Building Trades Object to Anti-Trump AFL-CIO Alliance

Donald John Trump was a featured speaker at the 2015 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). (Michael Vadon photograph.)

Donald John Trump was a featured speaker at the 2015 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). (Michael Vadon photograph.)

Building trades unions are strongly objecting to an anti-Trump Super-PAC being formed by the AFL-CIO and three large unions, according to the New York Times.

The American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association and AFSCME are contributing to the Super-PAC. The building trades unions don’t want labor working with environmentalists and billionaire Tom Steyer to form the For Our Future PAC.

The letter to the AFL-CIO, signed by presidents of seven building trades union organizations, declares that “We are not climate science deniers and have merely sought to ensure that the employment prospects of our members are not negatively impacted in any economic and energy transition.”

They object to an AFL-CIO alliance with Steyer and environmentalists creating the anti-Trump Super-PAC because the building trades say they are economically harming building trades members. The building trades unions are threatening to boycott the efforts of the Super-PAC to get out the anti-Trump vote in battleground states.

LIUNA President Terry O’Sullivan wrote “We object to the political agenda of the AFL-CIO being sold to a job-killing hedge fund manager with a bag of cash.”

North America’s Building Trades and the American Federation of Teachers declined to comment on the letters. No response yet from the AFL-CIO, AFSCME or NEA.

OPEIU 153 Files Charges Against WeWork for Forced Employee Arbitration Agreements

An National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) unfair labor practices complaint against the WeWork company was filed Tuesday by OPEIU Local 153 attorney Seth Goldstein.

Goldstein says WeWork is violating labor law by requiring workers to sign arbitration agreements that strip them of their rights to take labor complaints to the courts and the NLRB.

WeWork employee Tara Zoumer challenged the arbitration agreement in a lawsuit alleging unpaid overtime, wrongful termination, and retaliation.

Goldstein says WeWork must be held accountable for breaking labor laws.”Apparently Adam Neumann, the founder of WeWork, pretends that his company is a hip, caring millennial employer. But in reality it’s the same old thing. He’s curtailing the rights of his employees to speak out under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act. And he’s also trying to take their due process rights away by forcing them into arbitration agreements.”

Federal Court Testimony: Wisconsin GOP Senators ‘Giddy’ Over Voter ID Law Suppression of Democratic Voters

According to federal court testimony from a former Wisconsin State Senate staffer, Republicans were “giddy” about their voter ID law suppressing the vote in Democratic strongholds and in college towns in Wisconsin.

Todd Allbough testified that State Senator Mary Lazich argued in support of the voter ID law by urging fellow Republican to consider its impact in Democratic strongholds of Milwaukee and at Wisconsin college campuses.

Wisconsin Congressman Glenn Grothman, a former state senator, said he supported voter ID because it would help Republicans win elections.

The testimony came in a federal lawsuit challenging aspects of the voter ID law in Wisconsin.

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