With the Obama administration doing all it can to give preferential treatment to unions, one would hope unions would do a better job at screening their applicants…

From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

The American arrested in a sweep of al-Qaeda members worked as a laborer at five nuclear plants in South Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland, federal officials said today.

Sharif Mobley had a “red badge” clearance, the highest level a laborer can obtain, while working on at the Salem-Hope Creek nuclear plants in Salem County, according to a spokesman from the local union of which he was a member.

Sharif was arrested last week with suspected al-Qaeda members in Yemen and officials said he then killed a guard while trying to escape from a hospital. He is under FBI investigation in Delaware. Law enforcement sources have said the investigation is terror-related.

[snip]

He was a contractor with the Local 222 chapter of the New Jersey Laborer’s Union in Camden for projects in Salem County.

“He had full clearance to go where he needed to be,” said chapter Business Manager Curt Jenkins. “You have no way of knowing what somebody’s thinking. He went through the strenuous background checks that everybody else has to go through.”

The NRC’s Sheehan said, “A laborer typically would not have access to any security-related or sensitive information.”

Background checks include criminal history, drug testing, employment verification and psychological assessments. The companies - not the NRC - carry out the background checks and are required to do ongoing behavioral observation.

PSEG spokesman Joe Delmar said Mobley worked as a contract laborer during refueling outages from 2002 to 2008 and satisfied federal security requirements.

Federal authorities told state Homeland Security officials that there was no security breach involving Mobley at the nuclear plants, according to Mike Drewniak, spokesman for Gov. Chris Christie.

Jenkins said Mobley, who worked on scaffolding at the nuclear plants and excavation projects in Camden County, would have been put through a repeated background check each time he worked on a new job. He said those checks are thorough, going as far back as childhood.

“If there’s anything there they’re going to find it,” he said.

Mobley transferred from the Philadelphia Local 322 in 2003 and then suspended his union membership in 2008, telling Jenkins he was going to school. He didn’t say where or what for. Jenkins assumed he was at a university in the region or “in the country at least.” [Emphasis added.]

This does make us wonder though, will this guy still get his union pension?  Given the LIUNA’s much storied past, we cannot say for certain.
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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

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Cross-posted.

In less than a month, Democrat Eric Massa has gone from relative obscurity to shock and speculation, then short-lived notoriety, and, finally, the ignominious FUBAR of what Democrat strategist Bob Shrum is calling a “human train wreck.”

It’s not a particularly good way to spend one’s 15 minutes of fame but, it is politics after all and, so often, pols’ careers end with a *SPLAT.*

Poor, unfortunate Democrat Eric Massa.  He’s been caught with his hands (reportedly) in on the proverbial staff cookie jar, forced to resign, which has led him to admit and deny the groping (read more about “Massa Massages” here), boast complain of a nude confrontation with Rahm Emmanuel, a White House conspiracy, a waste of Glenn Beck’s audience’s time and, now, he’s got his union donors to face.

Over the course of Massa’s short political career, unions have given the staff-groping pol $538,000 of their members’ money and they’re none too pleased at the waste.

“[P]eople say Washington politics is a freakshow, and Eric Massa is writing a whole new chapter,” said CNN senior political analyst David Gergen.

So, where does this leave Massa’s legion of bankrollers who supported him during times less lascivious?

Alternately disappointed and angry, with an undercurrent of bamboozlement.

Some say they believe Massa should consider donating or returning his remaining campaign funds, which through December totaled nearly $644,000. Others want no part of such discussion – or Massa himself.

Jim Spellane, media director for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said his organization is experiencing some “buyer’s remorse” regarding its $34,500 in contributions to Massa.

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers PAC first decided to donate to Massa “in consultation with the local level” of its organization, Spellane explained.

“The goal was to elect those who supported the issues of working people,” he said.  But Spellane declined to comment on whether he believes Massa should refund that money – the largest total contribution to the embattled politico by any single PAC.

