Free Republic

Members of the carpenters union in New York City have ruined any chance that authorities there will take their union out of government oversight by beating unconscious William Davenport, a union dissident running for office in the union. After an August 5 candidates forum, the candidate was beaten by members of the carpenters union audience outside a church. Outside a CHURCH! This thuggery along with continued Mob involvement, indictments and convictions on corruption of union members convinced Judge Charles S. Haight, Jr. not to release the union from government oversight.... Read the rest at Publiusforum.com...

BUFFALO, N.Y. - A dozen leaders and members of a construction union were arrested Tuesday and charged with a decade of attacks against nonunion workers and their families, and prosecutors said some of the crimes were aided by the local's access to state motor vehicle records. The president of Operating Engineers Local 17, Mark Kirsch, was among those charged with extortion and racketeering after a five-year investigation. The union, headquartered in Buffalo, operates in six western New York counties. At job sites where non-Local 17 members were hired, union members caused more than $1 million in damage to more than...

COMMITTEE FOR CONSTITUTIONAL JUSTICE P.O. Box 306, Cheltenham, PA 19012 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 10, 2007 Contact: Don Adams, ###.###.#### Teamster Beating Victims Appeal Judge’s Order To Pay Union $15 Grand Philadelphia – Two Clinton protesters, viciously beaten up by a group of pro-Clinton teamsters outside Philadelphia’s City Hall during a presidential visit nine years ago, last week appealed a federal judge’s order to pay two teamster unions $15,000.00 in legal costs stemming from an October, 2000 Federal Civil Rights suit. Five members of Teamsters Local 115 eventually pled guilty to criminal assault, conspiracy, and various other charges in the...

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA   DON ADAMS, ET AL.,     PLAINTIFFS        v.   TEAMSTERS LOCAL 115, ET AL.,     DEFENDANTS   CIVIL ACTIONNO. 99-CV-4910   JUDGMENT AND NOW, this 4th day of Sept., 2007, judgment is hereby rendered in favor of defendant Teamsters Local 115 and against plaintiffs Don Adams and Theresa Adams in the amount of $450.10.   William H. Yohn, Jr., Judge IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA   DON ADAMS, ET AL.,     PLAINTIFFS        v.   TEAMSTERS LOCAL 115, ET AL.,     DEFENDANTS   CIVIL ACTIONNO. 99-CV-4910  ...

TWO ripping issues in parliament yesterday - the leaking of the ACTU’s embarrassingly detailed blueprint for winning over swinging voters to Labor and John Howard’s misuse of Kirribilli House. We’ve provided a link to the entire ACTU document. It’s oafish and unprofessional and probably doesn’t help Kevin Rudd who’s determinedly fighting the Coalition assault painting Labor as too close to unions. ..... Here’s my take in The Sketch: “THERE is nothing surprising in this,” ACTU president Sharan Burrow protested on Melbourne radio, and mostly she was right. That the union movement is campaigning furiously to kick the Howard Government out...

Indictment alleges Pacifica man stole $170,000, falsified records By Josh Richman, STAFF WRITERInside Bay Area Article Last Updated:05/25/2007 02:55:14 AM PDT A postal workers' union president from Pacifica was indicted Thursday on charges that he embezzled more than $170,000 and then fudged union and Labor Department records to cover it up. Graham Paul Vane, 49, was president of the San Mateo-based National Association of Letter Carriers, AFL-CIO, Branch 1280, from January 2002 through 2006 and allegedly used a union-issued credit card and 10 personal credit cards to rack up massive personal expenses such as dining, family travel, spa treatments,...

A federal appeals court refused yesterday to revive civil-rights claims against Gov. Rendell, District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham, and Teamsters Local 115, part of a lawsuit filed eight years ago by a man who says he was beaten and falsely prosecuted after protesting a 1998 appearance by President Clinton. The opinion by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit is likely the end of the federal suit filed by Don and Theresa Adams, although Adams has said he will press civil claims involving state law in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court. Neither Adams, 46, of...

A teachers union told the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday it should have the right to spend workers' money for political purposes without their permission -- even if they aren't union members. The case involves about 3,000 Washington state teachers and other education employees who have chosen not to join the 80,000-member Washington Education Association. Because the nonunion workers are in the bargaining unit and thus represented by the union, they are charged a fee for labor negotiations that affect them. Washington state in 1992 adopted a campaign-finance law that requires labor unions to annually ask members whether part of their...

