation system that would offer teachers much higher pay, in exchange for the union abandoning, or at least reforming, the concept of tenure.

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Tags: American Federation of Teachers, Barack Obama, DC Public Schools, Michelle Rhee, Randi Weingarten
Posted Nov 23rd 2009 at 4:03 pm in Big Labor, Education, Politics | 3427065 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/kolson/2009/11/23/d-c-schools-chief-rhee-targets-sacred-cow-of-tenure/D.C.+Schools+Chief+Michelle+Rhee+Targets+%27Sacred+Cow%27+of+Tenure2009-11-23+23%3A03%3A19Kyle+Olson

Cement Shoes for a Website? Union Threatens AFTexposed.com

When we at the Education Action Group Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-partisan, non-profit organization, launched AFTexposed.com this fall to examine the agenda, finances and tactics of the American Federation of Teachers, little did we realize we would draw such an immediate, ugly response.

AFT10809letter –

On Friday, October 9, we received a threatening letter from the AFT’s general counsel (which was carbon copied to AFT President Randi Weingarten), demanding we immediately stop using the acronym ‘AFT’ anywhere on the site, effectively neutering it, and turn over the domain registration to the union. [See the letter here.] How can we have a website completely dedicated to analyzing the AFT and its agenda if we aren’t allowed to use the acronym ‘AFT?’

It was an outrageous attempt to squelch our First Amendment rights to voice our opinions, which are based in fact.

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Tags: ACORN, AFT, AFTexposed, American Federation of Teachers, Department of Labor
Posted Oct 19th 2009 at 9:35 am in ACORN, Big Labor, News, Politics | 17174103 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/kolson/2009/10/19/cement-shoes-for-a-website-union-threatens-aftexposed-com/Cement+Shoes+for+a+Website%3F+Union+Threatens+AFTexposed.com2009-10-19+16%3A35%3A10Kyle+Olson

Bertha Lewis’s “Sista From Another Mista,” Randi Weingarten

When we created AFTexposed.com a few weeks ago, we paid particular attention to the American Federation of Teachers’ connection to ACORN.  [See a related sidebar below.]  Randi Weingarten, the president of the AFT, had previously been the president of the United Federation of Teachers–the New York City teachers’ union.

Bertha Lewis, before becoming the CEO and chief organizer of ACORN, had headed up the New York chapter of ACORN.

Weingarten’s UFT had hired Lewis’s ACORN to help unionize 28,000 day care workers and bring them into the UFT fold.  Just what exactly does the UFT know about child care?  From ACORN itself:

“For us, it’s an educational issue and a moral issue and an economic justice issue,” [Weingarten] said.

From 2006 to 2008, ACORNcracked.com has been able to account for over $1.2 million in dues dollars from New York City teachers going to ACORN.  And Weingarten earned a special recognition from ACORN earlier this summer at its 39th anniversary gala, hosted by chief AFT rival, the National Education Association.

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Tags: AFT, AFTexposed.com, American Federation of Teachers, Bertha Lewis, Randi Weingarten
Posted Oct 17th 2009 at 10:37 pm in ACORN, Big Labor, Education | 1542657 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/kolson/2009/10/17/bertha-lewiss-sista-from-another-mista-randi-weingarten/Bertha+Lewis%27s+%22Sista+From+Another+Mista%2C%22+Randi+Weingarten2009-10-18+05%3A37%3A10Kyle+Olson

Bertha Lewis Part II: I’m ACORN, No Wait, I’m Working Families Party

Bertha Lewis recorded this video tribute to Randi Weingarten, head of one of the NY teachers’ union, at the 10th Anniversary ‘Celebration’ of the Working Families Party. For those keeping score at home, ACORN is, allegedly, a non-partisan organization. Working Families Party is a political party. In other words, partisan. Sheesh:

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Tags: ACORN, Bertha Lewis, Randi Weingarten, teachers union, Working Families Party
Posted Oct 2nd 2009 at 7:45 am in ACORN, Politics, State Politics | 1139842 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/10/02/bertha-lewis-part-ii-im-acorn-no-wait-im-working-families-party/Bertha+Lewis+Part+II%3A+I%27m+ACORN%2C+No+Wait%2C+I%27m+Working+Families+Party2009-10-02+14%3A45%3A34Publius