CALIFORNIA YANKEE

Hillary Celebrates Victory At Non-Union Hotel

Hillary's Pennsylvania Primary victory celebration is being held in the Bellevue-Stratford hotel, a nonunion hotel and the location of the first recognized outbreak of Legionnaires' disease.

Not a very auspicious move.

Obama's Union Thugs

Why won't Obama repudiate the union thugs who are advertising on his behalf in PA?

The Service Employee International Union (SEIU) is running a television ad in Pennsylvania, in support of Barack Obama, who is already outspending Hillary Clinton 5 to 1 on the airwaves.

The ad titled "Change," shows mostly white, working and middle-class Pennsylvanians complaining about their gas prices and then declaring their faith in Obama. The ad compliments the SEIU's extensive get-out-the-vote campaign in Pennsylvania.

Why would Obama accept the assistance of the SEIU? Just last weekend, the SEIU dispatched 700 of its thugs to disrupt a labor conference in Michigan, shoving people to the ground and inflicting a head wound on a retired woman.

In California, they are stalk nurses in a rival union by going to their homes and even post YouTube video of themselves doing it.

The SEIU stalking got so bad that a California judge issued a restraining order against SEIU:

So I repeat, why won't Obama repudiate the SEIU's violent tactics and reject the union's ads on his behalf?

Why does Obama choose to stand with the SEIU, and its track record of intimidation? A record which is rendering the union a pariah, even within organized labor.

Thanks to Matt Lewis and Flap for the tip.

Unions Pressure "Moderates" To Oppose Budget Cuts

Two of the nation's largest unions are teaming up to broadcast TV ads urging "moderate" Republican members of Congress to oppose the budget cuts contained in the Budget Reconciliation bill nearing final passage in the House.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the Service Employees International Union will spend $500,000 to run TV ads in 11 House districts, starting Wednesday.

The anti-budget cut ads will initially target Jo Ann Emerson of Missouri; Sherwood Boehlert of New York; Jim Nussle of Iowa; Mark Green of Wisconsin; Nancy Johnson, Rob Simmons and Chris Shays, all of Connecticut; Mike Fitzpatrick and Jim Gerlach, both of Pennsylvania; Fred Upton of Michigan; and Bob Beauprez of Colorado.

According to the Associated Press, the unions plan to eventually target 30 House districts in all, holding town hall meetings and running telephone campaigns urging opposition to the budget cuts.

The budget cuts "offset" the cost of Hurricane Katrina relief. The House approved the Budget Reconciliation containing the cuts by a 212 - 206 vote on December 19. Nine Republicans and the Independent voted with the Democratic against the bill. Six Democrats and ten Republicans did not vote, setting up another squeaker after the Senate approved a slightly different version of the Budget Reconciliation bill.

Things Fall Apart : Teamsters and Service Workers Leave AFL-CIO

Reuters reports that the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the Service Employees International Union made good their threat and broke away from the AFL-CIO today. The two breakaway unions represent 3.2 million workers.

The Teamsters and the Service Workers are only two of a seven union dissident group that want a greater focus on organizing workers:

"We have been disappointed over the last 10 years with the decline in membership. The AFL-CIO idea is to keep throwing money at politicians. We say no," Teamsters president James Hoffa said. "We are going to do something new."

According to Reuters, other unions, including Laborers International of North America, UNITE HERE (the textile, garment, hotel employees), the United Food and Commercial Workers, and the United Farm Workers, may also secede from the AFL-CIO in the coming days. The Carpenters and Joiners International, broke away from the AFL-CIO four years ago.

The AFL-CIO's falling apart is bad news for the Democratic party, which relies on unions for money and manpower.

Illinois' Democratic Senator Durbin urged the AFL-CIO convention to maintain its unity:

Business interests may think the divide will make organized labor vulnerable.

"We have news for them. It's not going to happen," he said to cheers. "Our unity is our strength. We will stand together and fight for working families."

I have a hard time taking seriously anything Defeatist Democratic Senator and Democratic Whip Durbin says after he suggested the treatment of Guantanamo detainees is equivalent to atrocities committed by Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union and former Cambodian leader Pol Pot, even if he sort of apologized a week later. Nevertheless, in the long run, more competition for organized labor may well breath new life into a dying institution.