Over the last few years, New York City has started to force its citizens to become more health conscious. Whether it was a ban on Trans Fat, or other absurd regulations, New Yorkers are progressively losing their freedom along with their food choices. However, according to a new mandate, Health Department workers may have to follow their own rules:
The city’s Health Department is going on a diet. No deep-fried foods served at agency lunches. No cookies and cakes at the same time. And no beverages over 25 calories per ounce: Those are all part of the new health mandate issued to department employees in a little bright-colored brochure ahead of their move from Manhattan to Queens, according to a published report.
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Union officials have a long history of propagating tragedy to enforce their pro-union agenda. Big Labor is able to accomplish this effect as efficiently and discretely as any other special interest group. Currently, these union tactics are being used excessively in California. The deaths of two workers have given union officials the opportunity to exploit misfortune to progress their deceitful agenda.
Union officials’ reaction to these deaths would be acceptable if the legislation and comments made about the tragedies coincided with their recommended policy. The first incident of union deception is the proposal of “The Fair Treatment for Farm Workers Act” (Senate Bill 104). This legislation follows the 2008 death of a pregnant farm worker from heat exhaustion, and after the employer was given what union officials described as a slap on the wrist.
Workplace abuse in this regard is abhorred by all and there are laws in place to prevent employers from using unfair labor practices. However, union officials believe that instead of enforcing the existing laws, new legislation is necessary to counteract abusive workplace practices. SB 104 is an example of this strategy. One would think the unions’ goal would be increased employee safety, but what correlation do union election rules have with workers’ rights? None, other than union official’s priority to increase membership and fill union coffers.
SB 104′s main component focuses on union election rules. The primary component of SB 104 is the implementation of “card check” for all agricultural workers concerning union elections, which establishes an undemocratic election process that is highly susceptible to intimidation, fraud and abuse. The only purpose of this bill is to make unionizing workers easier and to increase union membership — not to enhance workplace safety.
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Tech:
More customers exposed as big data breach grows:
“The names and e-mails of customers of Citigroup Inc and other large U.S. companies, as well as College Board students, were exposed in a massive and growing data breach after a computer hacker penetrated online marketer Epsilon.”
GOP group crowdsources Obama administration info:
“Crossroads GPS, the cash-rich Republican outside group planning to spend $120 million on the 2012 election in conjunction with its sister organization American Crossroads, announced Wednesday the launch of a website called www.Wikicountability.org “designed to crowd-source information gleaned from Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and other public documents by organizations, individuals and journalists.””
New York Times Fixes Paywall Flaws to Balance Free Versus Paid on the Web:
“New York Times Co. has been working to fix about 200 glitches in the technology for charging online readers of its namesake newspaper, just weeks before the project is scheduled to debut, said a person familiar with the matter.”
US Government’s ‘Pirate’ Domain Seizures Failed Miserably:
“Over the past several months a series of domain name seizures by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) made headlines across the Internet.”
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This afternoon, the House passed the FAA Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2011. Perhaps the most contentious issue debated was a provision of the legislation that reversed a pro-union decision by the National Mediation Board (Section 903). In July 2010, the NMB — without the consent of Congress — decided that unions could organize airline and railroad workers if a majority of voting workers supported unionization, rather than a majority of all workers in the proposed bargaining unit — as had long been the case. Essentially, this means that unions can be certified as the sole bargaining agents under the Railway Labor Act with support from a minority of workers. For example, if a company has 100 workers but only 80 turn out to vote in the election, it would only take 41 pro-union votes for the union to organize the company’s workers.
Ohio Republican Rep. Steve LaTourette introduced an amendment to strike Section 903, allowing Obama’s NMB decision to stand. The amendment failed by a vote of 206-220, largely along party lines. The Obama administration has threatened to veto any FAA reauthorization legislation that reverses the NMB ruling. While voting Democratic members were unanimous in their support for the union-giveaway-preserving amendment, 16 Republicans voted in favor. They are listed below:
Rep. Diaz-Balart (FL)
Rep. Emerson (MO)
Rep. Gibson (NY)
Rep. Grimm (NY)
Rep. Johnson (IL)
Rep. Jones (NC)
Rep. King (NY)
Rep. LaTourette (OH)
Rep. LoBiondo (NJ)
Rep. Platts (PA)
Rep. Reichert (WA)
Rep. Rivera (FL)
Rep. Ros-Lehtinen (FL)
Rep. Runyan (NJ)
Rep. Smith (NJ)
Rep. Young (AK)
CEI recently released a study on reforming the Railway Labor Act, which you can read here.
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