Posted on May 06, 2014 by LaborPains.org Team
As part of its week-long series on Big Labor’s struggles, the Washington Examiner took a look at the Employee Rights Act (ERA), a piece of legislation that would grant individual employees more rights in the workplace. It’s past time the ERA got a hearing in Washington, as its provisions are supported by wide majorities. Each […]
Posted on May 02, 2014 by LaborPains.org Team
From the moment President Obama was elected, labor unions have demanded what former AFSCME boss Gerald McEntee memorably called “payback” for putting millions of dollars behind his election efforts. This week, “payback” came in the form of a new director of the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD), David Weil. Weil is a former […]
Posted on Apr 29, 2014 by LaborPains.org Team
The Employee Rights Act (ERA), a proposed piece of federal legislation that gives a host of individual rights to workers, is picking up steam in the press. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review recently editorialized that protecting workers’ secret ballots is a “must” to protect workers’ rights and end corrupt union practices. The editors noted that ERA would do just that. Meanwhile, […]
Posted on Apr 03, 2014 by LaborPains.org Team
The Missouri State House of Representatives passed a bill this week that would provide public-sector employees the right to opt out of automatic deduction of dues and agency fees paid to unions. Although Missouri public employees are not currently protected by a “right to work” law that allows them to refrain from paying any dues […]
Posted on Mar 26, 2014 by LaborPains.org Team
Unions used to be the leading source of organizational political contributions. A quick look at the Opensecrets list of “heavy hitters”—the top outside donors since 1989—shows that of the top 15 donor organizations, 10 are still labor unions. And Opensecrets only counts federal PAC contributions (which are opt-in); unions also maintain sophisticated state- and local-level […]
Posted on Mar 17, 2014 by LaborPains.org Team
We’ve pointed out before that unions’ ability to effectively compel members—including members who don’t support the unions’ political preferences—to support the politicians of the unions’ choosing makes them political power players. Now, our Executive Director is telling Pennsylvanians that Trumka’s money is coming to influence their election, a large bloc of members’ opinions aside: Last […]
Posted on Mar 12, 2014 by LaborPains.org Team
With money in politics looking to be a major theme in Democratic Party messaging for the fall election, their friends are finding themselves trying to explain away the fact that over the past quarter-century the largest spenders on federal political candidates are (largely) labor unions, which are overwhelmingly Democratic-leaning. That has led many to get […]
Posted on Mar 11, 2014 by LaborPains.org Team
In an age of unions-in-all-but-label-only “worker centers,” the traditional union brand-attack corporate campaign has fallen somewhat out of favor. Not in Pittsburgh, though: The SEIU, partnering with public relations firm Berlin Rosen—both also deeply involved in New York City’s Fast Food Forward worker center campaign—has taken to the streets to pressure the University of Pittsburgh […]
