Milwaukee & SEIU target government contractors to raise minimum wage

Too stupid for words

Milwaukee County raises minimum wage for all

non-SEIU government contractors

(Poor Richards News)  -  Yeah, this seems constitutional. The city of Milwaukee is raising the minimum wage…for almost everyone with whom it does business. That’s right. Every government contractor whose employees are not members of SEIU will be required by law to pay their employees a new, higher minimum wage of $11.33 per hour.

Can’t afford to pay your employees that amount? No problem. Simply force your employees to join the SEIU and you can keep paying the same rate.

From The Washington Examiner:

Mobsters making offers that can’t be refused typically do so in the bluntest possible language, but SEIU leaders in Wisconsin are running a close second. 

Gov. Scott Walker’s landmark reforms — including guaranteeing workers the right not to be forced to pay dues to a union they don’t want to join — is costing SEIU thousands of members.

The 8,385 members SEIU has lost since the reforms became law are solid evidence that before Walker came along the union depended upon force, rather than consent, to keep the dues revenue stream flowing. 

So the union’s leaders have come up with a backdoor way to force employees to fork over the dues money. It’s a novel variation on the Living Wage/Minimum Wage campaign. 

Here’s how it works: Milwaukee County officials approved a living wage requirement for local government contractors to pay at least $11.33 per hour. SEIU’s Wisconsin Jobs Now campaign was the main backer of the requirement. 

But the new law includes a convenient way for contractors to avoid having to pay the living wage — they can agree to force their employees to join SEIU.

Read the Rest (H/T: WZ)

Look, when the government gets to pick winners and losers, liberty is diminished. Every. Time.

But I’ll give the progressives credit. When the chips are down, they simply get creative, never mind what the Constitution says. The difference is, us small government types generally adhere to principles over pragmatism. And it’s awfully hard to win when you’re the only one playing by the rules.

Police State: County censors employee who dared to criticize Obamacare

 

Democrats Ban Free Speech

SEIU workers get to wear pro-Obama clothes to work,

but anti-Obamacare speech in banned.

The People's Republic of California  -  A Democrat run California county has banned a veteran employee from criticizing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act because a coworker who overheard the criticism was "offended".

The employee is Norina Mooney, who has logged some 20 years of work experience with Santa Clara County, the epicenter of Silicon Valley.

According to Mooney’s attorneys with the Pacific Justice Institute, she made some water-cooler talk with a fellow employee about the high number people who have had their insurance policies canceled under Obamacare.

Later, a supervisor called Mooney into a private meeting and allegedly dressed her down for the attempt at chitchat because an unidentified person had overheard the small talk and been offended reports the Daily Caller.

In the future, the supervisor said, Mooney must exit the government building should she have anything adverse about Obamacare or otherwise political to say.

Mooney’s attorneys noted that this edict is an odd one considering Mooney’s claim that the office environment is replete with pro-Obama paraphernalia. She noted that her coworkers openly wore Obama campaign attire to work at election time as well.

The longtime employee currently works for the child support enforcement division, which doesn’t involve the promotion or implementation of the controversial heath insurance legislation.

Pacific Justice Institute president Brad Dacus noted the obvious, numerous concerns with the way Mooney was treated.

“Just when we thought the disastrous ObamaCare rollout couldn’t get much worse, the county of Santa Clara is compounding those problems by claiming that criticism is off-limits,” Dacus said. “Liberals and conservatives alike should be able to agree that this type of censorship is chilling and unconstitutional.”

Mooney’s attorneys have sent a letter to Santa Clara County officials demanding answers and seeking an affirmation of public employees’ rights to comment on matters of public concern. Several weeks have passed with no response.

They are now contemplating legal action.  The Pacific Justice Institute is a conservative legal defense organization.