Unions: Forever War

You’re hoping for another 1994, eh? Well, you’re not going to get it if D.C.’s biggest union bosses have their say — and they don’t just have a say, they have a checkbook to put where their mouths are. And both words and munitions are taking on an overtly combative tone.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting:

The AFL-CIO plans to roll out its biggest political campaign ever, surpassing the $53 million spent in 2008 to help elect President Barack Obama, to try to avert a repeat of the 1994 midterm election when Democrats lost a majority in Congress.

If that sounds a bit aggressive, that’s nothing compared to the powerful head of the AFSCME public employee union, who is saying “The time has come to draw a line in the sand…Regardless of your party affiliation, if you’re not with us, you are against us.”

(We’re pretty sure we’ve seen other people get hammered for using the same language, but we digress…)

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Tags: AFL-CIO, AFSCME, mid-term elections, political contributions, union dues
Posted Mar 3rd 2010 at 9:01 am in Big Labor | 83210123 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/bjacobson/2010/03/03/unions-forever-war/Unions%3A+Forever+War2010-03-03+17%3A01%3A19Bret+Jacobson

Teachers Unions Spends Dues on Left-Wing Causes AND Ally of Robert Mugabe

Courtesy of Victor Skinner, writing on NEAexposed.com:

A recent study of contributions made by the nation’s two largest teachers unions reveals that both shelled out millions in 2008-09, with a good chunk going to radical and scandal-ridden organizations.

The study, posted online by the Education Intelligence Agency, is further proof that the National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers are out of step with their members, which union officials claim are evenly split between Democrat, Republican and Independent parties.

This is what the EIA found:

The AFT gave $46,894 to the scandal-plagued Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). That organization’s members gave tax evasion advice to pimps and prostitutes, encouraged struggling homeowners to walk away from their mortgages, and championed radical causes like softer immigration regulations and a government takeover of health care.

The AFT’s interest in government-run healthcare is also apparent in its $407,208 donation to the Economic Policy Institute, a union-funded progressive think tank that advocates for the expansion of unionized government jobs, and generally promotes organized labor’s interests.

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Tags: ACORN, AFT, Apollo Alliance, Economic Policy Institute, Education Intelligence Agency
Posted Feb 16th 2010 at 10:19 am in ACORN, Big Labor, Education, News, Politics | 7609078 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/kolson/2010/02/16/teachers-unions-spends-dues-on-left-wing-causes-and-ally-of-robert-mugabe/Teachers+Unions+Spends+Dues+on+Left-Wing+Causes+AND+Ally+of+Robert+Mugabe2010-02-16+18%3A19%3A27Kyle+Olson

Tea Party Takes On Political Corruption and Big Labor In California

“…California remains one of the best places in the world to start a successful small business.  All you have to do is start with a successful large business”

US Rep. Tom McClintock; (R) Rocklin (CA)

This week, the ordinary American citizens known as Tea Party Patriots— the pesky nemesis of power-drunk, spendthrift politicians—have laid down a gauntlet, building on the momentum of the protests in towns all across America as well as the 1+ million Tea Partiers who took part in rallies across the country on September 12th.

Making the transition from single-event political protest rallies to a sustained political activism campaign, the Tea Party Patriots have filed an initiative to appear on the November 2010 ballot in California.  The initiative is the first official act within the true grass roots’ political activism platform we’ve titled “The Citizen Power Campaign”.

What is the first target the Tea Party Patriots’ ‘Citizen Power Campaign?’

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Tags: public employee union, public sector union bosses, public sector unions, union dues
Posted Nov 12th 2009 at 10:03 am in Big Labor, Politics, State Politics, Tea Party | 2839875 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/mharris/2009/11/12/tea-party-takes-on-political-corruption-in-californiaand-beyond/Tea+Party+Takes+On+Political+Corruption+and+Big+Labor+In+California2009-11-12+17%3A03%3A01Marc+Harris

Big Labor’s Selfish Healthcare Motivation

With the health care debate raging and, what seems like, new bills being proposed everyday, it is easy to get bogged down in the details and corresponding rumors. One aspect of Democratic healthcare plan that will never change is whatever bill Democrats end up with, they intend to pay for it through taxes on so-called “Cadillac health care plans” (and several other tax increases).

While the “tax anything we can” rhetoric delights most on the Left, it doesn’t play so well with the party’s largest contributor and loyal ally, organized labor.

Unions have spent the past few decades bullying employers into giving them overly generous health care plans (think United Auto Workers) often to the detriment of the companies they work for. Unfortunately for labor, the healthcare plans they spent years negotiating are now considered “Cadillac plans” and are under attack by the same people they helped spent $450 million to put into office.

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Tags: right-to-work, UAW, union dues
Posted Oct 29th 2009 at 3:09 pm in Big Labor, Congress, Healthcare, Politics | 2270239 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/brjohnson/2009/10/29/labors-selfish-healthcare-motivation/Big+Labor%E2%80%99s+Selfish+Healthcare+Motivation2009-10-29+22%3A09%3A35Brian++Johnson