Other PACs and organizations that had once supported Massa with five- and six-figure donations are completely disinclined to now discuss their association with him.

“We have no comment on any of that,” said Paul Doell of the American Maritime Officers PAC, which has donated $10,000 to Massa this election cycle.

It just goes to show when you cross paths with a human train wreck, there’s bound to be carnage.

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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

Follow LaborUnionReport on Twitter.

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

Cross-posted.

A day after indictments were served on Colombo crime family associates who were embezzling from a Teamsters pension fund, the president of the union, James P. Hoffa (son of legendary Teamster boss Jimmy Hoffa), was taking aim at Tea Party activists, claiming activists are ‘misdirected’ and being ‘manipulated.’

When I listen to the Tea Party tax protesters, I hear that they’re mad as hell. They’re angry about deficit spending, and they believe that government is undermining free enterprise for the benefit of international elites.

But where were they just 18 months ago? These trends were all developing during the George W. Bush years. What suddenly sent the Tea Party protesters to town hall meetings last summer and to Washington in the fall?

[snip]

Protesters blame “big government” for their woes, but their anger is misdirected. It’s the big conglomerates that are fleecing them. The fact is that institutional power has moved away from government to Wall Street and large corporations.

[snip]

Some of the Tea Party protests are quietly funded by right-wing groups that in turn are financed by large energy and banking conglomerates. These corporate giants have no loyalty to America and no sense of public purpose. The Tea Party protesters are being manipulated by the very same conglomerates that are causing their problems.

You can read the rest of Hoffa’s opinion here.

Nowhere is there mention of the mob that is ‘fleecing’ his members.
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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

Follow LaborUnionReport on Twitter.

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

Cross-posted.

Sometimes street thugs pick a fight with the wrong dude.

This week, the Service Employees International Union, the purple-shirted union of Andy Stern, met its very own Harry Callahan.

Just when the SEIU was starting to dominate the union press these days, the good old Teamsters have to come along and steal the show for a few minutes.

Yeah.  They’ve got a history they’d just as soon forget…except when it’s not really history.

From a Justice Department press release on Tuesday:

Indictment Unsealed Charging Colombo Family Administration Member Theodore Persico and Seven Other Defendants

An eight-count indictment was unsealed this morning in Brooklynfederal court charging eight defendants – Theodore Persico, Jr., Michael Persico, Thomas Petrizzo, Edward Garofalo, Jr.,James Bombino, Louis Romeo, Alicia Dimichelle, and Mike LNU variously with racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, extortion, and embezzlement of union benefit funds. The defendants, who were arrested earlier today, are scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge James M. Orenstein, at the U.S. Courthouse, 225 Cadman Plaza East, Brooklyn, N.Y. The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Sandra L. Townes.

[snip]

The indictment also charges Colombo associate Garofalo and his wife, Alicia Dimichelle, with embezzlement from the welfare benefit plan and pension benefit plan funds operated on behalf of union laborers of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 282. As described in the detention memorandum, Garofalo and Dimichelle engaged in a double-breasting scheme in which they used Colombo-controlled non-union shell companies, including DM Equipment, Big R Trucking, T&E Leasing, and Roman Sand and Stone, to circumvent Local 282 collective bargaining agreement union benefit contribution requirements.

DOL/OIG Special Agent-in-Charge Franzman stated, “Today’s RICO indictment represents a significant milestone in our efforts to eliminate the far reaching extortionate control of demolition trucking companies in New York City by the Colomboorganized crime family. Through their actions, two of the defendants allegedly caused the theft of International Brotherhood of Teamsters LU 282 employee benefit plan assets, directly impacting the welfare and retirement benefits of many union members. We are committed to working with our law enforcement partners to combat this type of labor racketeering.”

[Emphasis added.]

Read the rest of the DOJ press release here.

hat-tip.

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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

Follow LaborUnionReport on Twitter.


For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

Cross-posted.