With the midterm elections November 7, organized labor has been gearing up for its biggest political blitz ever. Since being rocked by internal divisions last year and failing to unseat President Bush in 2004, labor leaders have been eager to prove that unions still matter and that the labor ground game can deliver votes for the Democratic Party. Political observers believe that in some close races, labor could help swing this month’s midterm elections—an outcome the beleaugured union movement desperately desires. Although labor’s diminished power would probably not overcome a larger change in the national political currents, those currents seem...

The 58-story Comcast Center rising over 17th Street is already destined to be Philadelphia's tallest and most environmentally friendly skyscraper. But its developer, Liberty Property Trust, dreams of claiming an even more prestigious title: America's tallest green building. Unfortunately, the city's quest for national glory may go down the drain of a waterless urinal. The local plumbers union is blocking Liberty's plan to install no-flush, water-saving urinals in the men's rooms at the Comcast Center. Without them, the finished skyscraper would guzzle an extra 1.6 million gallons of water a year, and Liberty could have trouble obtaining a coveted seal...

CHICAGO - A reputed mob enforcer who has been the focus of a nationwide manhunt since federal prosecutors unsealed racketeering-murder charges against the alleged top echelon of the Chicago underworld was arrested Friday, the FBI announced. Frank "The German" Schweihs, 75, was captured without incident when agents swooped down on an apartment he had recently rented in Berea, Ky., a hilly area 40 miles south of Lexington. Schweihs was one of two defendants who slipped away just before federal prosecutors in April unveiled the long-sealed indictment against reputed Chicago mob boss James Marcello and 13 others in the FBI's Operation...

Protests turn violent near APEC venue By Jack Kim 36 minutes ago Thousands of farm activists and union workers hurled bottles in a clash with police near a meeting of Pacific Rim leaders on Friday and had to be quelled by water cannon. The clash broke out about two km (1.2 miles) from the convention center where leaders from 21 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies were meeting. About 2,000 farmers and farm activists and 3,000 union workers took to the streets of Pusan to denounce APEC, the World Trade Organization and U.S. President George W. Bush, who was attending the...

Previously I offered "True face of Democratic Party: union thugs attack woman at anti-Arnold rally": she had her cap pulled off, she was beaten with signs, and one of the security workers ripped up her signs. Now, speaking on KFI, the victim of the assault claims it was even worse than what was shown on TV. She says the pro-union forces also poured water on her head and threw things at her. And, she says that several TV stations must have filmed that. Yet, only a small - but highly disturbing - segment of the attack was shown on just...

Here is aan e-mail that I just received:Genvieve Peters (no relation), who I recruited for the LA bus tour team, is certifiably insane and brings new meaning to the phrase "earned media". Forget about the baloney delivery stunt, this one clearly takes the cake. When David Pegos tried to stage a counter protest today at the Latino union rally with Nunez and Villaraigosa in Downtown LA I put him in touch with Genvieve. She showed up in her red Arnold t-shirt with her signs ALL ALONE. Instead of going home (which I would have told her to do if the...

An interesting thread by striking Northwest Airline mechanics at www.usaviation.com. The source URL takes you to the specific thread Evidently, they all think that this is the way to strike: They are all for it, including this pleasant little ditty: PRINCESS KIDAGAKASH Yesterday, 11:05 PM Post #26 Rank: Veteran Group: Registered Member Posts: 707 Joined: 10-October 03 Member No.: 2,790 The AMFA STRIKERS are being way too nice in my opinion. If this was the 1930's, that SCAB's house would have been torched! -------------------- TWU:THE UNION THAT INVENTED CONCESSIONS! Why RIDE the BUS? When you can FLY with AMFA

EMS & Hurricane KatrinaHurricane Katrina - Our Experiences By Parmedics Larry Bradsahw and Lorrie Beth SlonskySep 6, 2005, 11:59 note: Bradshaw and Slonsky are paramedics frorm California that were attending the EMS conference in New Orleans. Larry Bradsahw is the chief shop steward, Paramedic Chapter, SEIU Local 790; and Lorrie Beth Slonsky  is steward, Paramedic Chapter, SEIU Local 790.[California]Two days after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, the Walgreen's store at the corner of Royal and Iberville streets remained locked. The dairy display case was clearly visible through the widows. It was now 48 hours without electricity, running water, plumbing. The milk, yogurt,...

AFL-CIO Chief Criticizes Federal Response to Hurricane, Calls It Sign of Hostility to WorkersBy Jeremiah Marquez Associated Press Writer Published: Sep 5, 2005 LOS ANGELES (AP) - AFL-CIO President John Sweeney derided the Bush administration's handling of Hurricane Katrina at a Labor Day rally Monday, saying the government's slow response was a sign of hostility to workers. Speaking to more than 1,000 cheering teachers, firefighters and nurses at a Los Angeles intersection, Sweeney argued that cuts in government services and taxes had sapped the administration's ability to react to the crisis. "We really need look no further than the ravaged...

