Posts Tagged ‘Academics’

It’s All Academic: Profs Push NLRB Nomination

Posted by Admin on January 26th, 2010

Shocking! A letter signed by 66 academics demands the immediate confirmation of SEIU counsel Craig Becker to head the National Labor Relations Board. (For a background on why employers are concerned about Mr. Becker’s positions, see here.)

Sixty-six academics is a pretty powerful thing, right? A collective call to action that we should all do a coffee spit-take, stop what we’re doing, and take action, right? Each reader can place his own weight on the importance of comments by professors, but it’s worth going back to our previous post and noting the view of academics by some inside organized labor:

  • Referring to academics, Javier Morillo of SEIU 26 wants to respond with a letter that

SEIU’s Reliance on Pro-Card Check Profs: It’s Only Academic

Posted by Admin on July 29th, 2009

It wasn’t so long ago — in fact, it was only in June — that the Service Employees International Union was making its case for the troubling and horrifically misnamed Employee Free Choice Act by crowing that 155 academics had signed a letter calling on Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter to support the bill.

So professors clamoring for a law must be a pretty big deal, right? Well, even if you think so, SEIU and its allies must think so, right? Well…

The wonderful PerezStern blog has found some internal emails from SEIU and its advisers discussing how to deal with professors who have recently weigh in with concerns about how that union is interfering with another. Here are some interesting notes:

  • Referring to academics, Javier Morillo of SEIU 26 wants to respond with a letter that “Shames them just a little bit for signing onto something without knowing all the facts” (no one from the employer community made such an effort when academics pushed EFCA, but that’s a different story)
  • Jo-Ann Mort, a would-be adviser, says of the academic group: “most of these academics really are not worth it-but spamming them sounds like what they deserve!!”
  • Michelle Ringette, a frequent flack for SEIU boss Andy Stern, wrote: “I know these aren’t high value targets, but I firmly believe people shouldnot be permitted to do drive bys. They are all getting a letter this am and they all bought spot on our spam list.”

Hmm. This may be worth remembering next time labor leaders trot out supposedly important professors. Labor thinks they don’t know what they’re signing, most really are not worth it, and they aren’t high value targets.

Got it!