Here on Freedom@Work, we've kept you updated about the Obama Administration's payback after payback to the union bosses who spent over one billion dollars in 2008 getting Barack Obama and other forced unionism proponents elected.

From rolling back union disclosure guidelines to slashing the budget of the Department of Labor's union watchdog agency to blacklistining nonunion construction workers from "stimulus" projects, the Obama Administration hasn't been shy about rewarding union brass.

So Friday's news about the White House's visitor list isn't exactly a shocker, but it says an awful lot about the Administration's priorities: no one has visited the White House more than Service Employees International Union chief Andy Stern.

Stern, of course, is one of the nation's most politically powerful union barons.  Under Stern's reign, the SEIU has also been marked by scandal after scandal, dissatisfied and unhappy workers and union members, and vicious campaigns against workers and employers.

In The American Spectator, reporter Kevin Mooney interviews Right to Work experts about the hidden payoffs to union bosses tucked away in the thousands of pages of health care overhaul legislation. Here's a sample:

Consider the language contained in section 2531 submerged deep within the House version. Here the bill stipulates that any participating health care employer "provides wages and benefits to its nurses that are competitive for its market or that have been collectively bargained with a labor organization."

"This phrase 'competitive for its market' is not defined," said Greg Mourad, the main author of the NRTWC study. "This means the Obama administration will be free to define the phrase using Davis-Bacon standards and this would make it almost impossible for non-union employees to qualify."

The approach is similar to what has been done with apprentice programs in federal construction work, Stefan Gleason, vice-president of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, explained.

"This is a scheme that is used to fund union organizations that are supposedly doing job training but are often doing other activities," he said. "The scenario that is set up essentially bblack-balls non-union contractors from even being eligible to work on federal contracts at all. There is a similar strategy at work here with health care."

Read the full article here.

After President Barack Obama made numerous promises for a more transparent government, the Department of Labor (DOL) has, for nearly six months, hidden Big Labor insiders Hilda Solis and Deborah Greenfield activities from National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

Witnessing the Administration's corrupt Big Labor political paybacks, the Foundation swiftly sprang into action requesting all documents showing exchanges between Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and union bosses and all documentation regarding policy enforcement concerning Big Labor, the pro-compulsory unionism group American Rights at Work, and ACORN.  The Foundation also seeks all documents showing communications between AFL-CIO union lawyer Deborah Greenfield and her former bosses.

Greenfield, a member of Obama's presidential transition team, is a high-ranking official inside Obama’s Labor Department. One item sending red flags is the fact that Greenfield is an AFL-CIO lawyer in a lawsuit challenging DOL union disclosure rules -- the very disclosures that the Obama Administration intends to end.  Greenfield and her fellow union partisans have fought for and succeeded in rolling back union disclosure rules that provide details to rank-and-file workers about the use and misuse of their forced union dues.

Freedom@Work readers may remember that the Foundation filed its disclosure demand (pdf) in April.  Foundation attorneys are now reiterating that demand and gearing up to litigate if necessary.  (To view a pdf copy of the appeal, click here.)

Upon entering office, President Barack Obama claimed his Administration would be transparent -- but his Administration's behavior has failed to keep the President’s word.  The Obama Administration's delay in this particular raises questions that DOL may be attempting to cover up some embarrassing ethics violations.

You can watch the Foundation's video regarding the original FOIA request here on our Youtube.com channel.

Union officials are apparently getting inside information from the Administration, and the National Right to Work Foundation is demanding the documents to prove it.

Not long ago, the Foundation filed formal comments opposing the Obama Administration's attempt to push government contractors into Project Labor Agreements (PLAs), which discriminate against nonunion employees in favor of unionized contractors.

Along with several other concerned organizations, the Foundation submitted its comments within a prescribed window period that ended on August 13. Interestingly enough, the two biggest construction industry unions - the Building & Construction Trades Department union and the Laborers' Union - evidently failed to submit a response before August 13. After the deadline expired, however, the Administration suddenly announced a special extension to the window period.  Because many organizations who oppose PLAs publicly released their comments after the deadline had passed, this gives union operatives the opportunity to file comments in support of PLAs AFTER reviewing anti-PLA comments from organizations like the National Right to Work Foundation. 

Moreover, officials from the Building & Construction Trades union had the gall to admit to the Bureau of National Affairs that they didn't plan on filing their PLA comments until mid-September, which strongly implies that key union operatives knew about the extension beforehand. 

