Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal had a great editorial up on the hypocrisy of SEIU leadership. Andy Stern and his cronies are more intent than ever on blackmailing unwilling companies into forcing SEIU "representation" on their employees through a series of vicious corporate campaigns:
SEIU President Andy Stern is the drama king of Big Labor, and Thursday's publicity blitz will feature all of his signature choreography: Rallies in 18 states and even overseas, in which thousands of union activists will march against companies and politicians they don't like. Themes include "Buyout Monsters On the Loose" and "The War on Greed." To listen to Mr. Stern, this is about getting Congress to close tax "loopholes" for private equity firms, while funding national health care and "middle class" tax cuts.
That's a sideshow. The real targets are private equity firms such as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Carlyle Group, which own companies that have resisted SEIU attempts to organize their workers. Mr. Stern wants to pound these firms with bad publicity and political retribution until they break.
What's worse, it turns out that the SEIU's activism is apparently being funded illegally. Just today, Foundation president Mark Mix requested a Department of Justice investigation into new SEIU directives allowing Andy Stern to impose financial penalties on any local affiliate that doesn't meet mandatory political fundraising targets. Not only that, but local unions may be forced to pay the SEIU's fines with money collected from nonmember employees' compulsory agency fees. We hope that the DoJ and the Department of Labor will move quickly to investigate this apparent criminal activity (the Foundation's press release is available here).
Given the SEIU's checkered past, these new developments aren't particularly surprising. But aggressive union activism does have a cost. Devoting untold sums of money to intimidating employers evidently comes at the expense of the union's so-called "representation":
Mr. Stern's "middle class" spin would be more believable if the SEIU did more for its own members, especially their pensions. Public records based on the SEIU's own filings show that the SEIU National Industry Pension plan – which covers some 101,000 workers – was only 75% funded in 2006. Put another way, the plan had only three-fourths of the money it needs to meet its retirement obligations. And the national chapter is only the start. Some 13 local SEIU pension plans in 2006 were less than 80% funded; several didn't reach 65%.
Some of this might be the result of poor investment performance, but the main problem is that the SEIU hasn't negotiated adequate employer contributions to the plans.
The SEIU's top brass, on the other hand, is guaranteed generous compensation funded by employees' mandatory dues-payments. Too bad the workers they're supposed to be representing don't receive similar benefits:
On the other hand, SEIU leaders are highly attentive to their own pension funding. A separate fund run by the national union, this one covering the benefits of SEIU officers, was 103% funded in 2006. The top SEIU guns are set for their golden years.
Read the whole sordid tale here.
Comments
pension..
In general, a pension is an arrangement to provide people with an income when they are no longer earning a regular income from employment. He earned it for himself so he and his family must be the one to enjoy its benefit.Bernie Madoff ripped off a lot of people. It comes as small consolation that Madoff is going to jail for the rest of his life, because he ruined the lives of so many. An entire Connecticut town has filed suit against him, his family, his estate and all of his holdings, and also Fairfield Greenwich Group. The allegations is that after people in the town invested money from their pensions into the fund, and therefore to Madoff, he stole the money. To retirees, pension is their lifeline – they cannot rely on payday loans alone. If things go well and fortune smiles on them, they may be able to recover half their funds. Let us hope they can get enough to not have to rely on payday loans instead of their pensions.
McCain's 3R Economic Plan vs Obama's D.O.A. plan!
JOHN McCAIN’S 3R ECONOMIC PLAN 2008
Abbreviated version
Progressive thinking Republican Candidate John McCain comes through for America with his 3R economic plan. In the persona of Theodore Roosevelt, McCain’s plan just makes sense.
FIRST , keep in mind that to drop the fuel tax, the local gov’ts would crash. We must use the 3R to replace taxes lost from replaced fuel through green energy (Yes, we have it ready to go!)
www.betterconstructed.com
1. RETHINK: America must see globally on what America is capable of in our current state of technology, engineering and meet the demands that face the world.
