Balance

This weekend, Andrew Malcolm brings us the full text of the Republican Party’s weekly remarks, this time delivered by Representative Martha Roby (R-AL2). In addition to Mothers Day, she spends some time discussing the passage this week in the House of the bill she authored, The Working Families Flexibility Act of 2013. ( Lest you [...]

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The unmitigated gall!

Last January, Walmart announced their upcoming initiative to offer a job to any honorably-discharged U.S. military veteran, set to begin on May 27. It was an idea that the White House applauded, with Michelle Obama saying that “Wal-Mart is setting a groundbreaking example for the private sector to follow.” As you might imagine, the AFL-CIO [...]

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"...hope to hire at least 1,500 workers."

Last fall, Hostess tried to readjust their struggling business model and keep the company (along with its 19,000-strong workforce) going strong by closing a few factories and downsizing workers’ wages and benefits — and the bakers’ union to which a big chunk of the Hostess workforce belonged didn’t like that all. Their resulting strike turned [...]

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Womp.

Labor unions largely came out swinging in favor of ObamaCare’s passage in 2010, but many have been growing increasingly wary of ObamaCare’s incoming provisions, fearing that the law’s requirements will raise the costs of health plans for unions members and make them less competitive compared to non-unionized workers. On Tuesday, one such labor union that [...]

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Natch.

How bad are the D.C. Metro system’s escalators? So bad they have their own Twitter account dedicated to monitoring their relative brokenness at every moment of every day. It’s literally a breaking news feed. So, why not promote the guy who runs escalators to…run the entire Metro public transit rail system? That is how we [...]

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...and US consumers will pay the price.

Does Asian trade policy hold a larger lesson about the decline of our republic? A couple of weeks ago, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced that Tokyo would seek to join talks on a U.S.-led Pacific free trade pact called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Opening Japan to more competition is a significant (and the most [...]

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Not who you might think

Republicans hate immigration reform, right? You know… all those racists and such. Who could blame them? So they must be the ones torpedoing any real, meaningful immigration reform in Congress, obviously. But a recent WSJ editorial seems to put the brakes on this idea, at least in one important area. What shall we do about [...]

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"We believe there is a financial emergency in the city and that there is no plan in place to correct the situation."

Detroit, that historical magnate of the American auto industry, was once the country’s fourth most populous city — but the municipality has long since fallen off the fiscal straight-and-narrow, and here come the consequences. After decades of a fleeing population and tax base, incessant cash shortfalls, and $14 billion in long-term liabilities, the state has [...]

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SMH.

You might be tempted to think that an increasingly antiquated government entity that posted a $16 billion deficit in 2012 alone, that has defaulted on its $11.1 billion retiree health benefit prefunding payments, and has maxed out its $15 billion lifeline with Treasury — and that has readily available private-sector alternatives champing at the bit [...]

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I'm sure we can work something out.

Once upon a time, labor unions were all about supporting President Obama’s health-care overhaul efforts. They stood alongside him while he touted all of the phantasmogorical benefits, savings, and efficiencies that would ostensibly, effortlessly occur when ObamaCare was finally implemented, and then many of these same groups enthusiastically backed his reelection bid — helping to [...]

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Catalysis.

Via the WFB, don’t get too excited yet — right-to-work bills have tried and failed repeatedly over the past decade in Pennsylvania, one of the most heavily unionized states in the country — but the Wisconsin-led momentum is definitely on a roll here. Six GOP lawmakers on Tuesday introduced a proposal to make Pennsylvania, the [...]

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Winning.

The drama has long since died down, but there are still ongoing challenges to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s budget-balancing and public-sector union-disempowering reforms, as big labor will certainly use even its dying breaths to fight for their right to party. The legal battles will certainly continue, but Gov. Walker scored a win when a federal [...]

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For the children

The great thing about Democracy – as I’m sure you’ll all agree – is that once the campaigns, debates and battles are over and the people have spoken, everyone can pick up the pieces and get on with productive work to advance the principles each side believes in. Clearly, such is the case in Michigan, [...]

