SEIU in Oregon: For the love of the…?
Gov. Ted Kulongoski of Oregon has nominated Multnomah County Chairman Ted Wheeler to the position of State Treasurer, following the death of Ben Westlund on Sunday. Want to know why Wheeler, and not another state representative Greg Macpherson, got the nod? According to The Oregonian: “Kulongoski acknowledged that “part of it” was the opposition that Macpherson would [more...]

Posted Thu, 11 Mar 2010 .

Transparent Hypocrisy at the DOL
This morning the Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) emailed me asking for comments and ideas “to help increase transparency, collaboration, and participation within DOL as part of the White House Open Government Initiative.” The OLMS is the same agency that just rescinded a regulation requiring transparency in union slush funds (using the “T-1″ form). In fact, [more...]

Posted Thu, 11 Mar 2010 .

Unions Working with Elected Officials to End Elections

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No sooner did the balance of power shift in Congress than did labor union leaders renew their call for the passage of the so-called "Employee Free Choice Act." This misnamed legislation would end the rights of employees to secret ballot elections when determining whether they wish to unionize, instead subjecting them to "card check." Under card check, unions can win new members simply by collecting signatures on cards, a system under which employees have no right to a private vote on whether unionization would be best.

Without any sense of irony, many of the politicians sent to Washington by secret ballot election are now laboring to end secret ballot elections in the workplace. Card check is a process that's rife with fraud and intimidation by union organizers, a fact that probably helped drive 75 percent of Americans to affirm in our poll that secret ballot elections are the fairest way of deciding union representation. Only 11 percent of respondents supported card check, which union leaders hope Congress will now make law.