Keeping the Workplace Safe.

As a resolution to a dispute over changing from a unionized to a non-unionized janitorial contractor, it seems that the NLRB now requires the Matrix Realty Group to post a notice to its employees. [See here and here]. The notice must recite, inter alia, that Matrix Realty will "NOT threaten to kill you or to cause you bodily harm because you engage in activities in support of SEIU, Local 32BJ."

Fair enough!

But shouldn't the union thugs at SEIU be held to the same standard?

SEIU Must Comply with the Law

Like other labor unions, the Service Employees International Union ("SEIU") is exempt from the income tax. In return for this exemption, the SEIU and other unions must submit information returns to the IRS. Unlike other tax returns, these information returns (Form 990) are available to the public. Guidestar, itself a tax-exempt entity, works in cooperation with the IRS to make the Forms 990 available to the public on its website [http://www.guidestar.org].

There are penalties that apply when a labor union or other tax-exempt organization is remiss in filing its Form 990.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, in one of its comparatively rare pro-America moments, has ruled that the IRS has no discretion to partially abate the late 990 penalties. The decision is available here.

Accordingly, the SEIU is stuck with the lateness penalties assessed by the IRS for not timely filing its information returns for the public to see.

Nemo est supra leges!

Hot Rod: Some Dots to Connect

I am not, and have never been, an intense watcher of Illinois politics.

Accordingly, I will defer to those pundits whose working knowledge of the Chicago political machine is superior to my own (with due regard to their personal political agendas).

Having stated that, I cannot help but find a few dots to connect in the emerging Blagojevich scandal:

1. The Service Employees International Union ("SEIU") looms large in the Complaint against Hot Rod Blagojevich.

2. During the big 1989 hospital strike in New York City, Local 1199 -- which in 1998 affiliated with SEIU -- was greatly aided in their strike efforts by Jesse Jackson.

3. The Reverend Jesse Jackson's son, Jesse Jr., is a Congressman who hails from Chicago.


I make no presumptions and level no accusations. But it wouldn't surprise me in the least if, when all is said and done, Jesse, Junior and/or Senior, were somehow involved in this Hot Rod Blagojevich affair.