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Tag Archives: organized labor

Campaign Finance: there’s work to be done

10 Tuesday Jan 2023

Posted by Michael Bersin in campaign finance, Claire McCaskill, Missouri General Assembly, Missouri Senate

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Tags

19th Senate District, campaign finance, Missouri Ethics Commission, organized labor, PAC, Stephen Webber, working people

They’re not wasting any time.

Today at the Missouri Ethics Commission, for the PAC supporting Stephen Webber (D) in the 2024 19th Senate District race:

C232347 01/10/2023 HOMEFRONT PAC UFCW Local 655 300 Weidman Rd Manchester MO 63011 1/9/2023 $10,000.00

C232347 01/10/2023 HOMEFRONT PAC Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council Missouri-Kansas Area PAC 1401 Hampton Ave St Louis MO 63139 1/9/2022 $100,000.00

C232347 01/10/2023 HOMEFRONT PAC Joseph Shepard 17 W Lockwood St Louis MO 63119 Self Real Estate 1/9/2022 $10,000.00

C232347 01/10/2023 HOMEFRONT PAC Sheet Metal Workers International Association 2319 Chouteau Ave Suite 100 St Louis MO 63103 1/9/2022 $10,036.00

[emphasis added]

Friends in organized labor and in St. Louis.

Stephen Webber (D) [2016 file photo].

Previously:

A lifelong commitment to public service (January 10, 2023)

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D) and Trudy Busch Valentine (D) – Gladstone, Missouri – GOTV Rally – October 29, 2022

30 Sunday Oct 2022

Posted by Michael Bersin in US Senate

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Tags

Emanuel Cleaver, Gladstone, GOTV, missouri, organized labor, rally, Teamsters, Trudy Busch Valentine, U.S. Senate

On Saturday afternoon Representative Emanuel Cleaver (D) and Trudy Busch Valentine (D) spoke at a get out the vote rally outdoors at the Clay County Democratic Party headquarters in Gladstone, Missouri. This was the third or fourth campaign appearance of the day for Trudy Busch Valentine in the Kansas City metro area

Teamsters!

Yes, it was a union crowd.

Trudy Busch Valentine (D).

The elephant in the womb:

A significant number of women in attendance were wearing progressive and pro-choice tee shirts.

This candidate is enjoying the experience:

Both Representative Cleaver and Busch Valentine spoke at the rally.

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D).

As in all of her campaign events, people in the crowd waited after its conclusion to speak with and personally greet Trudy Busch Valentine.

A number of women hugged her.

It’s retail politics. This grassroots politicking clearly energizes the candidate and her campaign.

Somebody should give Eric Schmitt (r) a hug.

…This election is about an individual’s access to health care and their bodily autonomy. Yes, abortion is a personal choice. It’s about access to public education. It’s about access to good jobs and a living wage. It’s about access to affordable housing. It’s about the future of Social Security and Medicare and the ability of our citizens to spend their later years living with some measure of dignity and comfort… And it’s about cutting the cost of essential medication for those who need it to survive. It’s about the survival of Democracy and the ability of people to participate with their vote. It’s for the future.

Previously:

Trudy Busch Valentine (D) in Jackson County, Missouri – August 13, 2022 (August 13, 2022)

Governor’s Ham Breakfast – Missouri State Fair – August 18, 2022 (August 18, 2022)

Trudy Busch Valentine (D) – Campaign Office Opening – Kansas City, Missouri – August 28, 2022 (August 28, 2022)

Definitely left a mark (September 22, 2022)

Eric Schmitt (r) gets pwned…again (September 22, 2022)

Trudy Busch Valentine (D) – Kansas City, Missouri – September 22, 2022 (September 24, 2022)

Trudy Busch Valentine (D): campaign ad (September 28, 2022)

Trudy Busch Valentine (D): with working people (September 29, 2022)

Trudy Busch Valentine (D): this is what it is (September 30, 2022)

It is the season (October 1, 2011)

Post Oak, Johnson County, Missouri (October 2, 2022)

Trudy Busch Valentine (D): Warrensburg, Missouri – October 7, 2022 (October 7, 2022)

