unions

Labor's top three goals for N.C.

ryanteaguebeckwith — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 12:33:21 -0500

What is labor looking for in North Carolina?

Unions and employee associations are pushing for three major pieces of legislation which would make it easier to unionize Tar Heel workers:

CARD CHECK: A U.S. House bill that would allow unions to form if employees checked a card — rather than by secret ballot — stalled in the Senate after a narrow vote last year. Sen.-elect Kay Hagan has said she is open to the bill.

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING: A state law from 1959 forbids any municipal or state agency to negotiate with a union. The State Employees Association of N.C., now an affiliate of SEIU, hopes to repeal the ban on collective bargaining.

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING, PART II: A U.S. House bill would require all cities and towns of more than 5,000 people to allow collective bargaining for firefighters, police officers and EMS workers. If passed, it would put increased pressure to overturn the state ban entirely.

These are not the only goals of unions in North Carolina, obviously. The National Education Association, for example, also has specific educational goals, while SEANC is concerned about government workers' pay and benefits.

But these are the major goals shared across union lines.

Baseless speculation of the day

ryanteaguebeckwith — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 18:16:58 -0400

Here's your baseless speculation of the day: Kay Hagan might be Labor secretary if she loses.

That comes from Politico, which has compiled a long list of potential appointees in a Barack Obama administration:

Secretary of Labor: Former Rep. Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.); Andrew Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union; Kay Hagan of North Carolina (if she loses her challenge to U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole); Jeanne Shaheen, former New Hampshire governor (if she loses her challenge to U.S. Sen. John Sununu)

Hagan seems an odd choice. A business-friendly Democrat, she moved close to some national unions during her Senate campaign and indicated she would support a card-check bill.

Certainly Hagan has raised her profile to a national level with this campaign but this seems closer to a Washington parlor game than informed speculation.

Mailer links Hagan to 'big labor bosses'

ryanteaguebeckwith — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 10:24:30 -0400

A mailer criticizes Kay Hagan's ties to major unions.

The Employee Freedom Action Committee, an anti-union advocacy group, sent a mailer to North Carolina voters noting that the Democratic Senate candidate "has taken more than $175,000 from Big Labor Bosses."

"Big labor bosses have a history of corruption and sexual discrimination," the mailer says, "and Kay Hagan supports their radical agenda."

The group is particularly concerned with a card check bill that Hagan supports that would make it easier to unionize by signing cards instead of through a secret-ballot election.

It has previously run a full-page ad in the N&O.

Hagan has received donations from the National Eductaion Association, the American Federation of Teachers, the Communications Workers of America, the International Association of Fire Fighters, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the Teamsters, among other unions.

Document(s):
hagan-labor-bosses.pdf

Robocall targets Hagan on taxes

ryanteaguebeckwith — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:18:54 -0400

A new robocall targets Kay Hagan on taxes.

The automated call to North Carolina voters attacks the Democratic Senate candidate for her record as a state Senate budget writer.

"We have the highest tax burden in the Southeast, and guess who's been in charge of North Carolina's money for the past five years?" a woman asks on the call. "Kay Hagan."

As previously noted, North Carolina has a higher tax burden than other states in the Southeast but is only the highest if you define the region very narrowly.

The call is from Americans for Job Security, a pro-business group that opposes labor unions' political activities.

After the jump, the script.

Robocall on taxes

Anti-union group to spend $1m in N.C.

ryanteaguebeckwith — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 18:03:50 -0400

An anti-union group is spending big money attacking Kay Hagan.

The Employee Freedom Action Committee is spending $1 million on online ads and mailings that criticize Hagan, according to spokesman Tim Miller. It also ran a full-page ad in the N&O on Sept. 30.

The group is attacking her support for legislation that would make it easier for unions to organize. It's also spending $2 million for a TV ad featuring former Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern criticizing the legislation, Jim Morrill reports.

The ad is running in North Carolina and a half-dozen other states.

The committee is affiliated with The Center for Union Facts. It opposes the legislation, which would allow workers to unionize by signing cards instead of through a secret-ballot election.

"Kay supports it as a way to level the playing field for working families," said Hagan spokeswoman Colleen Flanagan. "This bill simply allows the workers, not the employers, to decide which method to use, and stiffens penalties for intimidation."

Builders' group concerned about unions

ryanteaguebeckwith — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 18:15:21 -0400

A builders' group sponsoring robocalls against Kay Hagan is fighting a bill making it easier to unionize.

The Associated Builders and Contractors Free Enterprise Alliance, a Washington-based contractors lobbying association, paid for automated calls to North Carolina residents criticizing the Democratic Senate candidate's record on spending.

The calls are ostensibly issue-oriented, asking listeners to call Hagan about state spending.

Chris Singerling, director of political affairs for the alliance, said that "fiscal restraint at all levels of government" is a key issue for the commercial and industrial contractors in its membership.

At the national level, the group is also concerned about the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill that would make it easier to unionize companies by allowing a "card-check" system rather than a private ballot.

Singerling argued that would make it easier for pro-union employees to pressure coworkers.