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Plus, the media blessing of union thuggery.

We had quite a show of civility in politics this week when union activists destroyed a tent manned by pro-Right to Work demonstrators in Lansing, Michigan.  They also destroyed a hot-dog cart and yelled racial epithets at its African-American proprietor, and repeatedly battered my friend Steven Crowder, whom I’ll interview later this afternoon.  The same [...]

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Elections, consequences, etc etc etc.

Remember this lovely chestnut from 2011?  Governor Mark Dayton tried to bypass the Minnesota legislature to force an organizing election among in-home health workers funded by Medicaid, and got slapped down by a judge for violating the separation of powers in his attempt to rule by fiat.  Now that Minnesotans have given Dayton a legislature [...]

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Privilege.

This week Michigan became the 24th right-to-work state, although to hear the uproar you would think something unprecedented was going on. There are more than enough commentators to debate the effects on Michigan’s economy and politics, but not too many ready to discuss what it will mean for Michigan unions internally. First, let’s not overestimate [...]

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How did that work out the last time?

How will the labor movement rebound from two years of defeats in what had been home turf for unionism?  Politico previews their strategy to organize efforts to defeat Republicans in key gubernatorial elections in 2013 and 2014: Labor unions, stung by an unexpected setback in Michigan, where Republican Gov. Rick Snyder signed a right-to-work law [...]

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Accountability and anachronisms.

Big Labor had a lot of high hopes when Barack Obama won in 2008.  They expected a raft of friendly legislation to force workplaces to organize, but instead the Obama administration spent their political capital on ObamaCare and Dodd-Frank rather than card-check and micro-union recognition.  The dreams of union nirvana have turned into nightmares of [...]

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Earning their pay?

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.  I remember this when it was called Madison in early 2011.  Unions screaming that forcing workers to fund their coffers represented the ideal of freedom, while teachers called in sick but managed to look pretty healthy marching around a state capitol building while yelling at the top [...]

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Rabble rabble rabble.

Campaigning — er, I mean, speaking? — at a diesel engine factory in Michigan on Monday to yet again make the case for raising taxes on families making more than 250k/year, President Obama of course had to weigh in on the Michigan legislature moving forward to become the 24th right-to-work state. I’m sure his many [...]

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With help from President Obama? What the what?

Ed’s already noted that, with the likely passage of right-to-work legislation in union-heavy Michigan next week, we can pretty much expect that things are going to take a turn for the crazy really quickly — and it’s already starting. Reports the Washington Times: Senate Democratic Leader Gretchen Whitmer, who on Thursday called the votes to [...]

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Not over yet.

And the union activists descended on the capitol in Lansing, singing chants that may have been original when unions first made their appearance in Michigan.  The Associated Press reports on the anger last night as the Michigan legislature rapidly passed the bills that will stop the state from forcing people to pay union dues, except [...]

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Interference

This week we will once again observe an annual ritual familiar to families across the nation, where people gather together for one, sincere purpose: beating other shoppers to a pulp in an effort to cash in on big savings. (What… you thought I was talking about Thanksgiving?) Black Friday is once again approaching, and it’s [...]

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A Ho-Ho no this Christmas.

Hooked on Ho-Hos?  Find Ding-Dongs delectable?  Were Twinkies an indelible (if particularly edible) part of your childhood?  Be prepared to consign them all and many other junk-food delicacies to nostalgia.  Hostess, which has made these sugary staples for years, announced this morning that they will liquidate their business and end production after failing to negotiate [...]

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It's come to this. Again.

If you can’t beat ‘em, NAB ‘EM! Perrysburg police arrested four Toledo area men early Friday morning on charges of stealing Mitt Romney campaign signs in Wood and Lucas counties in Northwest Ohio. The signs were found in a pickup truck owned by Sheet Metal Workers International, Union Local 33 in Parma, according to the [...]

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