Public Sector Unions and Lessons as yet Unlearned
Daniel Howes asked an excellent question in the Detroit News yesterday: What will it take for public-sector labor — with no ties to private, for-profit employers — to understand that the steady gravy train of the past 50 years has ground to a halt? In autos and steel, the UAW and the Steelworkers finally learned brutal [more...]

Posted Fri, 19 Mar 2010 .

Accepting the inevitable, AFL-CIO will back health care bill
Richard Trumka’s one block sprint to the White House yesterday afternoon paid off. This just in, from Politico: “A union official says the nation’s largest labor federation is strongly endorsing the Obama administration’s health care overhaul bill and plans to push wavering lawmakers for support. A union official familiar with the proceedings says [more...]

Posted Thu, 18 Mar 2010 .

Crime & Corruption

Union Leader Fraud
In 2005, criminal charges and fines against union officials hit five-year highs, proving that union bosses have earned their reputation for greed and corruption.
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Union Violence, Harassment, and Intimidation of Workers
Union officials have ordered or approved of violent, coercive and harassing conduct aimed at making an example of employees who don't toe the union line.
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Discrimination
In recent years, labor unions have faced more than 13,000 complaints of discrimination filed with the government's Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
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Schemes involving bribery, extortion, deprivation of union rights by violence, and embezzlement used by early racketeers are still employed to abuse the power of unions.

— U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, 2004

Recent Scandals