INK November 3, 2011

In this issue:

• Union Bailout Update
• Disability Fund “Rail Roaded”
• Pelosi Admits Anti-Boeing Bias
• SEIU Decert At California Hospital
• Teamsters Watch, Only In A Union, Sticky Fingers and more…

NOTICE:  You can make a PDF of this issue of INK directly from the post.  Click here for instructions on how to do so. https://lrionline.com/easy-way-to-make-our-posts-and-ink-issues-into-pdfs Union Bailout Update The groundswell of blowback against union hubris continues to rise, as both state and national legislators and executives work to reign in Big Labor. As the game of political tug-of-war continues, much of the energy will lapse into rhetoric, but there may be enough momentum now to see some benefit for American businesses come out of the bottom of the funnel.

Last week, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce approved the Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act (H.R. 3094). House majority leader Eric Cantor is determined to bring the bill to the floor this winter. Among other things, the bill would:

• Undo the criteria used to determine an appropriate bargaining unit established by the National Labor Relations Board’s recent Specialty Healthcare decision
• Guarantee that no representation election is held within 35 days after the filing of a petition
• Give employers 14 days to prepare for a case before the NLRB
• Gives employees a choice in how a union may contact them

On the legal front, Both the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and the National Right to Work Legal Defense and Education Foundation, Inc. filed suit against the NLRB, seeking an order to prevent the NLRB from implementing or enforcing the new notice posting requirement. We’ll have to wait until December to hear the outcome of the legal challenge. In Michigan, several proposed bills would blunt the power of public employee unions in that state. In an example, an “emergency manager” provisions would allow a state-appointed executive to fire city councils and school boards and cancel union contracts. In other moves, legislators gave school boards the ability to fire teachers for any reason during their first five years of employment, gave districts the power to fire tenured teachers for any reason, and gave administrators the ability to manage their workforce based on “effectiveness” rather than seniority. A separate bill would make dues checkoff illegal for teacher unions with more than 50,000 members, a direct jab at the Michigan Education Association. Big Labor still has its defenders, and traction. At a time when honest scrutiny is required to make proper choices, the DOL’s Office of Labor Management Standards (OLMS) published a final rule revising Form LM-30, to be effective November 25^th. The rule greatly diminishes the requirements for conflict-of-interest reporting by unions, creating yet another veil for Big Labor to hide behind.