Given these questionable circumstances, it seems likely that this move was planned ahead of time to give union operatives a leg-up.

There can be little doubt there is an unethical and incestuous relationship between Big Labor and Obama Administration.  To further prove this fact, the Foundation has filed a formal Freedom of Information Act request to obtain documents showing Big Labor collaborated with the Administration to extend the comment period at the last minute, allowing union bosses to review previously-submitted comments against PLAs.

We'll keep you updated as this story develops. 

In the Washington Examiner, columnist Kevin Mooney discusses a shocking new analysis of the "Obamacare" health care overhaul legislation distributed by National Right to Work Committee experts. 

The proposals are a Trojan Horse for forced unionization of the health care field. Numerous troubling provisions in the proposed bills would divert billions of dollars into union coffers and facilitate the imposition of unionization on unsuspecting doctors, surgeons, nurses, and home care providers all across the country.

Union officials are likely to fill key positions on committees making major decisions if President Barack Obama's government-run health care reform proposal becomes law, according to a new study by the National Right to Work Committee.

Sections 123 and 2251 of H.R. 3200, the version of Obamacare being pushed by House Democratic leaders, are of particular concern, according to NRTWC, because they could put union-backed appointees on new government committees that recommend mandatory health insurance benefits provided by private insurers, and personnel policies the bill describes as necessary "to ensure quality and adequacy" of the nation's health care workers.

Such provisions could put labor officials in positions to influence health care policies across the country, said Greg Mourad, director of legislation for the NRTWC, and to mandate that health care workers join unions.

"Big labor is guaranteed a place on the various committees, and that's something we see as a dangerous sign," said Mourad, the principal author of the NRTWC study. "The idea is to get the whole country on a model where you have teams of union stewards telling doctors what to do."

"In every section we cite, unions are guaranteed a place on the various boards, but the compositions of the boards are very flexible, and with Obama and his appointees naming the members of the various committees and commissions, all could easily be stacked by Big Labor sympathizers," he added.

The end result could very well be the forced unionization of every health care professional in the United States.

Read the full article for more information.

Regular Freedom@Work readers may remember Ron Bloom, a former Steelworker union operative charged with running the American auto industry from Washington. Now that car manufacturers are doing so "well," Bloom is about to get a promotion:

The Obama Administration may elevate Ron Bloom, head of the government's auto task force, to a job that would set U.S. manufacturing policy more broadly, people familiar with the matter said.

Bloom's responsibilities at the new position? They're extensive, to say the least:

As the chief policy maker on manufacturing, Bloom would be charged with reviewing U.S. competitiveness in the global economy. His job would likely encompass trade, taxes and other economic issues . . .

Just what American industry needs: another "czar" whose relevant work experience involves running struggling companies into the ground and exploiting their workers. We're sure industry leaders across the country are thrilled at the prospect of taking orders from a union czar. 

The result of this personnel move seems likely to be more forced unionism, less American competitiveness, more job losses, and ultimately more bankruptcies and taxpayer-funded bailouts of corruptly run union pension plans.  

Regular Freedom@Work readers may remember the now-infamous Executive Order 13502, which pressures all federal agencies to use discriminatory "Project Labor Agreements" (PLAs) to freeze out non-union contractors and workers from any opportunity to work on government projects.

Once adopted, PLAs require all companies - unionized or otherwise - to agree to unionization as a condition of receiving a government-funded contract. Project labor agreements usually require contractors to grant union officials monopoly bargaining privileges; use exclusive union hiring halls; force workers to pay dues to keep their jobs and work under wasteful union work rules.

Foundation attorneys have now filed formal comments with the Department of Labor urging the Administration to rescind Executive Order 13502. The Foundation argues that the directive is illegal under the the National Labor Relations Act, and that imposing discriminatory PLAs on federal contractors violates workers' rights, passes along higher costs to taxpayers, and serves no purpose other than to enrich Big Labor's coffers.

To download a copy of the Foundation's comments, click here. 

A few months ago, Foundation VP Stefan Gleason appeared on CNN to discuss the Administration's new directive:

Here at Freedom@Work, we've spent some time documenting the Obama Administration's efforts to gut basic union transparency guidelines under the guise of saving money. We've also urged concerned readers to get involved to help stop the Department of Labor from rolling back transparency requirements aimed at curbing Big Labor's corrupt practices. Unfortunately, the worst may be yet to come -- the Administration has just announced its potential plans to close the Employment Standards Administration, an office tasked with rooting out union corruption:

The Obama Administration has found a way to cut $100 million from the federal budget and one of the items on the chopping block is an office inside the Department of Labor that conducts oversight of labor unions.