"It's absolutely un-American," he said. "You can go and vote for your elected officials on Election Day privately, and no one would know how you voted. But when it comes to your own job, you wouldn't have that right."

The card-check bill passed the House in 2007 but failed narrowly in the Senate.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole voted against the bill, while Hagan told the News & Record's editorial board that she would look on the idea "favorably" but stopped short of a full-throated endorsement.

Update: Hagan spokeswoman Colleen Flanagan said that she supports the bill as a way to "level the playing field for working families."

"Right now, employees can unionize by either a secret ballot or a card check, but the employer is essentially allowed to decide which method will be officially recognized," she wrote in an e-mail to Dome. "This bill simply allows the workers, not the employers, to decide which method to use, and stiffens penalties for intimidation."

McCrory takes aim at unions

ryanteaguebeckwith — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:49:26 -0400

Pat McCrory took aim at unions Tuesday.

The Republican gubernatorial candidate made several references to labor unions during a debate on WTVD that left no doubt of a rift between McCrory and a group representing state workers.

The State Employees Association of North Carolina endorsed McCrory's Democratic rival, Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, in late July.

The Service Employees International Union, which is affiliated with SEANC, has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to a 527 group that is running ads attacking McCrory's record this year.

McCrory complained about the ads twice during the debate, saying they were taking his remarks out of context and were funded by "national Washington group and labor unions and other groups from throughout the country."

"The 30-second TV ads, which now attack me, by this Washington labor group are saying that I'm opposed to free two-year college tuition, and therefore I'm against students, I'm against kids," he added later.

After Perdue mentioned her endorsements by law enforcement groups during a discussion on the death penalty, McCrory took aim at them as well.

"This has nothing to do with endorsements by quasi-labor unions," he said.

During the Democratic primary, Perdue was endorsed by the N.C. Troopers Association, the N.C. Police Benevolent Association and the N.C. Sheriff Police Alliance.

Hawke: I'm learning a new playbook

ryanteaguebeckwith — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:34:17 -0400

Jack Hawke says outside ads are a new ballgame.

The longtime Republican campaign consultant says he's had to learn new tactics to respond to third-party ads from so-called 527 organizations for gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory. He called them an "unintended consequence" of campaign finance reform.

"It's put a whole new wrinkle in politics," he said. "All of a sudden you've got outside groups making allegations, while the candidate can say 'Oh, I don't know anything about that, I had nothing to do with it,' while they're in the back room cheering."

As a former chairman of the state Republican Party, Hawke approved ads attacking Democratic candidates, but he said they were more transparent than those run by 527 groups such as the Alliance for North Carolina.

"If the party is giving the money and running the ad, we know what their motive is," he said. "The different labor unions have poured probably millions of dollars in to this state in recent years. ... Is the goal to do away with the right-to-work state? Is the goal to be able to have state employees go into collective bargaining? What is the goal?"

In addition, he said that party ads were more closely tied to the candidate, making it harder to do a misleading negative attack without potential of a backlash.

"It can hurt your candidate, too," he said. "When he's on the ballot up there, he's under the label Republican."

"I'm an old man," Hawke joked, "and I've got to learn a new playbook."

Dole ties attack ad to labor money

ryanteaguebeckwith — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:48:16 -0400

Two labor groups recently donated to Majority Action.

The Service Employees International Union's Political Education and Action Fund gave $200,000 in May, the SEIU's NYS Political Action Fund gave $150,000 in June and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union gave $100,000 in June.

A spokesman for U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole argued that the donations are being used by Majority Action — and by extension, the Kay Hagan campaign — to pay for issue ads attacking Dole.

"Her campaign is in the pocket of Big Labor," argued Dole spokesman Hogan Gidley.

But Bill Buck, executive director of Majority Action, said that there was no direct tie between the two unions and the Dole ads.

"They have contributed to Majority Action, but they can't make donations that are tied to an ad," he said.

The Hagan campaign said they have no connection to the Majority Action ads.

Mark McCullough, a spokesman for the SEIU, also disputed Dole's attempt to link a visit by the Democrat to the AFL-CIO's annual executive meeting in Chicago Monday to the Majority Action ad.

He noted that the SEIU and the UFCW are members of the Change to Win Federation, which was created in 2005 as an alternative to the AFL-CIO coalition.

SEIU to spend in North Carolina

ryanteaguebeckwith — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 23:18:01 -0400

One of the nation's largest unions will target North Carolina.

In a conference call with reporters, secretary-treasurer Anna Burger said the Service Employees International Union will assist the campaigns of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and one of the gubernatorial candidates.

"Our members are incredibly excited about the electoral process," Burger said, according to a New York Times story. "We expect to be the most aggressive union on the ground and on the air across the country."

The union has set aside $75 million for the election for staff and advertising on radio, television and the Internet. Members will also participate in canvassing, phone banking and voter registration.

SEIU spent money on behalf of Republican gubernatorial candidate Patrick Ballantine in 2004, but neither it nor any other union has campaigned for a presidential candidate in North Carolina in recent memory since the state has been a reliable red state since 1980.

The State Employees Association of North Carolina recently affiliated with SEIU.

Correction: SEIU has not made an endorsement in the governor's race, a spokesman says.