Trudy Busch Valentine (D): Raytown, Missouri – October 7, 2022 (Ocrober 8, 2022)

Schmitt’s Twitter Cry (October 9, 2022)

Tool! (October 10, 2022)

That’s it, that’s everything (October 10, 1011)

Here for the ratio (October 11, 2022)

The choice in Roevember (October 11, 2022)

Trudy Busch Valentine (D) – Raymore, Missouri – October 14, 2022 (October 14, 2022)

Trudy Busch Valentine (D) – Butler, Missouri – October 15, 2022 (October 15, 2022)

Trudy Busch Valentine (D) – Nevada, Missouri – October 15, 2022 (October 16, 2022)

Trudy Busch Valentine (D) – Kansas City, Missouri – Gregg/Klice Community Center – October 27, 2022 (October 27, 2022)

Trudy Busch Valentine (D) – Kansas City, Missouri – Southwest Boulevard – October 27, 2022 (October 28, 2022)

Trudy Busch Valentine (D) – Kansas City – Door-to-Door – October 29, 2022 (October 29, 2022)

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D) and Trudy Busch Valentine (D) – Kansas City – GOTV Rally – Morning Star Community Center – October 29, 2022 (October 30, 2022)

Trudy Busch Valentine (D): with working people

29 Thursday Sep 2022

Posted by Michael Bersin in social media, US Senate

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

beer, Eric Schmitt, missouri, organized labor, social media, Trudy Busch Valentine, Twitter, U.S. Senate

Trudy Busch Valentine (D) [2022 file photo].

Last night:

Trudy Busch Valentine @buschvalentine
US Senate candidate, MO
Tonight, I enjoyed sharing a beer with members of @LIUNA42. I’m so proud that our campaign is powered by a strong commitment to union workers. I’ll always have your back and defend your right to fight for better wages and working conditions, because when unions fight workers win.
[….]
Laborers’ Local 42
9:15 PM · Sep 28, 2022

Yep.

Eric Schmitt (r) [2022 file photo}.

Previously:

Eric Schmitt (r) gets pwned…again (September 23, 2022)

Campaign Finance: Why?

10 Friday Jun 2022

Posted by Michael Bersin in campaign finance

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

campaign finance, missouri, Missouri Ethics Commission, organized labor, PAC, right wingnuts

Today at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

221843 06/10/2022 Missouri Conservative Alliance Laborers Local 660 PAC 2633 West Clay St Charles MO 63301 6/9/2022 $15,000.00

[emphasis added]

Solidarity? Never heard of it.

May 1, 1886

01 Sunday May 2022

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Chicago, history, organized labor

Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, eight hours for what we will.

Thank a Union

06 Monday Sep 2021

Posted by Michael Bersin in social media

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Tags

Labor Day, missouri, organized labor, social media, Twitter, Vicky Hartzler

Today, without any understanding:

Rep. Vicky Hartzler @RepHartzler
Wishing all of Missouri a safe and happy #LaborDay!
[….]

Yeah, working people.

Some of the responses:

Reminder: @RepHartzler had a chance to make ACA more affordable for her voters. She didn’t.
Had a chance to CUT IN HALF 17% child poverty in MO04. Didn’t.
Had a chance to refund cops, EMTs in towns ravaged by Covid. Didn’t.
To assure each family member a $1400 check. She didn’t.
[….]

Why? You don’t care about the working people’s unions that brought Labor Day into being. Your votes tell us so.

Thank s union not Right to work politicians like you.

Right to get paid less.

Hypocrite. Your tweet should have said “thank a Union”.

Well, yeah.

Vicky Hartzler (r) [2021 file photo].

Campaign Finance: from working people

03 Friday Sep 2021

Posted by Michael Bersin in campaign finance

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

campaign finance, missouri, Missouri Ethics Commission, organized labor

Yesterday at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C211659 09/02/2021 United We Stand PAC CHIPP POLITICAL ACCOUNT 1401 HAMPTON AVE SAINT LOUIS MO 63139 9/1/2021 $50,000.00

C180584 09/02/2021 UFCW Active Ballot Club-Missouri Federal Committee United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Active Ballot Club 1775 K ST, NW Washington DC 20006 9/2/2021 $10,000.00

We’re gonna need a bigger boat.

