Tag: unions

Barack Obama has never HAD the upper hand in the #Obamacare debate…

…so why are we talking about his need to “regain” it?

Obama tries to regain ObamaCare edge after mandate delay setback

The White House is working to get back on offense in the debate over ObamaCare, after a surprise delay in part of the implementation knocked its message off course.

President Obama touted the law’s benefits in a White House speech Thursday, emphasizing a provision that is already in place and heralding positive news about the cost of insurance policies sold through the law’s insurance exchanges.

Contra the Hill article, the administration has been singularly bad at messaging Obamacare. And it shows in the polling: Continue reading Barack Obama has never HAD the upper hand in the #Obamacare debate…

California teachers’ group throwing down over forced union dues.

If this works, it would be the funniest thing EVER:

A group of California teachers is preparing for a Supreme Court battle to overturn forced union dues in a groundbreaking lawsuits filed in June.

For nearly three decades, the Supreme Court has allowed closed-shop unionism, in which public employees must pay dues to labor groups handling collective bargaining negotiations.

The Supreme Court established Beck Rights in 1988 allowing workers to opt out of union dues for political activities, while continuing to pay for union negotiating expenses. The teachers are hoping to take that battle one step further by putting an end to all coercive union dues.

Continue reading California teachers’ group throwing down over forced union dues.

The Twinkie Returneth.

Note what Hostess is tagging the box with, too:

The company that went bankrupt after an acrimonious fight with its unionized workers last year is back up and running under new owners and a leaner structure. It says it plans to have Twinkies and other snack cakes back on shelves starting July 15.

Based on the outpouring of nostalgia sparked by its demise, Hostess is expecting a blockbuster return next month for Twinkies and other sugary treats, such as CupCakes and Donettes. The company says the cakes will taste the same but that the boxes will now bear the tag line “The Sweetest Comeback In The History Of Ever.”

Continue reading The Twinkie Returneth.

Unionizing fast-food workers. :rolling eyes: Yeah, *that’ll* fly.

I just deleted a eight paragraph post on this account of what will be a doomed attempt to organize fast food workers in Detroit (yeah, I know: the timing was perfect, huh?).  As you might guess, I was not impressed with their chances for success; alas, I was also boring, so I just deleted the whole dang thing.  Bottom line: there are reasons why Big Labor hasn’t been able to organize fast food employees before*.

Moe Lane

PS: I suppose that I should note that I own a few shares of McDonald’s stock.  God only knows where they are at this point.

*Not least of which is: any half-smart franchise willing to contemplate letting the unions in would absolutely insist on mandatory drug testing.  It’d be the only way to get useless workers fired under that scenario**.

**I spent seven years at the Scotsman as a spatula serf.  Who was smoking weed, back then?  God love you, man: who wasn’t smoking weed?  From the store manager on down.  NTIWKAAT, of course.

…Since when do police LIEUTENANTS need to be union?

Yeah, I think that maybe we don’t need this much unionization.

Portland Mayor Charlie Hales has taken the unprecedented step of trying to break up the city’s police commanding officers’ union.

“Managers should be clear they are managers,” Hales said Thursday. “It just doesn’t make sense to have people who are in management positions be in a union.”

Of course, you’d expect that attitude from me; after all, my dad was union, and he would have said the same thing.  Workers are workers. Management is management.  You need that clear line of division between the two if you ever expect to get a fair deal.  You lack that division, your deals can appear tainted.  And over the long term, tainted union deals are generally more trouble than they’re worth.

Moe Lane

(Via @laborunionrpt)

Penny Pritzker for Commerce Secretary?

We still have a Commerce Secretary?  What the hell has the last one been doing for the past five years? Playing tiddlywinks?

Making official what many Democrats have expected for weeks, President Obama plans to nominate Chicago business executive Penny Pritzker, a longtime political supporter and heavyweight fundraiser, as his new Commerce secretary this morning.

Pritzker’s nomination could prove controversial. She is on the board of Chicago-based Hyatt Hotels Corp., which was founded by her wealthy family and has had rocky relations with labor unions, and she could face questions about the failure of a bank partly owned by her family.

Continue reading Penny Pritzker for Commerce Secretary?

Charming: union shill using race-based attacks on Michelle Rhee.

I was born a Democrat; grew up in a labor union household; and generally raised in an atmosphere with, ah, colorful language. And if I had ever used this kind of language my father the union organizer would have backhanded me for it:

Standing in front of the Education Department’s headquarters in downtown Washington, Miami-Dade County teacher Ceresta Smith referred to former District of Columbia Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee—founder and CEO of the advocacy group StudentsFirst—as an “Asian b[*]tch.”

He’d have been right to, too.  Democrat or no, that sh*t just ain’t right.  But I’m willing to bet that the Democrats will tolerate it being said about Ms. Rhee… Continue reading Charming: union shill using race-based attacks on Michelle Rhee.

Labor union goons go violent in Michigan.

Scenes from the lack-of-class struggle in Lansing, Michigan: first off, the destruction of the Americans for Prosperity tent by union goons.  Apparently merely existing was too much of a provocation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtbWbw66KrI&feature=player_embedded

Reportedly, two of the people in that tent when it was torn down were in wheelchairs.  I assume that I don’t have to explain why going after people in wheelchairs is close to the very definition of “barbarian?” Continue reading Labor union goons go violent in Michigan.

Deadline passes on Hostess strike ultimatum: is liquidiation likely?

Very possibly.  Background here and here: the short version is that Hostess Foods is in horrible financial shape; it’s in the process of trying to stave off bankruptcy via drastically renegotiated emergency union contracts with the Teamsters and bakers’ unions; the Teamsters took a look at the books, blanched, swallowed hard, and took the deal; the bakers’ unions did not, and decided to go on strike; and Hostess basically told the strikers that if they didn’t stop striking by end of business today that the company would just go ahead and shut down.  The end of business came and went; and now we’re going to see whether Hostess will go through with their promise/threat.

And how serious is this threat? This serious:

The Teamsters meanwhile are urging the smaller union to hold a secret ballot on whether to continue striking. Citing its financial experts who had access to the company’s books, the Teamsters say that Hostess’ warning of liquidation is “not an empty threat or a negotiating tactic” but a certain outcome if workers continue striking.

Continue reading Deadline passes on Hostess strike ultimatum: is liquidiation likely?

#rsrh Barack Obama hates unions…

…at least, the ones that actually produce things.  My colleague has already written up the President’s threat to veto a payroll tax cut extension if the Republicans dare… attach a go-ahead on the critically important Keystone ethical oil pipeline; but I have a question for the rank-and-file construction/petroleum union workers who might like to, you know, get some work.

Not to be obnoxious or anything about this – I myself am the son of a proud union man and Truman Democrat – but have you guys considered that maybe your union leadership is using your dues money to promote candidates and causes that aren’t actually in your class interest?  I mean, the Republicans want you folks to work.  We’re trying to get you guys to work.  In an ideal world, you’d all be working right now on this pipeline.  It’s the Democrats who are giving some of you miserable Christmases.  Not us.

Just… think about it, OK?