National fast-food wage protests kick off in New York

NEW YORK -- Beginning a day of protests that organizers say will spread to 50 cities and 1,000 stores across the country, a crowd of chanting workers gathered Thursday morning at aMcDonald's in midtown Manhattan to call for higher wages and the chance to join a union.

About 500 people, including workers, activists, religious leaders, news crews and local politicians, gathered outside the McDonald's on Fifth Avenue. The protesters chanted "Si Se Puede" ("Yes, We Can") and "Hey, hey, ho, ho $7.25 has got to go," holding signs saying "On Strike: Can't Survive on $7.25," referring to the federal minimum wage.

The protesters plan to spread out to other stores throughout New York during the day. Protests are also expected in Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte, N.C., and other cities.

'UNREALISTIC'? Experts face off on $15 wage

Meanwhile, the Employment Policies Institute, a Washington-based think tank, has placed a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal with a picture of a robot making what looks like pancakes. It explains that restaurants have to reduce their costs of service to keep prices low, which might mean switching to robots if wages get too high.

"Why Robots Could Soon Replace Fast Food Workers Demanding a Higher Minimum Wage," the ad reads.

The fast-food protests began in New York on Nov. 29. There have been three protests in New York since then, and they have spread to Chicago and other cities. Thursday's protest is to mark the first for fast-food workers in Los Angeles and other cities.

Via: LA Times

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[VIDEO] Obama: Voter-ID Laws Probably ‘Partisan,’ but Also Have ‘Racial Element’

In an interview on PBS NewsHour following his speech commemorating the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington yesterday, President Obama said that he would “move administratively” to block state laws “that seem to be intent on preventing people from voting and that have a racial element to it.”

In a reference to his Department of Justice’s suing the state of Texas over its voter-ID law, Obama said: “Congress doesn’t move real quickly around here, and if we can go ahead and move administratively so that our attorney general can go ahead in jurisdictions that seem to be intent on preventing people from voting and that have a racial element to it, even though largely it’s probably for partisan reasons, then we need to go ahead and — and enforce the law.”

His comments echoed a line in his speech yesterday calling for “vigilance” against “those who erect new barriers to the vote.”

Via: National Review Online

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LABOR PARTICIPATION RATE HITS 34-YEAR LOW

The percentage of Americans who have a job or are looking for one, known as the labor force participation rate (LFPR), has plunged to a 34-year low, according to a new report from staffing company Express Employment Professionals.

"Following the Great Recession, we've entered into the Great Shift," says Express Employment Professionals CEO Bob Funk, who previously served as chairman of the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank. "This is a period defined by the Boomer retirement, Millennial frustration, and growing reliance on government programs. All indicators suggest this shift is not sustainable." 

The New York Times reported on the study and suggested that "another cause [of the Great Shift] may be the rise in the number of workers on disability."

A record 8,733,461 people now receive disability benefits, a figure greater than the population of New York City.

Today, nearly 90 million Americans are no longer in the labor force.

Via: Breitbart

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#Instatruth: Instagram Videos on Obamacare from Real People

Heritage has a new feature on our Instagram channel — #Instatruth! Using Instagram’s new video feature, we’ve recorded short videos of individuals expressing why they believe Obamacare should be defunded.

These personal videos showcase how the law affects you — and add another layer to our previous #StopObamacare Instagram campaign.

For the past two weeks, Heritage has encouraged readers to upload their own #StopObamacare photos to Instagram. We’ve received some excellent entries and hope that a few of you will share more #Instatruths on why Obamacare doesn’t work for you.

Just record your #Instatruth video, upload it to Instagram, and use the hashtag #StopObamacare so we can find it. Best entries may be featured on The Foundry.

Via: The Foundry

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CA Teachers Sue Union Over Political Use Of Dues

Monday marks the start of a new school year for Rebecca Friedrichs, a kindergarten teacher at Holder School in Buena Park, a Southern California city of 82,000.

The 25-year veteran of the Savannah School District is to be forgiven if she is wary of the reception she will receive from her public school colleagues.

Not just because she resigned her membership last year in the California Teachers Association, the union that represents most of the state’s public school teachers.

But also because she is the lead plaintiff in a federal lawsuit, Friedrichs vs. California Teachers Association, that challenges the state’s so-called “agency shop” arrangement, which  forces her to pay dues for the collective bargaining the teachers’ union performs not only behalf of members, but also non-members — whether they like it or not. It is being heard in the District Court of the Central District of California, Southern Division.

Freidrichs would prefer not to pay the CTA $1,000 or so a year for its representation. But what really galls the teacher is the $350 or so of her compulsory union dues that go to support the CTA’s political activities, with which she disagrees.

Indeed, the kindergarten teacher supports school vouchers, which the teachers’ union has used her compulsory dues (and the dues of political dissenters among its rank-and-file) to defeat.

Similarly, she opposes measures — like Proposition 30, the $7 billion tax-increase initiative — for which CTA spent millions in union dues last year to win passage – that confer higher salaries and more generous bemefits upon teachers at the expense of everyday taxpayers.

“I think that is wrong,” said Friedrichs.

Via: California Political Review

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Levinomics for America

The economic ideas in Mark Levin’s new number one bestselling book are no less vital than the constitutional ones.

America is in a constitutional crisis as well as an economic crisis. The problem is not just Barack Obama. It is the entire Democrat party, which has been taken over by Marxists (that is a literal truth and not just hyperbole), and which caused and continues to perpetuate both crises.

The constitutional crisis is that President Obama will not follow the law. He regularly makes up the law rather than administers the law as written. He abuses the powers of his office, effectively seizing the power to rule by decree, announcing new laws or changes in the law that he has no power to make. This goes on almost daily now. Will Obama follow the law now in taking any military action against Syria?

But worse is that the entire Democratic Party is supporting Obama in this effective coup d’état, with nary a peep of any protest regarding such presidential abuse of power from any Democrat quarters. Instead, it is clear that the Democratic Party embraces what Obama is doing, and would vigorously defend it if Republicans and conservatives ever managed to mount a serious challenge to this presidential abuse of office.

Via: The American Spectator

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The Educators' War on the Working Class

They say that capitalism is the deadliest threat to poor Americans.  But that's not true -- it's actually Big Education.

We are constantly told that educators are "dedicated" to improving the lives of students and that a good education opens the door to a good career and financial success.   But while this rhetoric may have been true at one time, in the last ten years the economic reality of property taxes and student loan debt are starting to overcome the positives.  Educators may now be the greatest source of financial hardship faced by middle-class and poor working Americans. 

The public education system of America is a vast, efficiently organized network reaching from the largest cities to the smallest rural areas.  The bonds that hold this network together include membership in the two largest education unions -- the American Federal of Teachers and the National Education association -- and the bonds they have to the National Democratic Party.  The bonds to the DNC are made of money.

The size of these unions is impressive: the American Federation of Teachers has 1.5 million members in over 3,000 local affiliates nationwide.  The Center for Responsive Politics records that they give campaign money primarily, and almost exclusively, to Democrats.   They give zero percent to Republicans.  The National Education Association is twice as large and is the number-four all-time contributor to national campaigns.   It gives only four percent of its campaign money to support Republicans.  It has nearly three million members in more than 14,000 school districts nationwide.

So it's fair to say that American educators overwhelmingly support the Democratic Party.  In return, Democrats in all major states pass extremely lucrative salary and pension plans for educators. 

Via: American Thinker

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