HB 1413 (2018): All that labor

01 Tuesday Jun 2021

Posted by Michael Bersin in Missouri General Assembly

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Tags

anti-labor, General Assembly, HB 1413, missouri, Missouri Supreme Court, opinion, organized labor, severability

Today, from the Missouri Supreme Court:

“The exemption of public safety labor organizations violates principles of equal protection. The exemption of public safety labor organizations permeates throughout HB 1413 and reaches all provisions. The operation of this exemption forces this Court to declare HB 1413 void in its entirety rather than sever the offending provision. The circuit court’s judgment is affirmed.”

Void. In. Its. Entirety.

In 2018 HB 1413 was introduced as this:

HB 1413 — LABOR ORGANIZATIONS [pdf]
SPONSOR: Taylor

This bill prohibits any sum from being withheld from the earnings of a public employee for the payment of any portion of dues, agency shop fees, or other fees paid by public employee members of a public labor organization or a public employee who is a nonmember except upon the annual written or electronic authorization of the employee.

A public labor organization is prohibited from using or obtaining any portion of dues, agency shop fees, or any other fees paid by member and nonmember public employees to make political campaign contributions or expenditures unless it obtains a written or electronic authorization from the member or nonmember within the previous 12 months.

Failure to provide any written or electronic authorization shall not be a condition of employment.

This bill further requires public labor organizations to maintain financial records, identical to those required by federal law (29 U.S.C. 431(b)), for no less than five years. Each report required under this section must be made available to employees in a searchable electronic format. If a public labor organization fails to make the reports available to an employee, that employee will have a cause of action against the organization.

This bill is the same as HB 251 (2017).

And it morphed and was approved as this:

SS#2 SCS HB 1413 — LABOR ORGANIZATIONS [pdf]

This bill makes various changes to the laws regarding public employees, public employee labor organizations, and labor agreements between those labor organizations and public bodies. However, public safety labor organizations, and employees of the Department of Corrections are exempted from the bill’s provisions (Section 105.503, RSMo).

The bill provides that no sum shall be withheld from a public employee’s earnings to pay dues or other fees to a public labor organization without annual authorization. Labor organizations are required to maintain financial records substantially similar to federal law, and must make the records available to employees in a searchable electronic format (Section 105.505).

The bill requires labor organizations to adopt a constitution and bylaws and file a copy with the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, along with a report containing specified information about the organization. Labor organizations are also required to annually file a report detailing the organization’s financial condition and operations. The financial report shall be in an electronic, readily accessible format available to its members (Section 105.533).

This bill requires every officer and employee of a labor organization to annually file a report listing any legal or equitable interest, income, or transaction the person, his or her spouse, or minor child received or derived from a labor organization or public body with employees that the labor organization represents or is seeking to represent (Section105.535).

The reports and documents filed with the department under the provisions of this bill are public records. The department must allow for the inspection and examination of the reports and documents, as specified in the bill, and furnish copies upon payment of the service (Section 105.540).

Each person required to file a report shall maintain, for at least five years, sufficient records to verify the information contained in the report. Each labor organization shall file a report within 90 days of becoming subject to the provisions of this bill, and people required to file reports shall file such reports within 90 days after the end of each fiscal year (Sections 105.545 and 105.550).

Any person who knowingly violates certain provisions of the bill related to the required reports or files a false report is subject to a fine or imprisonment of not more than a year (Section 105.555).

The bill provides that supervisory public employees, as defined in the bill, shall not be included in the same bargaining unit as the public employees they supervise and that the same labor organization shall not represent both non-supervisory and supervisory public employees (Section 105.570).

Recognition may only be obtained by a labor organization through an election before the State Board of Mediation. Voluntary recognition by a public body is prohibited. An election by secret ballot will be held after the board is presented with cards containing signatures of at least 30% of the employees in the bargaining unit.