Private Sector framework is in place and current laws allow the 3R to happen. The Progressive attitude of John McCain to get things done by crossing party lines will resurrect America.
2. REFORM: The American people must demand higher quality products and less restricted trade routes for Made in USA components. We will lead the way of MFG again!
The USA will reform its dead manufacturing base
3. REINVENT: America and Americans must reinvent themselves to reach and maintain these standards and by sheer American ingenuity, control the world’s marketplace in the competitive manner, as the USA has always been proud to be #1.
NUTS AND BOLTS of the plan are simple.
Billions of savings equates to millions of lost tax revenue from energy companies. The US needs a separate tax revenue source before we can move away from fossil fuels.
McCain 3R solution.
McCain’s 3R is about technical, closely monitored and rapid hands on training from pros to create new pros. Thousands of currently-job-displaced “once leaders in the manufacturing arena” will be asked to train and play instructor rolls in the 3R plan. Paid, of course, as these new leaders will help create a whole new style of prosperous America. A massive restructure providing thousands New American MFG means millions of new jobs for infrastructure alone.
We have the buildings, needs and infrastructure to do this!
New jobs is the mainstay for Creating a new guard for Social Security.
This is the new place for financial speculators to invest!
McCain’s Progressive nature embodies Theodore Roosevelt more than any US presidential candidate in history since the original Rough Rider blazed the greatest era of growth in America.
We need John McCain to lead our nation with the same type of change.
www.betterconstructed.com
THIS 3R DRAFT COURTESY OF:
John Lewis Mealer, Founding President of Mealer Companies
IF Obama is elected he would crush this nation by doing the following:
Obama's World Poverty Bill (google it) would be passed and take ALL of the US Gross Domestic Profit earnings to give to the UN for distribution to African nations (seriously, GOOGLE IT) (All 7%. Which is the profit margin).
There goes the US cash gifts to support Israel!
Guns would be also gathered up according to Obama's Global Poverty Bill plan (Did you Google it yet?) and the US would go into massive civil war.
Hey.. the lefties are unarmed anyway, so that might not be so bad!
Obama would tax the investor class and no new small businesses would come into being (esp with the bank failures going on at the moment and no new loans being issued).
America would stagnate and begin to fall apart.
Obama's tax on the investor class also takes away incentives for lower classes to strive to become better people!
Did you hope to begin your own business someday?
Obama says NO!
Obama must keep us in our place, after-all.
Obama would immediately tax the large corporations which are already just barely balanced between the democrat instituted union demands and simply closing up and moving overseas or to Mexico.
The USA corporate infrastructure would be detroyed within a year.
Obama would force the remaining small businesses to pay totally unaffordable health care for employees and they too, would close up and go out of business even before finding health care, IF it were available. This will really hurt the women business owners who employ mostly younger women in retail, who have higher health care coverage. THEN he comes up with some LIE that he wants to give small business 5k per covered worker. DO you realize how many workers there are in small businesses? How would he pay for thise TRILLIONS?!! Talk about not even thinking about how grand of a lie he tries to weave.
Jane... Looks like you need to become a waitress again.
Obama will over tax and over extend this country so quickly and at the worst time that we will DIE as a nation.
If you want the USA to die, then you surely want Obama to become president and vice versa.
Israel will fall apart and diappear if the USA falls.
The US pays Israel just enough to stay afloat with all of it's military needs against the very countries that McCain defends Israel from, YET, Obama supports and wants to discuss politics with these same terrorist groups over crumpettes and tea.
Note to Obama:
Terrorists do not eat crumpettes, they send their brainwashed neighbors into tea N crumpette shops with bombs strapped to their bodies. They do not negotiate!
This is not some game where we can push reset and this certainly is not a basketball game or charisma pagaent.
This is the cold hard reality of Obama that people play deaf and dumb to.
This is real life.
Are you awake and ready to learn about the survival of our nations?
McCain 3R Plan is a start, but Obama's view is the end.
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lSgEUq Wow! That's a really neat answer!