Pursuant to President Obama’s April order that federal agencies come up with away to eliminate $100 million in wasteful spending, White House Budget Chief Peter Orzsag and Cabinet Secretary Christopher Lu issued a 20-page list of items to cut to the president on Monday.

One of the proposed cost-saving measures is the disbanding of the Employment Standards Administration (page 11 in the link), an office in the Department of Labor that has the power to audit and investigate labor unions for corruption and embezzlement.

While transparency is no substitute for rolling back union bosses' many government-granted privileges, the Administration's eagerness to give its Big Labor allies a free pass on financial disclosure shows a callous disregard for the rank-and-file workers whose money union bosses are spending. So long as workers across the country are being forced to pay union dues just to keep their jobs, they should be getting more information about how their seized dues are being spent, not less.

Good news! The Obama Administration's Car Czar - tasked with reorganizing the auto industry with government tax dollars - is resigning. The bad news? His replacement, Ron Bloom, is a union label hatchet-man. The Washington Examiner digs up a choice quote on his managerial prowess:

Bloom's relevant experience appears to be negotiating for unions with troubled companies, and so it would be useful to know his approach. Thanks to an old Time magazine collection of quotes, here it is:

"Let me give you some advice. First, we are big believers in dentist chair bargaining. For those of you not familiar with this approach, it is inspired by the story of the man who walks into his dentist's office, grabs the dentist by the balls and says, 'now, let's not hurt each other.' We do have a lot to lose and we and everyone else knows it. But what you need to understand is that we are willing to lose it."

We're sure his subtle negotiating techniques will be on full display in the coming months. But will Bloom actually manage the auto industry task force with anything approaching impartiality? The Examiner is skeptical (emphasis mine):

The president of the United Steelworkers, Leo W. Gerard, said of Bloom in a New York Times piece: "He’s going to Washington to help the administration sort out problems, and that’s his gift,” said Leo W. Gerard, president of United Steelworkers. “Ron has been a problem solver. He has worked on 50 bankruptcies over the last 20 years. He has a lot of experience and knowledge. There’s a big problem — we want to save the auto industry in America — and that’s what Ron is going to help them do."

But will he be saving the industry, or helping the unions perpetuate its woes? So far, the Obama administration's "bankruptcy negotiation" technique has amounted to strong-arming and ruining the reputations of senior creditors who resist being written out in favor of unions. With the choice of Bloom, it is more obvious that the unions now sit on both sides of the negotiating table. Unless, that is, you believe an administration that fires CEOs is not really running the auto industry in which it owns a huge stake.

National Right to Work president Mark Mix recently wrote in the Washington Examiner about the Obama Administration's refusal to attend the annual U.S. Conference of Mayors in Providence at the behest of militant union bosses. The message to mayors was clear: Hand over your cities and taxpayers' dollars to the union bosses.

Miami mayor Manny Diaz, outgoing president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM), has accused the White House of "setting a very dangerous precedent" during the organization's 2009 annual meeting in Providence, Rhode Island. Vice President Joe Biden, senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, and Cabinet members Shaun Donavan, Arne Duncan, and Gary Locke had all been slated to attend.

Not one showed up.

Why would Obama and his Cabinet do such a thing to their close political friends? Because International Association of Firefighters (IAFF/AFL-CIO) union President Harold Schaitberger told them to.

As the national recession and exploding government deficits are forcing mayors across the country to make difficult decisions to keep their cities from going bankrupt, Schaitberger is leading a crusade to intimidate local and state elected officials. Specifically, he and his lieutenants are trying to deter local and state politicians from reforming the outrageous public-safety union pension systems that are driving cities like Providence into insolvency. The Obama White House is apparently eager to go along.

Not long before the mayors' meeting, Schaitberger and the bosses of IAFF Local 799 in Providence announced that they would be setting up a picket line outside the conference. The White House then vowed that no one from the Obama administration would defy the union brass by attending. In a June 5 IAFF union press release, Schaitberger was quoted gloating about the Obama administration's "unqualified support" for "organized labor."

Read the rest of the op-ed here.

Click here to watch an urgent video message from Senator Jim DeMint, Steve Forbes, and National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix.