“An employer’s use of an individual’s criminal history in making employment decisions may, in some instances, violate the prohibition against employment discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended.”   —Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) memorandum, "Consideration…

Imagine for a moment the uproar if a Republican administration colluded with big businesses to disregard explicit federal layoff warning laws for political benefit.  Four years into an Obama Administration notable for its brazen lawlessness, perhaps such malfeasance should no longer come as a shock.  But that is precisely what is taking…

The airline industry is at a turning point.  With expenses increasing, the industry’s big labor unions are desperate to preserve their old order.  In fact, the situation has become so exacerbated that American Airlines’ unions have taken the extraordinary step of pushing their employer to merge with US Airways rather than allow…

Compare the real-world results of conservative versus liberal governance in America.  In states like Wisconsin and Indiana, leaders such as Scott Walker and Mitch Daniels save their constituents from fiscal catastrophe.  In contrast, union-dominated liberal utopias like California continue to lurch toward their alternative Greek fate. …

A new report by the Heritage Foundation shows that President Barack Obama’s bailout of the auto industry was really a $26.5 billion wealth transfer to the United Auto Workers union.  But economic facts haven’t stopped the president’s campaign surrogates from trying to shift voter anger toward Mitt Romney.  During a conference…

Having the courage to speak the truth and trusting citizens to vote accordingly aren’t qualities normally associated with politicians these days.  But after the votes were counted in Wisconsin and San Jose, CA on June 5, two reformers stood head-and-shoulder above their fellow elected officials. In Wisconsin’s 2010 gubernatorial race…

Big Labor warned us it would roar into 2012, an awakening colossus punishing everyone who stood in the path of its political agenda.  Today, union leaders are instead whimpering following two symbolic and high-profile losses against Verizon and in Wisconsin.  Those setbacks for Big Labor translate to victories for everyone else, but more…

Back in the halcyon days of the American labor movement, the protection of a union job brought with it a responsibility to one’s employers and the consumers they served. In fact, the operating mantra of the labor shop was “better products at lower prices.” Regardless of how true that promise ever was, at least it represented a recognition…

Less than one year ago, riots in Athens provided a distant, amusing spectacle for Americans an ocean away.  The Greek government, suffering a predictable debt crisis caused by years of budgetary recklessness and entitlement spending, requested a bailout from the European Union and International Monetary Fund, which conditioned relief on public…

Some people have a death wish.  Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi is pledging to “die a martyr” defending his autocratic, blood-soaked rule.  The pro-union protestors in Wisconsin would rather risk layoffs than weaken their grip on the state’s fisc.  In very short order, both might realize the consequences of their convictions…

Big Labor’s expansionist agenda has failed miserably in Congress and the court of public opinion.  So now, along with “Net Neutrality” Internet regulation and global warming mandates, the Obama Administration seeks to dictate through unelected administrative agencies the labor wish list it couldn’t achieve through the…

Today’s labor movement claims to hold its individual members’ welfare paramount.  So what message do its leaders send when they opt to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on political campaigns while members continue to suffer very difficult economic times?  This week alone, media reported a coordinated campaign between the…

Former Reagan Administration speechwriter and current Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan authored a widely-acclaimed commentary last week entitled “America Is at Risk of Boiling Over.”  Noonan mourned the increasingly hostile state of our union, that “fraying of the bonds that keep us together.”  She also…

Barack Obama promised to bring an end to old-style crony politics during his “post-partisan” 2008 presidential campaign.  This week, he again betrayed the fatuousness of his self-professed political raison d'etre by issuing a rule transparently rewarding his Big Labor campaign benefactors.  But don’t worry, America. …

If you’re an experienced worker looking for employment during the recession and in need of some schadenfreude, feast your eyes on this recent headline: "Job market worsens for recent college graduates."  The L.A. Times article profiles a recent UCLA graduate’s failure to land a job after nearly a year of applying to 600 positions…

Since over-the-top name calling is the new sine qua non (see Boethius) of public policy debate, from the President on down to the congressional backbench second through ninth circles of hell (see Dante), let’s just get real deep in the big muddy with the rest of them. That civil discourse stuff, which we once supported, is for varsity…

Purported EFCA “Compromise” Retains Job-Killing Mandatory Arbitration and Snap Election Provisions News out of Washington, D.C. this summer hasn’t been wholly bad. In recent weeks, Democrat Senators effectively killed union card-check legislation because its provisions eliminating secret ballot voting during union elections proved…

Less than a month after Vice President Joe Biden told labor union leaders that he believed that the best way to build the middle class is to help their unions grow, General Motors filed for bankruptcy protection and few in the auto industry seem willing to discuss the role that unions played in its demise. With the United Auto Workers’ benefit…

Arbitration is ordinarily a very good thing.  But it can sometimes be a very bad thing.  Distinguishing the two will become very critical, very soon.  Why?  Because Big Labor and trial lawyers are preparing a two-pronged arbitration assault before Barack Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi exhaust what remains of their political…

This week, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Barack Obama thrust their cynical “Never Waste a Good Crisis” agenda into full speed. After already capitalizing on the economic downturn as an excuse to propose everything from socialized medicine to contraception subsidies to global warming taxes, they finally introduced their hyper-partisan crown…

“It is still on the stove but I would characterize it as being on the back-burner. The last thing our country needs is legislation that would further hurt the economy. Perhaps that explains why Congress has not moved forward as quickly as it did last year with the controversial Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), commonly referred to as &ldquo…

During this difficult economic period, is pouring tens of millions into political lobbying the best way for union leaders to be spending members’ hard-earned dues?  Across the country and entire world, businesses and workers alike are struggling.  Indeed, among those hit hardest are middle- and lower-income workers, the very people…

“Charlotte Cronin, Executive Director of Family Support Network of Illinois, a Peoria-based advocacy group for the developmentally disabled, confirmed that union organizers knocked on doors this past summer, and that some relatives of the disabled found them ‘overly persistent.’  She said the union, which she believed to be the…

With Barack Obama preparing to assume the Oval Office and with Democrat gains in the House and Senate, big labor unions are busily putting together a laundry list of ambitious legislative items they would like to see enacted early next year.  On the top of their list is the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), commonly referred to as card-check legislation…

Why is it that overly-unionized state economies like Michigan's stagger, whereas states like Florida that are freer from Big Labor's stifling hand flourish?  Why do heavily-unionized companies like the Big Three automakers decay, while less-stifled companies prosper?  Similarly, why do students who are free to leave failing schools succeed…

Why Not Unionize the Military While We're at It? A funny thing happened on the road to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's utopian end to the "culture of corruption."  Namely, the 110th Congress quickly became a mere appendage of Big Labor, Inc.  After acquiring majority status by portraying themselves as centrists untainted by…

With Democrats assuming control of Congress this week, Big Labor is targeting one of America's most basic institutions – the secret ballot.  Union-proposed "card-check" legislation would eliminate secret balloting during representation elections, and thereby eradicate workers' fundamental right to vote without fear of intimidation…