Minneapolis Nurses Fight Back Against Union Intimidation! (Video)

Labor Unions are one of the reasons this country has lost its competitive edge. Unions are bullies in the playground that need to be given a big "TIME-OUT" and then shown new rules to play by...if at all.

Nurse: "I wanted to protect my patients"

With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, three Minneapolis nurses have filed federal unfair labor practice charges against nurse union officials for illegally threatening them with disciplinary action for refusing to participate in a recent strike.

Recently, a local TV news crew interviewed two of the nurses about the atmosphere of hostility and distrust created at the children's hospital as a result of the union boss-ordered strike.

One nurse tells KARE-11 that she exercised her right to resign from the union and go back to work because "I wanted to protect my patients."

Union officials claim some nurses received the threatening letters due to a "clerical error" but refused to be interviewed on camera.

Over the years, Foundation attorneys have won settlements for workers illegally threatened by union bosses with fines up to $40,000 simply for returning to work to provide for their families.

Article by National Right to Work

Buffalo, N.Y. Teachers Spend $9M in Taxpayer Cash in '09 on Cosmetic Surgery

Another reason to banish unions in America. Have these people no shame?

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Buffalo teachers left taxpayers on the hook for nearly $9 million worth of cosmetic surgery last year, according to the state-appointed authority overseeing public school finances.

The Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority found that last year's costs for elective procedures such as chemical peels and other skin treatments were up $8 million over 2004's $1 million tab for cosmetic surgery.

The procedures, provided under the teachers' union contract, accounted for 9 percent of the district's total spending on health benefits for employees and retirees, The Buffalo News reported Thursday.

About 10,000 school employees are eligible for the benefit. District officials said teachers or their dependents accounted for 90 percent of the approximately 500 people who received cosmetic surgery last year.

Barbara J. Smith, the district's chief financial officer, said those 500 people represent less than 2 percent of those covered by health insurance through the district -- a figure she estimated works out to an average of nearly $18,000 in elective procedures last year per employee who used the benefit.

The president of the Buffalo Teachers Federation said the union has agreed to give up the benefit in the next contract and said teachers may be simply rushing to use the benefit while they can.

"We've already told them we're going to give [it] up in these negotiations," Philip Rumore, president of the teacher union, told the newspaper. "We've told everybody it's going to be gone in the next contract."

Board of Education member Christopher Jacobs said the cost increase "smacks of abuse" and is asking the district and the city comptroller to investigate.

Smith told the newspaper that the issue of the rider came up during the district's budget talks last spring.

"We asked the unions to forgo the cosmetic surgery rider for one year, so we could use the money to reduce the number of layoffs," she told the newspaper. "They weren't interested."

Rumore said the benefit is a negotiated item -- one that his union is willing to give up only as part of contract negotiations, which he expects to begin by the end of the year.

Article courtesy of AP