With a decline in union membership over the last several decades, big labor is scrambling to attract more workers. It appears that conventional means of garnering support have failed. So, now union leadership is turning to the misnamed Employee Free Choice Act in an effort to change the rules in their favor. The editorial board over at The Intelligencer & Wheeling News-Register reports that the mo... Read more »
The Washington Times editorial page is crying foul over recent efforts by the Obama Administration to pressure and cajole colleges and universities to abandon the most widely used federal student loan program in favor of the government-run alternative known as the Direct Loan program. “Despite the fact that the scheme is not yet law, Department of Education officials began writing letters as early... Read more »
The arguments for the so-called Employee Free Choice Act have always been dubious. The act’s supporters claim workers face unfair pressure in workplace organizing elections. Their solution? A public sign-up process notorious for subjecting workers to intimidation, coercion, and the threat of retribution. Talk about unfair pressure. EFCA’s backers also claim current workplace organizing rules are s... Read more »
If it makes the statewide ballot, an initiative to protect workers’ privacy in Nevada would be a good bet. That’s what the Las Vegas Review-Journal says in a recent editorial backing the measure, which is designed to prevent the “card check” provision of the proposed Employee Free Choice Act. The newspaper counts its chips here: “Paperwork was filed this week with the secretary of state's office t... Read more »
If at first your bill doesn’t succeed on Capitol Hill, try hiding your agenda in another one. That seems to be the new strategy for supporters of the Employee Free Choice Act as their bill slowly dies on Capitol Hill. Instead of pushing for EFCA’s passage, they are now secretly slipping key special-interest items into the massive health care reform legislation. Houston labor lawyer A. Kevin Troutm... Read more »
Two leading Republicans today called on U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis to give workers immediate access to vital information about the financial status of their pension plans. Reps. John Kline (R-MN) and Tom Price (R-GA) wrote today to Secretary Solis requesting that her agency immediately begin posting to the internet a collection of pension disclosures that would help workers better underst... Read more »
Now they are getting desperate. In an attempt to save their dying bill, supporters of the Employee Free Choice Act are trying to introduce new words in the debate. The Service Employees International Union offered details of its substitution strategy in a confidential memo, and Politico lists the new lingo here: “The memo reflects the fact that unions and organized labor aren't universally popular... Read more »
Republicans on the House Education and Labor Committee are calling for an immediate hearing to examine the nation’s high unemployment rate, the continued revelations of faulty reporting related to the Democrats’ $787 billion ‘stimulus’ package, and how the Administration plans to address these concerns. In a letter sent today to the panel’s Chairman, Rep. George Miller (D-CA), Education and Labor ... Read more »
Rep. John Kline (R-MN), the top Republican on the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee, today criticized the U.S. Department of Labor’s decision to roll back vital investment advice opportunities for workers. The Department formally rescinded regulations that would have given workers access to individualized investment advice to help manage their 401(k) plans – a benefit that would prove espec... Read more »
It’s starting to sink in. A major supporter of the Employee Free Choice Act admitted Wednesday that serious bipartisan opposition to the bill has made its passage on Capitol Hill unlikely this year – and maybe the next. The Las Vegas Sun, which also reported on Nevada’s attempts to block EFCA, has the details here: “John Wilhelm, president of Unite Here, the international hotel and casino workers ... Read more »
