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PrintMarch 14, 2009
Unions gooning it up for card check
Union groups hope to use their influence with the Administration and Congress to control the debate over card check.
Anyone have a problem with groups that helped Barack Obama win the Presidency asking the IRS to investigate card check opponents?
Both the AFL-CIO and Change to Win (headed by Anna Burger, the secretary-treasurer of the Service Employees International Union) have asked the IRS to investigate one of the country's largest antiunion advocacy groups, the Center for Union Facts
The unions allege that the leader of the group violated its nonprofit status by raising money with the stated goal of defeating Democratic senatorial candidates in the 2008 election.
The AFL-CIO and Change to Win have asked the IRS to investigate a conference call hosted by Bank of America about the Employee Free Choice Act, which would ease the way for workers to unionize by allowing them to bypass federally run secret-ballot elections. On the call, Rick Berman, executive director for Union Facts, and Bernard Marcus, the Home Depot founder and philanthropist, ask participants to give money to their groups, and they mention the states with competitive Senate races where they are advertising.
Burger is also a key player in the politically powerful, if near invisible, Democracy Alliance. I have written about her and the Democracy Alliance before at American Thinker. They have their fingers in many legislative and executive actions-but leave very few fingerprints.
There is more.
Change to Win has also demanded of Secretary of the Treasurery Giethner that firms that receive TARP money be banned from discussing "card check" (oddly enough, unions collect millions in grants from the government, money that can be used to lobby for, among other issues, "card check").
The irony, double standards, and cynicism are palpable.
I thought Democrats treasure free speech, open debate, and transparency.
But it gets worse.
Does a citizen want union leaders to be actually drafting the laws that regulate labor relations in America?
Andy Stern who heads the Service Employees International union, was bold enough to reveal the power that he has over Congress.
Andy Stern, head of the Service Employees International Union, believes the unions have the 60 votes needed to bring the bill to the floor of the Senate for a full debate. But he knows changes may be needed to guarantee passage. "There are a lot of different ideas floating around," he says. "We'll ask Blanche Lincoln and the others what would make the bill work for them. And we'll listen."
So labor has become the arbiter of what will need to be done to ensure a law is drafted in such a way to pass Senate approval? Stern will ask wavering Senators (moderate Democrats) what will work for them and he will be the one to make the bill "work for them"?
If that doesn't work, then unions have also privately assured GOP Senator Arlen Specter (who will face a tough battle ahead for reelection) that they will support him in his campaign if he backs "card check".
