union corruption

Elaine Chao: Union transparency “more important than Beck;” EFCA “terrible”

by Ivan Osorio on August 25, 2009 · 6 comments

in Economy, Labor, Regulation

Today, at the Heritage Foundation blogger briefing, former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao described the union transparency requirements introduced during the Bush administration as “more important than Beck.”

The U.S. Supreme Court’s 1988 decision in CWA v. Beck is crucial in protecting individuals’ First Amendment right not to be forced to pay for speech or political activity with which they disagree. Under Beck, workers who are required to pay for union representation may reclaim the portion of their dues that are not used for representation purposes — which usually means the portion of their dues used for politics.

Of course, individual workers need to know precisely which portion of their dues is going to politics, which is why accurate and complete union financial reporting is important to rank-and-file members. Organized labor’s leadership fought the new requirements, claiming that they would impose huge administrative costs, but in fact the costs have been minimal for organizations as large as national labor unions.

Those financial reports are now available at unionreports.gov. Current Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, whose appointment was criticized because of her close ties to organized labor (including on this blog), could prove her impartiality by continuing and expanding this program — and she does have a lot to prove, given her past overwhelming support from unions.

Asked about the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), Chao described it as an effort by unions to turn the tide on their declining fortunes. “They are losing membership and clout, and they want to change the rules of the game,” she said. She added that Democrats in Congress, who got considerable help from organized labor in gaining their majority in 2006, and expanding it in 2008, want to reward that loyal constiutency.

Noting that EFCA’s first provision, which would have made secret ballots a dead letter in union organizing elections, might be dropped in the  of popular opposition, she warned, “but do not be comforted or assuaged, because the other amendments of this bill are anti-democratic, as well.”

She referred to EFCA’s binding arbitration provision, which would enjoin a federally appointed arbitrator to impose a contract on a newly unionized company if management and the union could not reach agreement on a contract after 120 days. Thus, “the union can hold out and not negotiate, because theyknow that after 120 days, the government will come in.”

“There is nothing in this bill that is worth salvaging,” she said. “This bill is terrible, in that it is employed by the Demorats to reward their allies.”

For more on binding arbitration, see here.

Hate Crime in St. Louis? Obama Backers Beat Up Black Critic of Health-Care “Reform,” Use Racial Slurs

by Hans Bader on August 9, 2009 · 2 comments

in Healthcare, Labor, Legal, Personal Liberty, Politics as Usual, Sanctimony

Kenneth Gladney, a black critic of Obama’s health-care plan, was beaten, kicked, and called racist names by members of the SEIU, a corrupt and powerful left-wing union that backs Obama’s plan, leaving him wheelchair-bound and too weak to speak. This apparent hate crime took place at a St. Louis “town hall” meeting. SEIU members are bused in to town hall meetings called by liberal lawmakers in order to create the illusion of grassroots support, and intimidate would-be critics.

To curry favor with the corrupt SEIU, the Obama Administration has betrayed union workers by gutting federal regulations that help uncover corruption by union leaders and their misuse of union members’ dues. The SEIU spent over $60 million to elect Obama.

Although the federal deficit has exploded, due to massive new government spending, the Obama Administration wants to pile on even more federal spending, including a health-care “reform” proposal predicted to cost at least $1,000,000,000,000 ($1 trillion). In reality, Obamacare will likely cost far more than predicted, the way past health-care expansions always have.

One of Obama’s own advisers says the Obama Administration’s health-care plan will harm people with insurance while raising their taxes. CNN says Obamacare will take away 5 freedoms. It will also destroy many affordable health-care plans while breaking Obama’s campaign promises.

ObamaCare also contains subsidies for left-wing community organizers, and preferences for illegal aliens, who are exempt from its taxes and penalties, but may be able to access its benefits due to lack of meaningful eligibility verification safeguards.

The Obama Administration has a glaring double standard when it comes to hate crimes. It has turned a blind eye to hate-crimes committed by liberals, such as voter intimidation in Philadelphia by black panthers who included a Democratic official and Obama poll-watcher. Yet it has advocated reprosecuting in federal court other people found innocent of hate crimes in state court, taking advantage of a loophole in constitutional protections against double jeopardy.

Farewell Union Transparency

by Ivan Osorio on April 27, 2009 · 2 comments

in Economy, Features, Labor, Politics as Usual

It may not get card check this Congress, but organized labor still has plenty for which to thank the Obama administration. Today, in The American Spectator, F. Vincent Vernuccio describes one such fulfilled item on the unions’ wish list:

Department of Labor Secretary Hilda Solis betrayed rank and file union members by repealing vital reporting regulations that allowed members to see how union bosses were spending their hard-earned dues money. …

Solis’s repeal weakens one of the chief reporting tools used by the website to collect union financial data, the Form LM-2. The form requires labor organizations whose annual receipts are greater than $250,000 to identify and report all expense above $5,000. This tool allowed the DOL’s Office of Labor and Management Standards to obtain $91.5 million dollars in restitution of dues and resulted in over 900 convictions from 2001 to 2008. …

Before the repeal, labor organizations were required to identify all of their officers’ compensation including salary, benefits, deferred compensation, and even travel expenses. Access to this information is critical to guard how members’ money is being spent and help prevent abuse.

This is especially unfortunate given the scope of the scandal that came to light at a Service Employees International Union (SEIU) local in Los Angeles late last year. Without better union expense reporting, such scandals will become much harder to uncover.

See Vernuccio’s CEI OnPoint on card check here.

For more on Labor Secretary Solis, see here.

SEIU’s California Scheming IV — and Illinois, too

by Ivan Osorio on January 9, 2009

in Economy, Labor, Politics as Usual

Service Employees International Union (SEIU) finalized a contentious merger of several California locals into a statewide “superlocal.” Sal Rosselli, the head of one of the locals that was dissolved in this process, has fought the centralizing efforts of SEIU President Andy Stern, but, as evident not, to no avail. SF Weekly‘s Matt Smith notes:

The move is seen in U.S. Labor movement circles as a ploy to neuter Sal Rosselli, president of United Healthcare Workers – West.

Rosselli has clashed with Stern over  a 2004 agreement with nursing home chains in which the union supported legislation curtailing patient rights in exchange for permission to allow the union to recruit members at certain facilities. Today’s move erodes Rosselli’s clout by two-fifths, and paves the way for a new nursing home lobbying/organizing agreement.

This mega-merger of California local unions comes at what should be an awkward time for SEIU, considering its recent high-profile scandal in that state — and nationally. The head of a Los Angeles SEIU local was recently forced to resign after the Los Angeles Times broke the story on a corruption scandal there. And Stern himself may soon face some embarrassing questions regarding his relationship with disgraced Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.

For more on SEIU see here, here, here, here, here, here, and here

A Blagojevich-SEIU connection?

by Ivan Osorio on December 9, 2008 · 6 comments

in Economy, Features, Politics as Usual

Service Employees International Union (SEIU) President Andrew Stern is not known for being shy about his ambitions. Since taking his union out of the AFL-CIO and forming the new Change to Win federation in 2005, he has sought to assert his union’s influence over private equity firms, centralize his authority within the union by forcing various locals to merge, and negotiate large deals with employers without member participation. Now, however, it is worth asking who is really in charge at SEIU.

Amidst all this power grabbing, things seem to have gone awry. The arrest this morning of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and his chief of staff John Harris, for allegedly seeking to essentially sell the appointment to the Senate seat about to be vacated by President-elect Barack Obama, involves a tangled web of conversations between Blagojevich and other politicians and SEIU officials. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that on November 7:

[I]in a three-way call with Harris and Advisor B, a consultant in Washington, Blagojevich and the others allegedly discussed the prospect of a three-way deal for the Senate appointment involving an organization called “Change to Win,” which is affiliated with various unions including the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

While no one at SEIU has been charged, the union’s less-than-stellar record in handling corruption within its own ranks should be cause for concern.