In perhaps the most interesting look at Big Labor/Big Government collusion, a Republican Senator in Michigan has surreptitiously attempted to circumvent the work of his state government, trying to save the flow of millions of dollars of union dues to the SEIU.[9] We have covered the trend of State governments entering alliances with unions to form quasi-governmental “agencies” that force independent home health care workers into paying union dues. In Michigan, the state recently defunded the Michigan Quality Community Care Council, but the dues continue to be extorted from the workers while Senator Roger Kahn attempts to find ways to continue to fund the agency while hiding the intent. “For the state to operate a dubiously formed government entity that has been defunded by the Legislature seems unprecedented,” said Patrick Wright, director of the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation, which uncovered the efforts through acquisition of documentation via the Freedom of Information Act. If you’d like a detailed look at the intricacies of collusion, read the entire article. ********** Crybaby, Cry Unite Here doesn’t like to play by the rules, apparently because they don’t think they can win by them. When offered the chance to hold an NLRB sanctioned election for the employees of the Hyatt Santa Clara, they refused and instead set up a picket calling for a boycott of the hotel, noisily interrupting the business and its customers. According to a statement, from the Santa Clara Hyatt, it has “proposed through the National Labor Relations Board that our associates hold such an election, but UniteHere rejected the offer,” alleging their “associates have been subjected to constant and aggressive UniteHere organizing tactics for several years, including unwelcome home visits by union leadership.” As is typical, none of those participating in the protest were associates of the hotel, but union lackeys coordinated by Unite Here. ********** Disability Fund “Rail Roaded” Employees at the Long Island Rail Road applied for disability benefits at 12 times the rate of workers for other commuter railroads. According to a recent investigation: • in 2008 LIRR workers received twice as many benefits as workers from seven other commuter railroads combined • in one year as many as 97 percent of workers applied for and received disability payments shortly after retiring. Since the railroad has recently won awards for worker safety, it obviously isn’t that LIRR is a dangerous place to work. What it boils down to is a billion-dollar scam to defraud the union disability fund. Former union president Joseph Rutigliano and Marie Baran worked as consultants to help workers “game” the system. They were among eleven people indicted for the scam, which included several doctors who colluded with the union members and officers to steal from the LIRR employees. ********** A Family Affair When police arrested the president, former president, and treasurer of UFCW Local 348, they could have picked them all up at a family reunion. Anthony Fazio Sr., John Fazio Jr., and Anthony Fazio Jr. were charged with racketeering, extortion, money laundering, and witness tampering. According to the indictment, the trio extorted businesses at $1000 a pop or more by threatening to harm their businesses unless they paid up.[2] Over their 16-year tenure of the union, the Fazio family stole or extorted over $2.4 million from union members and employers. ********** Pelosi Admits Anti-Boeing Bias In this short clip on CNBC, Pelosi admits that she thinks Boeing should be forced to either unionize its new South Carolina plant, or shut it down! The U.S. Chamber of Commerce produced some video of its own, with this ad attacking the NLRB for its egregious meddling in the Boeing plant situation. ********** Social Media Spotlight The Machinists have launched a new iPad/iPhone/Android application, ostensibly designed to bring the IAM Journal to its readership, but more likely to be used as a tool for coordinating organizing campaigns, boycotts, strikes, and corporate campaigns. The app is currently available for the iPad, and their website shows that the phone versions are “coming soon.” The Communication Workers are still battling it out with Verizon, recently launching a new “iWon’t Upgrade” campaign attempting to foment public support for the CWA’s fight with the communications company. The corporate campaign is “asking Americans to delay upgrading to the new iPhone on Verizon Wireless until the company agrees to a fair contract with its workers.” The site is designed to coordinate leafleting campaigns at local Verizon outlets. ********** Teamster Watch Teamsters in New York apparently staged another work slow down during a snow storm, once again coinciding with stalled contract negotiations. Town Supervisor John Coyne was forced to declare a state of emergency to force the employees to get to work clearing roads. In Chicago, an attorney contemplated suing the Teamsters when he was forced to pay $1200 to use “approved” contractors to move his office into a new location, rather than the moving contractor he had secured for $500. The building lease contained a clause forcing tenants to submit any requests to use contractors to the building management, effectively creating a “secondary boycott.” In essence, the building is colluding with the union to keep non-union labor (ie. less expensive) out of the building. In another display of Teamster President Jimmy Hoffa’s complete ignorance of economics, he has promised to “hold accountable” those congressmen who approved three recent free-trade agreements. Hoffa’s position stands at odds with Obama, who finally got behind the trade deals with South Korea, Columbia, and Panama. ********** SEIU Decert At California Hospital                      The SEIU stands to loose another 1,200 members if the workers of El Camino Hospital have their way. According to 25-year employee Robert DeSalvo, the only thing the union has been interested in during its 10-year tenure is collecting dues. “What am I getting for my money?” asked De Salvo. “I’m getting absolutely zero.” The union had earlier reached an impasse during bargaining, refusing the hospital’s last, best and final offer. The union is attempting to challenge the decertification on legal grounds by taking issue with some of the language in the petition. Paul Williams, an 8-year employee, is tired of the unions attempt to create a divisive, “us versus them” atmosphere at the hospital. ********** Only In A Union Bill Lloyd is the Executive Director of SEIU Local 99 in Los Angeles. He is also the Treasurer of the Local. His total compensation for handling both posts was a bit over $38,000 for 2010. Before you extend sympathy to the obviously overworked Lloyd, you should also know that as a member of the SEIU International Executive Board, he pulls down an additional $182,000, and $3499 from the SEIU California State Council. Even though Lloyd has managed the Los Angeles local for 7 years now, he has refused to move from his Oakland residence, and SEIU has for those 7 years provided weekly airfare to and from his office from home, a rental car, and housing at the plush Wilshire Grand Hotel. In case you think poor Mr. Lloyd is overtaxed with so many hats to wear, Local 99 staffers report that he generally rolls into his office midway though Monday, and leaves early on Friday to miss the “airport rush.” ********** Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Natasha Nimer had been a city employee and union member for over 10 years. In 2008, she was elected to a position as one of three trustees of her AFSCME local, and in 2010 she was re-elected to praises for her “outstanding leadership.” Then, as the ever-conscientious Nimer asked a simple question to clarify a point about her job description, she kicked a hornets nest that resulted in such persecution by her union that she eventually had to leave her position. Her question: was it part of her duty to check the books of a taxpayer-funded insurance account managed by the union? Nimer was told emphatically “no,” even though official documents related to her position state, “The Trustees are thereby charged with the responsibility to see that an audit of all of the funds of the affiliate is performed, either by an independent auditor or the Trustees themselves.” However, officials from the local denied she had the authority, and responded so aggressively that she called their actions “suspect,” triggering an avalanche of persecution. Nimor sought help from the NAACP, causing the AFSCME to send an internal judicial officer to investigate. It was no surprise when the officer cleared the local board of wrongdoing, and Nimer had had enough and left the union. “Nothing’s going to change,” Nimer said. “With my knowledge of what’s really going on now, I don’t want no part of it. It’s not worth it. I don’t want my name on it to say I support it.” ********** Sticky Fingers Current charges or sentences of embezzling union officials: Charles Fleming – IBB:  $4,190 Wanda Jackson – NALC:  $41,247 http://www.nlpc.org/union-corruption-update ********** Labor Relations INK is published semi-weekly and is edited by Labor Relations Institute, Inc. Feel free to pass this newsletter on to anyone you think might enjoy it. New subscribers can sign up by visiting: https://lrionline.com/free-stuff/newsletter-signup/ If you use content from this newsletter please attribute it to Labor Relations Institute and include our website address: www.LRIonline.com Contributing editors for this issue: Phillip Wilson, Greg Kittinger, Nancy Jowske and Shaun Fanning You are receiving this email because you subscribed to receive our labor relations newsletters and updates. You can manage your email preferences by clicking the link at the bottom of any of our email communications. NOTE: if you are using Internet Explorer v. 6, read the text version, as the html will not load properly in IE6. We recommend upgrading to IE7.