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In this issue:
Union Bailout Update Bill Would Permit Merit Pay in Union Shops Machinists Striking Once a Member Always a Member Labor Relations Insight, Sticky Fingers and more…
NOTICE: You can make a PDF of this issue of INK directly from the post. Click here for instructions on how to do so.
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Labor Relations Insight by Phillip Wilson
What have we learned in the first week of the “ambush election” rules?
There are two questions I’ve been asked a lot over the last couple of months, and especially in the last week:
Will petitions increase after the new “ambush election” rules go into effect? How far will election times decrease under the new “ambush election” rules?
Here’s what we’ve seen
Continue reading INK May 10, 2012
 An employee of Complete Cleaning in Lynn, MA has filed a complaint with the NLRB against SEIU Local 615 in Boston, accusing union organizers of harassment and coercion in the union’s ongoing push to unionize Complete Cleaning’s 80 member workforce. The National Right to Work Foundation is aiding that employee with his complaint.
Employee Jairo Hernandez says he speaks for most of his co-workers when he talks about fear tactics, harassing house visits and relentless pressure on both the workers and the company to unionize. “There has never been a vote but they’re trying to force us,” Hernandez said. “They have gone to a lot of the (employees’) houses and I don’t know how they got the addresses … We’re tired of this. One lady was telling (workers) that
Continue reading SEIU Watch
Fox Business has come to LRI’s Phil Wilson again for comment on the latest news regarding the Hostess bankruptcy proceedings. Hostess has asked the bankruptcy court to allow them to void their union contract. The union has stated that if this happens, they will strike – while Hostess says if they strike, they will liquidate the assets of the company.
In case the link is no longer valid, you can watch the short news segment below.
  
SEIU is collecting signatures in California to put two measures on the ballot this fall. Both measures are written in a manner that rewards the two major hospital chains with SEIU contracts and punishes hospitals the union has been unsuccessful in organizing.
 Dignity Health, the state’s largest hospital chain, and Kaiser Permanente, the largest HMO, will not be subject to the proposals. SEIU represents nearly 60,000 workers in those two systems. The measures would prohibit their private competitors from charging more than 25% above the actual cost of providing care and require nonprofits to devote at least 5% of their patient revenue to free care for the poor.
At least a quarter of California’s private hospitals would be exempted from the measures, according to the state’s
Continue reading SEIU Watch
 Unionistas are all aflutter over a bill working its way through the Georgia legislature that would ban protests in front of private residences. Georgia Senate Bill 469 would amend existing Georgia code that already prohibits mass picketing to specifically outlaw the picketing of private residences that “has or intends the effect of interfering with the resident’s right to quiet enjoyment, or when such targeted picketing has or intends the effect of violence or intimidation.”
The bill would fine individuals $1000 a day – and organizations that sponsor such protests $10,000 a day – if a court order to stop is ignored. The Georgia Chamber of Commerce drafted the bill as a response to unions’ increased use of disruptive demonstrations outside the homes of corporate executives.
Continue reading Georgia Bill Would Ban Neighborhood Picketing
 It’s not uncommon in union drives and corporate attack campaigns for organizers to blather on about the “living wage,” particularly when targeting a minimum wage workforce. The notion of a living wage has been around for about 20 years and in that time “living wage ordinances” have been adopted by at least 125 municipalities.
There is no set formula or government agency that determines the living wage; if anything it is calculated on the fly to suit an agenda. As such it currently ranges from $9.50 to $17. 78 per hour nationwide. Supposedly the living wage is the hourly rate at which a worker could provide for the basic needs of a family of four. And never mind if not all workers are or should
Continue reading The Truth About the “Living Wage”
 Labor Notes is now reporting that Teamsters bosses are telling their members at Hostess that it may be better to “remove” their bankrupt employer with a strike this spring than continue to negotiate with “a company set on destroying union standards.” Killing off the Twinkie would also presumably “clear the field” for unionized competitors to “pick up the pieces” and play nice with Teamsters. (Or else.)
A strike would “almost certainly put Hostess’ Brands out of business,” read a memo from the union’s bakery division director. “We wish we had better alternatives—but we do not.” The union is negotiating for “significant governance” and “significant equity” in Hostess should it survive and claims Hostess is not seeking substantial enough concessions from its lenders
Continue reading Confirmed: Teamsters Have a Hit Out on the Twinkie
 Now for some fun. The AFL-CIO has completely renovated its old tired boring web presence, and just in time for this November’s election! And the key words in this transformation are “connection” and “interactivity”.
In a breathless briefing with reporters last week, AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Liz Shuler said the federation wanted to create “a fresher and more user-friendly website for all workers, not just union members.” So the revamped site features inactive links galore – to learn all about the “union advantage”, contact your congressperson, keep a watchful eye on corporate evil doers, and contact a union organizer – all against the backdrop of gigantic headshots of hard-working real Americans who apparently all have jobs – just like us. Get it?
The point (we think)
Continue reading AFL-CIO Launches New Web Site
 An amusing new social networking site has emerged for fully immersed labor nuts. Called Union Book the site is a project of Labour Start and it’s a great way to get a pulse on the international network of union activists and Anonymous wanna-bes.
Some user groups are into union history, folksongs and folklore, one group is into “poems and polemics,” another into “abolishing the wage system.” One group calls itself “Union Swag” and discusses “everything from union underwear to golf balls” which sounds like, um, fun. More than one group dedicates itself to promoting unionism “by any means necessary” (don’t make them get out the Superglue) and a group called Facebook Direct Action is building member strength to, we can only presume, take direct action against
Continue reading Social Media Spotlight
 Gee, and we thought this was common knowledge! Last week the Daily Caller “broke” the story that SEIU has built a secret network of front organizations in cities around the country. Incorporated by SEIU as local non-profits, these front organizations hide their management by SEIU and pretend they act as independent grass-roots agents of change somehow spontaneously aggregated around an outrage. They wage concerted attacks against conservative political figures and targeted corporations.
 The individual activist groups use benign-sounding names including This Is Our DC; Good Jobs, Great Houston; Good Jobs, Better Baltimore; Good Jobs Now ; Fight for Philly; One Pittsburgh; Good Jobs LA; and Minnesotans for a Fair Economy. And they have of late grown
Continue reading SEIU Watch
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