Boeing Co. Machinists voted Thursday to strike as union members overwhelmingly rejected a three-year contract proposal their leaders had deemed "insulting." Union members voted 86 percent in favor of a strike beginning at 12:01 a.m. local time Friday. Under union rules, the contract would have been automatically ratified -- and workers would have stayed on the job -- unless two-thirds of the union members voted to strike. The strike will affect about 18,400 Machinists who assemble Boeing's commercial airplanes and some key components in the Seattle area, Gresham, Ore., and Wichita, Kan. Company officials said earlier in the week that...

When O.V. Delle-Femine led his mechanics out on strike against Northwest Airlines earlier this month, he thought he had a pretty good chance of winning public support. After all, the members of his union, the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, were not crazed militants striking for huge wage increases. They were senior mechanics averaging decades of experience. All they wanted was to stop layoffs and wage cuts. Delle-Femine himself--72 years old and known as "Dell"--is something of a character. He reckoned that he and his small union would appeal as underdogs. And they had a final advantage: The fourth largest airline...

Division of LaborBy Lowell PonteFrontPageMagazine.com | July 29, 2005 The convention was supposed to have been a celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), the umbrella group that overarches most major North American labor unions.But on the eve of this week’s AFL-CIO convention in Chicago, long-building pressures began to tear the labor organization to shreds. Two unions of the newly-formed dissident group of seven unions called the Change To Win Coalition announced that they were leaving the AFL-CIO. One was the leftwing Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the largest union in the...

On the second day of its convention in Chicago, the AFL-CIO took an historic step, calling for the rapid withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, and an end to the country's occupation. Public attention has focused largely on the split in US labor, and the decision by two of the federation's largest unions to leave. Yet the impact of this call will reverberate for years, with as profound effect on the future of US workers and their unions. Brooks Sunkett, vice-president of the Communications Workers of America (CWA), started a train of passionate speeches on the convention floor, saying that...

The AFL-CIO succumbed to division Sunday, with its largest union deciding to bolt the 50-year-old federation and three others poised to do so in a dispute over how to reverse organized labor's long slide. The four unions, representing nearly one-third of the AFL-CIO's 13 million members, announced they were boycotting the federation's convention that begins Monday, a step that was widely considered to be a precursor to leaving the federation. They are part of the Coalition to Win, a group of seven unions vowing to reform and modernize the labor movement — outside the AFL-CIO if necessary. But many union...

Christians are among those sounding the alarm about the ethics of this retail giant. Are the worries justified? The cavernous hallway outside Chicago City Council chambers is echoing with the sound of 150 people chanting, "We're fed up, we won't take it no mo'!" The lady with the megaphone is leading a mix of union workers and community reform activists shouting slogans...

http://www.detnews.com/2005/business/0504/25/A01-161246.htm Can't post from Detroit News

26. Januar 2005 Veterinarian dispute hardens The conflict between Norway's veterinarians and the Department of Agriculture has worsened, after Tuesday's negotiations failed to reach an agreement on a new emergency duty rota. The Department is now trying to get veterinarians to do night duty outside a union agreement. As of January 1st there is no longer a veterinarian emergency on-call service, and there have been cases where farm animals have died outside office hours, because a veterenary has not been available, NRK reports. The Department is now trying to get veterinarians to agree to a voluntary emergency call service, outside...

The majority of the American people voted against the "Politics of Hate" and repudiated Michael Moore and his clones. On the other hand, CNN said 70 percent of the Kerry voters were voting not for him but against President Bush. The "Hate George Bush" slogans we heard so much during the election may be unusual in this day and age, but hate and violence are not unknown in American history. For almost 100 years after the post-Civil War Reconstruction period, the Ku Klux Klan maintained a solid Democrat South through violence and intimidation. The Klan murdered black people for many...

October 19, 2004 — The Big Story on Action News is a politically motivated film furor Tuesday night in Jenkintown. Supporters of George Bush and John Kerry went nose to nose Tuesday night in Montgomery County, and neither side had any intention of backing down. Nerves are fraying at the edges, and there are still two weeks before Election Day. The emotion of this politically charged presidential election got the best of some people. People who came out to see the anti-Kerry film, "Stolen Honor" were already upset that management of the Baederwood Theater cancelled the showing after threats of...

PARLOCK UPDATE By Michelle Malkin   ·   September 21, 2004 04:01 PM For those still interested: Just received a call from the IUPAT, which has now identified the union member who grabbed the Bush/Cheney sign from Phil Parlock's daughter and threw the pieces at the family as they left the event. "We are taking steps to deal with the individual," the union told me. Meanwhile, President Bush sent the little girl a new sign that read: "Dear Sophia, Thank you for supporting my campaign. I understand someone tore up your sign. So I am sending you a new sign and a...

Statement from the General President Regarding the Events in Huntington, WVThe International Union of Painters and Allied Trades believes in the fundamental right for civil discourse, freedom of speech and activism to support our candidates and issues. What happened in Huntington, West Virginia yesterday is an affront to everything we, as a union, pride ourselves to represent. We extend our apologies to the Parlock family, especially Sophia, for the distress one of our overzealous members caused them. I have personally taken steps to address this issue internally, and will take immediate disciplinary action to the full extent allowed under U.S....

Check out the photo from yahoo. Only Kerry Supporters would do something so low.

The union tangle threatening to embarrass the Democratic National Convention grew more snarled last night as police officers and EMTs armed with signs lined up outside the Fleet Center minutes before midnight. ``There certainly are a lot better things we all could be doing with our time than standing out here,'' said recently promoted Boston police Capt. Maura Flynn, who joined roughly 50 others to picket from midnight to 4 a.m., only to head into work four hours later. ``We just want negotiations to keep going forward. It doesn't seem like the city is too forthcoming with an offer for...

Leaders tells group nothing's changed in dispute. By Neda Raouf Staff writer LONG BEACH - With hundreds of supporters chanting with them and cheering them on, 15 people were peacefully arrested Wednesday as they lay in the road in front of a Vons store at a rally to call for a contract and to show they will not back down. "Don't give up,' yelled Jack Butler, a representative of the United Food and Commercial Workers union, to the supportive crowd as he was cuffed with plastic restraints and taken by Long Beach Police officers to a nearby van. The rally,...

I sat between this incredible guy who had been on death row for eighteen years before being freed by the Innocence Project at Medill Journalism school (the winner of this year’s $100K Puffin/Nation prize) and Joe Wilson, winner of this year’s Ron Ridenhour prize. I asked Joe why Powell had turned out to be such a wimp—failing to use any of his prized credibility to put the breaks on his lying colleagues, and instead telling all those falsehoods at the UN and convincing a boatload of gullible reporters of a whole mess of stuff that just ain’t so. Wilson—whose speech...

Repeal call for health law FOES SAY INSURANCE ACT WILL BE ON MARCH BALLOT By Julie Sevrens Lyons Mercury News Opponents of the largest expansion of health insurance in the nation -- passed just two months ago by the California Legislature -- said Monday they have enough signatures to ask voters to repeal the measure in March. Business groups oppose the new law, which would bring health care coverage to hundreds of thousands of the state's uninsured workers by requiring all but the smallest businesses to provide insurance. Critics of the law, which is to take effect Jan. 1, argue...

Despite the trappings of a democracy -- a constitution, election schedules, rules for campaigns -- not a single ballot has been cast at the United Teachers of Dade in more than 20 years. Pat Tornillo held the title of president, but in reality he was king. Since the early 1980s, no one has challenged him or the slate of candidates drafted every three years by the union's Unity Caucus -- effectively the UTD's lone political party and Tornillo's power base. ''UTD's always been a fairly closed shop,'' said Artie Leichner, who teaches English and history to gifted ninth-graders at South...

Southern California freepers, here's your chance to tell Gray Davis exactly what we think of him! We need a ROARING CROWD to tell everyone we need to DUMP DAVIS NOW! Since this is a union hall, we will be facing opposition aplenty, but that doesn't mean we give up. Join our forces, including the Debate Chicken, eGray Hooker and me for what promises to be one of our most dramatic freeps ever! Remember our video in Century City where we drowned out the Union goons in their own territory? Well, here's our chance to go straight into the belly of...

The GOP Congressional hopeful has brought in the police to investigate the damage. PAWTUCKET -- The campaign staff of David W. Rogers have had their belongings hit by a rash of vandalism over the past few days that has shaken and angered the Republican congressional candidate. Rogers said he discovered yesterday afternoon that all 16 lugnuts had been loosened on the wheels of his car, which was parked in a garage near his campaign headquarters on Main Street. The nuts were so loose that Rogers said he could turn them with his hands. "My children ride in that car," said...