The union astroturfers went to Washington on Tuesday in their purple shirts, their red shirts and their brown yellow shirts. They were out in full force to make “citizens’ arrests” of attendees at an insurance industry conference.  

The timing appears to have been prearranged with the White House as unions and their front group HCAN coordinated their protest with President Obama’s demonization of the insurance industry as he makes his “final push” for the nationalization of America’s health care with a bill that Nancy Pelosi is urging passage of before anyone can see it.

HuffPo’s John Cavanagh (one of the leading astroturfers) explains why he decided to breaking the law this way:

That dozens of leaders would risk arrest in confronting the corporations that stand squarely in the way of fundamental change represents a new moment for our social movements. There is a growing realization that giant health care, fossil fuel and financial firms will stop at nothing to block fundamental change.

According to the New York Times’ blog, today’s scene sounded more like a circus, complete with clowns from across the liberal and socialist progressive spectrum like Howard Dean, the AFL-CIO’s Richard Trumka, and the Queen of Labor herself, SEIU’s Anna Burger.

The bodies, pastel-colored stencils in the asphalt representing the estimated 45,000 people who die each year without health insurance, had eulogies describing how “big insurance” killed them. Inside the hotel, the industry lobby America’s Health Insurance Plans, was holding a legislative conference.

Former Gov. Howard Dean of Vermont and Richard Trumka, the president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. labor federation, appeared in front of the dense crowd, which filled 22nd Street between New Hampshire Avenue and M Street.

The demonstrators, many of whom came from as far as New York and North Carolina, wrapped the entrance to the hotel in crime-scene tape, demanded that insurers get out of the way of health care legislation and called for passage that would include a government-run insurance option.

Reportedly, there are 32 rules that you must know in order to survive zombie attacks.

Right now, union zombies are mustering their money and their forces to make sure that Harry Reid stays in Washington to keep feeding them.

Nevada, home of Senate majority leader Harry Reid, is one of six states deemed by the union zombies at the AFL-CIO to be “firewall” states.

What is a “firewall” state?  It is a state “where a large number of Democratic officeholders—governors, senators, congressmen—are endangered, and where there are numerous union members.”

Right now, Harry Reid is one of those “endangered” officeholders, with polls showing him trailing his two likely GOP challengers by double digits.

However, November is a long way off and, like any horror movie, the bad guys never go easy.

And, Harry Reid says he can rise from the dead.

Despite his underdog status, Sen. Harry Reid declared Monday he’s confident he’ll win re-election, and he welcomed independent candidates — who could splinter the vote and spoil any GOP effort to retire the most powerful senator in the most watched race in the nation.

So, without further ado, here are 17 of the 32 Rules to Survive Zombie Attacks*:

1. Know the zombies:  Unions are a multi-billion dollar special interest to whom Harry Reid is beholden.
2. Name the zombies:  Make sure the public knows that unions are not “working families” (see #1; expose union fat cats, if necessary)
3. Expose the zombies:  Make sure the public knows how much money the zombies are funneling to Harry Reid’s campaign.
4. Explain the zombies’ goals: Higher taxes, forced unionization and a loss of liberty (see nationalization of healthcare).
5. All politics are local: The unemployment rate in Las Vegas’ is 13.8%; overall, Nevada’s unemployment is 13% [How's that stimulus working out for ya?]
6. Obamacare will raise taxes “on the middle class”
7. Higher taxes = lower investment = less jobs
8. Use the zombies’ weapons against them (see Saul Alinsky)
9. Laugh at the zombies’ attacks, then…
10. Punch back twice as hard (whenever the zombies air an ad, air two counter ads)
11. Ridicule.
12. Hold Harry accountable to his campaign promises and remind voters of his gaffes.
13. Be creative.
14. Use the media.
15. Protest every Harry Reid fundraiser and event
16. Every time an out of state zombie comes to campaign for Harry, be there (with pickets)…
17. Make sure video cameras are in hand and batteries are charged**

* In the spirit of free and open participation, we are leaving the remaining 15 of the 32 Rules for Surviving a Zombie Attack open for comments and suggestions (please leave numbered comments below) and we will update this post accordingly.