The bill specifies the ballot language to be used for the selection of a labor organization as the exclusive representative for the bargaining unit. More than 50% of all public employees within the bargaining unit must vote positively to certify the labor organization as the exclusive representative. However, public employees of the bargaining unit may seek to decertify the labor organization at any time with a subsequent election provided that the board is presented with signed cards representing at least 30% of the employees in the bargaining unit. If more than 50% of the bargaining unit votes to decertify the labor organization then it shall no longer be recognized as the exclusive representative.

Labor organizations must be recertified every three years. No more than one election shall take place in any bargaining unit within a 12-month period. The board shall collect a fee from each labor organization participating in an election (Section 105.575).

Within eight weeks of a certification election, the labor organization shall meet and begin bargaining with representatives of the public body. No labor organization shall refuse to meet with the representatives of the public body.

Bargaining for renewal agreements shall take place triennially, provided that those labor agreements must be subject to certain limitations. Such limitations include management reserving the right to hire, discipline, and discharge employees; reserving the right to make and amend reasonable work rules; prohibiting all strikes and picketing; extending the duty of fair representation to all employees of the bargaining unit; prohibiting labor
organization employees from accepting paid time by a public body for conducting labor organization business with certain exceptions; and providing for the modification of the agreement in the event of a budget shortfall (Sections 105.580 and 105.585).

A labor organization, or associated representative, or public body, or associated representative, that violates the provisions of this bill is subject to a civil action for appropriate relief, including injunctive relief. Attorneys’ fees shall be awarded for the enforcement of the provisions of this bill (Section 105.595).

The provisions of the bill shall apply to personal care attendants and their labor organizations, as well as all officers and employees of such organizations (Section 208.862)

Ah, piling on.

The Missouri Supreme Court today:

…The State’s argument in favor of severance of the exemption is illogical in that the result would make public labor law reform applicable to public safety labor organizations, which the legislature specifically excluded. The exemption is not concerned with a singular provision or aspect of the bill; rather, it provides an exemption from the overall statutory scheme itself, which consists of approximately 20 sections. Even without giving weight to the late addition of the exemption in the legislative process, this Court refuses to sever the exemption and make this public labor reform law applicable to public safety labor organizations when the legislature contemplated this application and intentionally crafted section 105.503.2(1) to avoid such an outcome…

The anti-labor right wingnuts in the General Assembly were just too clever.

…This Court cannot say the legislature would have enacted the valid provisions of HB 1413 without this void one. If the legislature desired to pass a scheme imposing reform provisions to all public labor organizations, it had the opportunity to do so. But it did not; it specifically provided the reform provisions would not apply to public safety labor organizations. This Court will not, by severance, leave in place legislation contrary to the legislature’s intent. By its plain language, section 105.503.2(1) is essentially and inseparably connected with all other provisions of HB 1413; therefore, HB 1413 must be declared void in its entirety…

Yep, the General Assembly was trying to be much too clever.

So, organized labor organizations are organized labor organizations. Do you wonder why that “exemption” existed in the first place?

Severability is a double edged sword.

Campaign Finance: working people ante up

20 Tuesday Oct 2020

Posted by Michael Bersin in campaign finance

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

campaign finance, missouri, Missouri Ethics Commission, organized labor, PACs

Yesterday at the Missouri Ethics Commission for a PAC supported by organized labor:

C201150 10/19/2020 Protect Missouri Freedom Purple PAC 8141 King George Ct Manchester MO 63021 10/19/2020 $100,000.00

C201150 10/19/2020 Protect Missouri Freedom United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, AFL-CIO Active Ballot Club – Missouri 1775 K St NW Washington DC 20006 10/19/2020 $125,000.00

What are they spending money on? [October 15 MEC report]:

Opposed to these republican candidates [October 15 MEC report]:

That’s quite a gallery.

Campaign Finance: working people know

30 Sunday Aug 2020

Posted by Michael Bersin in campaign finance

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

campaign finance, HDCC, missouri, Missouri Ethics Commission, organized labor

Yesterday at the Missouri Ethics Commission, from organized labor for the House Democratic Campaign Committee {HDCC):

C171047 08/29/2020 House Democratic Campaign Committee Sheet Metal Workers Local No 36 Voluntary Political Fund 2319 Chouteau Ave Ste 100 St Louis MO 63103 8/27/2020 $100,000.00

[emphasis added]

They know.

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