We interrupt your regularly-scheduled Union Briefs for this special report…
There’s brouhaha erupting over Barack Obama’s rumored pick to replace Labor Secretary Hilda Solis.
You may recall, at the same time Hilda Solis abruptly resigned as Secretary of Labor, it was reported that, under Solis’ watch, the Department of Labor made over $5 billion in improper unemployment payments.
Now that Solis is gone, the Obama Administration has floated the name of a replacement and his name is Thomas Perez.
Currently, Perez is the Assistant Attorney General in Eric Holder’s Justice Department. Previously, in the 1990s, he worked in the Justice Department under then-Attorney General Janet Reno.
Pause for a moment. Catch your breath. There’s more…
President Barack Obama is reportedly ready to nominate Justice Department Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez to become the next Secretary of the Department of Labor. Issues from Perez’s involvement with DOJ’s decision to dismiss the Bush administration’s case against three New Black Panther Party members, to his political activism as chief of the department’s civil rights division are now resurfacing.
- Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez Tells La Raza Audience About DOJ’s Standing Up For Illegals [via Breitbart.com]
Wait. It only gets better from here…
Among other criticisms of Perez, the report revives charges that he gave misleading public testimony in 2010 when he repeatedly stated that Obama-administration appointees weren’t involved in dismissing most of a voter-intimidation lawsuit against the New Black Panther party.
A scathing new report exposing bitter divisions and racial hostility at the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division is certain to complicate the confirmation process for Tom Perez, who currently heads the unit and is expected to be President Barack Obama’s pick as the next Secretary of Labor.
An assistant attorney general President Obama is considering for labor secretary oversaw a Justice Department section hampered by racially-charged ideological divisions, an inspector general report says.
And, just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse…
Thomas Perez has a record of dishonesty, radical leftism, legal hackery, and contempt in some cases for the rule of law itself. This man has no business heading a major Cabinet Department; instead, he should be swiftly cashiered from all federal government service.
Of course, all of this background on Mr. Perez begs the obvious question:
Has any one bothered to consider that it is because of Thomas Perez’s record of dishonesty, ‘radical leftism, legal and hackery’ that the Barack Obama is choosing him?
Now, on to your Union Briefs for Friday, March 15, 2013:
President Barack Obama and Senate Democrats are using disputed research from a pair of radical labor activists-turned-professors to justify a massive minimum wage hike that many economists say could increase unemployment.
[snip]
Dube helped organize the Harvard Living Wage Campaign (HLWC) and participated in an illegal occupation of campus buildings to protest janitorial salaries with the powerful Service Employees International Union.
No kidding…
Government-mandated and union-backed project labor agreements (PLAs) are increasing costs on taxpayer-funded projects across the country even as local, state, and federal governments face a budget crunch.
[snip]
…PLAs increase construction costs by 12 to 18 percent, an increase that mostly stems from higher-than-market union labor costs, studies have shown.
Good question…
A word of caution…
On Tuesday, the National Labor Relations Board announced it will appeal to the Supreme Court a decision by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals that invalidated appointments to the NLRB made by President Barack Obama last year while lawmakers were on break. The validity of all board decisions made since the so-called recess appointments hangs on legal wrangling, but in the meantime, at least two healthcare providers are actively opposing decisions made by the board in 2012.
ICYMI…
Teamsters Local 377 will have a rally and leafleting event today at the headquarters of Exal Corp. at One Performance Place to stir up support and inform employees of its efforts to unionize 364 workers at the aluminum-can-making company.
During a press conference in support of privatizing Pennsylvania’s liquor stores, Big Labor Boss Wendell W. Young, repeatedly shouted and interrupted speakers at the podium. Young, who received $287,386 in compensation last year, is the Local 1776 representative for United Food and Commercial Workers, which represents many of Pennsylvania’s liquor store employees.
And, finally, from the lawyers…
Best wishes for a great week’s end.
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“Truth isn’t mean. It’s truth.”
Andrew Breitbart (1969-2012)
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