** Video cameras are necessary to ward off unwarranted zombie attacks (see Kenneth Gladney) or, at least, to preserve evidence.

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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

Follow LaborUnionReport on Twitter.

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

Photo Credit: Hryck

We’ve written before about the trend of some unions to outsource their picketing to the homeless to avoid having their own members do “union work” (i.e., picket). While the practice dates back to (at least) 2007, and despite the negative attention (which includes a NPR broadcast on the topic), unions don’t seem quite ready to give up the shameful practice.

Bret Jacobson has posted an interesting story today on Big Government about the Carpenters’ union in New Mexico harassing businesses, using ‘day laborers’ to picket and, in this case, one company that decided to fight back with its own website.  As writer Jacobson notes:

So temp employees without benefits are being hired by a union to protest a company that offers good wages and benefits? As Tony The Tiger would say, GRRREEEEEAAAAT.

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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

Follow LaborUnionReport on Twitter.

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

Cross-posted.

After Government Motors (the auto company formerly known as) General Motors, abandoned its 50% partnership with Toyota at the NUMMI plant in California last year and Toyota’s subsequent decision to close the NUMMI plant, the Union of Ailing Workplaces United Auto Workers has gone into overdrive in an attempt to shift the blame for the plant closure from GM and its Obama-administration bailout structured bankruptcy to Toyota.

In January, after months of unanswered questions from their UAW leadership, a union meeting for the NUMMI membership erupted with one of the UAW bosses telling members to “shut the f**k up” as members felt that the UAW was is hiding something.

Then, when Toyota’s safety issues resulted in a recall worldwide recall, UAW-backed politicians put Toyota execs through the standard (are-the-TV-cameras-rolling?) Congressional grilling. This is despite the apparent conflict of interest of Washington’s ownership of GM, and despite the fact that GM has also had numerous recalls, including for faulty airbag deployment, fire hazards, malfunctioning door handles, and Corvette roofs that could fly off while driving. [This is just a partial list.]

Then, of course, there is GMs’ current recall of 1.3 million cars, as well as two even quieter (albeit smaller) recalls on some of the new 2010 Camaros and Cadillacs.

The UAW’s hypocrisy in targeting Toyota for its decision to close the NUMMI plant after Government Motors GM (of which the UAW is now a partial owner) made the decision to bail out on its workers [pun intended] and on top of the 14 other UAW/GM plant closings announced last year has not gone unnoticed by the NUMMI workers.

In this latest video, NUMMI workers are again trying to get answers to their questions from their UAW leadership who, apparently, will no longer let its members video tape meetings.

Who needs a union when the bosses are the union?

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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

Follow LaborUnionReport on Twitter.

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

Cross-posted.

Some would argue that unions are getting more and more creative in their tactics. Others would say that union tactics like real coffins and faux corpses are offensive. But some union tactics, like this one, just stink…(literally):

A downtown hotel that has been the site of a labor dispute for more than seven years alleges in a lawsuit that members of the union representing the hotel’s striking workers sent cow manure in heart-shaped packages to scientists to discourage them from attending a convention there.

In the lawsuit, filed Wednesday in federal court in Chicago, the Congress Plaza Hotel, 520 S. Michigan Ave., claims that members of the Unite Here Local 1 sent a heart-shaped package containing cow manure to scientists scheduled to attend a convention at the hotel. The tactic was used to discourage the scientists from attending the convention. The suit did not state when the incident occurred.

Union employees at the hotel went on strike in June of 2003 and that strike continues to this day. The hotel, according to the suit, “continues to adhere to the terms and conditions of the most recently expired collective bargaining agreement while engaging in negotiations with (the union) for a new bargaining agreement.”

More here.

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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

Follow LaborUnionReport on Twitter.

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.