Well it’s happened again, a big trade show announces it’s leaving the city of Chicago and the Media and Mayor point the finger at the workers and how much money they make as if that’s the problem. Mayor Daley never mentions the cuts labor has already taken over the last 10 years to try to work with him and the Show Producers; like giving up double time for time and a half or the cut in crews from three to two in the case of Machinery Movers. Instead of acknowledging …

When it comes to income inequality, conventional wisdom says that it’s been getting worse for a long time.  Productivity is going up, but middle-class incomes are stagnating.  The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.  You’ve heard it over and over again.  Many free market economists have argued against the conventional wisdom, only to be dismissed as out of touch.  But, an incredible new paper from Northwestern Professor Robert Gordon, a pillar of the “mainstream” academic establishment, says maybe they are right and have been for a …

SEIU-endorsed Gov. Pat Quinn signed an executive order in June approving collective bargaining by “individual providers of home-based support services” — effectively busting open the doors of private homes for the Purple Shirts of the SEIU and other union competitors hungry for new dues-paying members. SEIU and its minions leaned hard on providers to join — even sending out-of-state workers to intrude on families with the promise of juicy benefits and health care coverage. Democrat officials tried to intimidate parents like Pam Harris into silence over their efforts to inform …

The Obama administration is boycotting a U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Providence, R.I., this weekend to avoid crossing picket lines and taking sides in a decade-long labor dispute between the local mayor and firefighters union.
But Mayor Daley apparently has no such qualms, in part because he¹s been in the same boat as Providence Mayor David Cicilline.
Not only is Daley planning to cross a picket line to attend the mayor¹s meeting, but he¹s also sent a message to the White House that it¹s setting a “very bad precedent” by directing …

The plan presented to the Waukegan School Board was for Waukegan College Prep to open its doors this fall in rented classroom space on the second floor of Waukegan’s Shiloh Baptist Church. The first student body would consist of 150 ninth graders, and each year the school would add another class of 150 students until it contained all four grades. There would be no admission criteria, and a lottery would be used if demand exceeded capacity. The Waukegan school district would give Chicago International roughly the amount of money it …

The recent news that Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter has become a member of the Democratic caucus has given new life to legislation that many thought had been put to rest for this Congress — the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA).
Last year, I wrote on these pages that I was opposed to this bill because it would eliminate secret ballots in union organizing elections. However, the bill has an additional feature that isn’t often mentioned but that is just as troublesome — compulsory arbitration.
This feature would give the government the power …

For all the great good that organized labor has done for America and Americans, it now has become one of Chicago’s and the nation’s great handicaps.
The unions are snuffing out jobs, denying children a decent education and bludgeoning taxpayers for more than their labors are worth, among other things, all the while justifying their selfishness in obsolete 19th century rhetoric.
In Chicago, their mercenary practices are again denying poverty stricken communities and low-income families of a chance for hundreds of jobs, a decent place to shop and neighborhood revitalization. Chicago’s organized …

Even though today is a very busy news day, I made it a point to take part in a teleconference about the Employee Free Choice Act, better known as card check. Opponents of the bill call it the Employee FORCED Choice Act, because if it is enacted, it will take away a worker’s right to a secret ballot when deciding whether to join a union.
Workforce Fairness Institute (WFI) representative Mark McKinnon and former United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Statewide Organizing Director Rian Wathen each began the teleconference with opening …

School Reform (fixing the Chicago Public Schools) can only happen when there is some competition to and for the disgraceful and mortally dangerous Chicago Public Schools.  Chicago Public Schools are dominated by the most thuggishly similar faction of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) to Andy Stern and Anna Burger’s Services Employee International Union (SEIU) – Marilyn Stewart’s, formerly Ted Dallas’ United Progressive Caucus.  Marilyn Stewart must have attended Andy Stern’s workshops – ‘Back-stabbing Your Mentor – The Catalyst for Change!’
Chicago Teachers Union is flat-out, full-bore run by the thuggish United …

“The argument against unions–that they unduly burden employers with unreasonable demands–is one that corporate America makes in good times and bad. . . . There is a strong argument that the slack labor market of a recession actually makes unions all the more important. Without a united front, workers will have even less bargaining power in the recession than they had during the growth years of this decade, when they largely failed to get raises even as productivity and profits soared. If pay continues to lag, it will only prolong the downturn …