LaborPains.org

As we continue to roll out our campaign to publicize the damage done by the Newark Teachers Union, we stopped by NTU headquarters today to pick up copies of their most recent tax documents. The IRS requires labor unions (and all other non-profits) to turn over their tax documents for “public inspection” upon request. And according to IRS regulations, anyone who asks for the forms in person is entitled to receive copies the same business day. The forms even say “open to public inspection” right at the top.

So, when we politely asked for a copy of their tax forms, you can guess how the union responded.

After telling us they didn’t care what the law said and to “get the f*** out,” one union boss told us:

“If I smash your f***ing head in with this toolbox, nothing would happen to me. I’d have a blanket and a cup of coffee, and be out [of jail] in half an hour.”

It is illegal to refuse to turn over public tax forms — the federal fine can go as high as $10,000. Let’s hope they don’t hold out and saddle their own members with that fine.

Make sure to check out TeachersUnionExposed.com to see what it is that makes the NTU so smashing angry.

My home state of Oregon has completed its sale of workers’ rights to the Service Employees International Union. A weak Gov. Ted Kulongoski seeking re-election collected his prize in the lucrative support of SEIU and its government union allies heading into November. His payoff to SEIU was both swift and terrible for the rights of adult foster-care workers.

Steve Law, who has been covering the issue well at the Salem Statesman Journal, reports:

The measure was controversial because the providers are small-business owners, and any workers they hire aren’t eligible for the union.

That wasn’t the only reason it was controversial — the process was carried out without even letting workers vote in a real election. Instead, the governor allowed his special interest patrons to “commence collective bargaining with the state and bypass a union-recognition election” because he recognized an anti-democratic “card check” drive by SEIU officials.

Then there’s the final kicker:

Passage of SB 858-B makes Kulongoski’s executive order permanent. And it grants SEIU the right to collect “fair share” payments in lieu of union dues from bargaining unit members who don’t want to join the union.

A letter to the editor at the Modesto Bee has a troubling accusation:

One of the most important rights of any Teamster is seniority. I had eight very loyal and dedicated years at Teamsters Local 386 and was laid off without any regard to seniority. The union secretary-treasurer has lost touch with the principles of the union and its membership. He chose to keep his personal confidential secretary, a perk which very few union officers can afford, who had five years less seniority than I.

As we’ve pointed out recently, the endgame for Big Labor’s scheme to end secret ballots isn’t a failed Senate cloture vote on its disingenuous “Employee Free Choice Act” — it is a total victory after they elect a friendly president. Click here for a good list of quotes.

Yesterday, AFL-CIO president John Sweeney offered the most definitive time line yet. Speaking to activists in Ohio, the big man said: “This campaign will end in 2009.”

So … just to be clear … that is either win or lose in 2009 … which is only 19 months away …

Over at EFCA Updates:

We make two observations at this point. First, when labor’s allies immediately threaten all-out political war against United States Senators who disagree with them, is it hard to understand why some might be worried about union intimidation of an average worker who might not want to sign an authorization card? Second, when labor refers to 48% as a “small group,” isn’t it reasonable to question the reliability of other statistics it might cite?

The Wall Street Journal has a great editorial on yesterday’s Senate action:

Democrats did their duty for the AFL-CIO yesterday, offering and then quickly losing a vote on the Senate floor to eliminate secret ballots for union organizing elections. Democrats could muster only a single Republican vote — Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania — and so the bill went down to a GOP filibuster, 51-48 …

So it’s not surprising that Democrats staged their losing vote the same day as a key immigration vote that was certain to get far more public attention. Democrats also did little PR work, and the vote itself had a ritual quality to it, like some of those Republican votes on cultural issues when Tom DeLay was House Majority Leader: Hold a largely symbolic vote, check off a box to pay off your election supporters, and move on to something that most Americans might even care about.

We don’t know how to be much clearer about the matter: Despite failing to get their anti-democratic, anti-worker “Employee Free Choice Act” through a Senate cloture vote today, union bosses have to be pretty pleased with themselves. Why? Because the real fight isn’t about today – it’s about preparing the ground to pass the bill in 2009 (a new, possibly more pliant, president will be inaugurated in 19 months). Some evidence for you skeptics:

• AFSCME president Gerald McEntee told The Politico: “In 2009, we’ll have a real opportunity and a real chance in putting this into law ….”

• AFL-CIO president John Sweeney told The New York Times that “This is really about 2009. But it’s important that we show the country that we have majority support.”

• Bill Samuel, the legislative director of the AFL-CIO, said the bill is in “the building stage,” and a vote on the bill would be considered a victory.

• Robert Borosage, director of the union-funded Campaign for America’s Future, said “We’ve just begun this debate. We started with unions not even in people’s consciousness … and now even the conservatives in the Democratic caucus are coming on board.” He added: “We’re a while away from it, but if you get a Democratic president and Democratic majorities (in Congress) this will be on the lead agenda.”

Today, the Senate failed to pass a procedural vote on EFCA, but the final count was a disturbing 51-48 — enough to pass if the Senate can’t hold a filibuster in the future. Union bosses have already announced that this is their top priority, and they are openly admitting this vote was preparation for a major showdown in 2009.

As the Senate considered the grossly misnamed “Employee Free Choice Act” the Center for Union Facts pulled out all the stops to expose Big Labor’s scheme to end workplace democracy. In a one-week period, we launched $750,000 in national print and TV advertisements, we published new research to clear up union bosses’ misleading rhetoric, and we drove media stories across the country.