LaborPains.org

With Richard Trumka the heir apparent at the AFL-CIO, it looks like Sweeney is letting him lead the campaign for card check and government run health care program. That explains why he’s willing to attack any Congressman or woman who opposes the union’s demand to pass EFCA and a so-called “public option” health care program.

Here’s his statement:

STATEMENT BY AFL-CIO SECRETARY TREASURER RICHARD TRUMKA ON PUBLIC HEALTH INSURANCE OPTION IN HEALTH CARE REFORM

A quality public health insurance option is a crucial part of health care reform to keep private insurance companies honest, hold down costs and ensure that everybody has a health care choice available. Key to holding down costs for families, for businesses, and for the federal budget is forcing insurance companies to compete. And the only way to force real competition on the insurance companies is a strong public plan option.

Unfortunately, the usual suspects opposed to reform are trying to hijack the reform process and attacking the public health insurance plan option because they are afraid of competition and they want to keep gouging working families. But unless we take decisive steps to stop the crippling rise of health costs, we will have squandered this moment of opportunity.

We will continue to relay that message forcefully to Congress and the White House.

We will be looking at every one of their votes and whether they are holding to their campaign promises. If they are against the public option and other key issues to working families such as the Employee Free Choice Act it is going to be tough for them to get support from working people.

Michael O’Brien at The Hill reports that this afternoon Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter flip-flopped (again), and said he’ll support the key vote to pass a modified version of card check.

Here’s the video:

Center for Union Facts Executive Director Rick Berman-—my boss and all around good guy—-has an OpEd in today’s Washington Times discussing EFCA’s binding arbitration provision.

Card check out, but binding arbitration stays

A group of six Democratic senators, led by Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa, who recently “compromised” on the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) are playing some version of three-card Monte. They announced scuttling the so-called card-check provision that would eliminate secret-ballot elections in workplaces. What they didn’t mention is that the card left on the table still imposes binding arbitration. It’s an absurd provision that puts unaccountable government-paid arbiters in charge of writing labor contracts for private businesses. Translation: An appointed outsider sets pay rates, benefit levels, promotion and discharge procedures as well as a host of other issues.

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A new survey of nine hundred and twenty-five (925) labor economists conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center for the Center for Union Facts illustrates a growing consensus among experts that increased unionization will have a negative effect on the economy. The survey further indicates that labor economists are overwhelmingly opposed to a bill currently before Congress that would radically overhaul existing labor law at the expense of American businesses. Their opposition grew even more fervent when they learned about EFCA’s binding arbitration clause, which would impose outside government arbitrators in the event of a contract dispute. The main findings of the survey are as follows:

1. Nearly two-thirds of economists surveyed believe Congress should not pass the Employee Free Choice Act.
2. When informed about EFCA’s binding arbitration clause, the percentage of economists in favor of the bill declined from 36% to just 27%.
3. 58% percent of economists believe that increased unionization would have a negative effect on President Obama’s job creation program, while only 22% believe it would have a positive effect.
4. By a ratio of more than 3 to 1, economists surveyed believe that changes to the economy and business climate — rather than employer resistance — are likely to blame for the recent decline in union membership.

“As President Obama looks for ways to pull the country out of its economic downturn, he should heed the opinions of economic experts who overwhelmingly believe that increased unionization will only further hinder our economic condition,” said Richard Berman, Executive Director of the Center for Union Facts. “Legislation like the curiously named Employee Free Choice Act, with its illogical binding arbitration clause, will only make things worse for American businesses and their employees.”

See the poll questions here.

Remember when then-candidate Obama won the endorsement of the Teamsters after privately promising to end federally oversight of the corruption-plagued union?

I wonder if that’s still on the agenda after yesterday’s revelation that the independent review board determined that Chicagoland Local 726 has been engaged in all sorts of “financial malfeasance.” Specifically, CBS 2 in Chicago reports that the allegations include:

• Taking $125,000 out of local pension funds and moving it into local union coffers without pension fund approval or any documentation noting interest rates and repayment terms.
• Breach of fiduciary duties by the three union leaders who also serve as pension fund trustees. They are accused of skipping at least 12 months of mandatory payments to the pension fund and failing to maintain pension fund records.
• Told by an accountant that it was a no-no to transfer money from the pension fund to the local, the officers took steps to pay the money back. When Local 726 could not cover the payment, the three officers allegedly made $112,000 in personal loans to the local, a violation of the Teamsters constitution.
• Misled the international union on at least two occasions about financial liabilities and steps being taken to improve those conditions.
• Waiving one year’s worth of membership dues for 27 different members without approval.

Following the report, the International headquarters (Read: Hoffa) took the local into trusteeship, ousting all 7 leaders.

In 2006, the Service Employees International Union encouraged its members at the California Pacific Medical Center to refuse to take overtime. And now, according to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the SEIU broke a 1974 statute requiring 10 days notice of striking a non-profit hospital.

That’s news, but it’s not what caught my eye. The last line of the article quotes an SEIU attorney saying:

“With the new Obama board making a lot of decisions in the next few years that will be important to labor, we’re looking for the courts to defer to what the board decides.”

The Associated Builders and Contractors have a new ad out against EFCA.

In case you didn’t get the title, watch the video after the jump.
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Well, it’s official (almost). Congressman Joe Sestak is set to officially announce his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for Arlen Specter’s Senate seat. But with Specter racing towards an EFCA compromise and with the backing of just about every Democrat in Pennsylvania, Sestak’s chances look grim. Nevertheless, the Washington Post points out that labor unions could quickly build Sestak a formidable grassroots network.

Specter’s opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act when he was a Republican set him at daggers drawn with organized labor. Now that he is a Democrat, however, Specter is trying to find a way to get right with labor — understanding that the grassroots power that unions bring could be just the sort of thing Sestak needs to build a statewide organization on the cheap. Most national labor operatives believe Sestak Specter will find a way to be for whatever the re-written version of EFCA looks like, cutting off Sestak’s oxygen with labor. If Sestak can keep labor neutral — not likely, according to incoming AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka — it would amount to a major victory for the challenger.