The four largest <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/unions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">public sector unions</a> spent nearly $700 million backing Democrats and leftist causes during last year&#8217;s elections, with nearly 60% of the funds coming from union dues, according to an analysis of spending by the Commonwealth Foundation.
Of the $708.8 million spent on politics during the 2022 midterm elections by the National Education Association (NEA), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), about 96% of the money went to Democrat political action committees or other leftist causes, the Commonwealth Foundation <a href="https://www.commonwealthfoundation.org/research/government-unions-fund-politics/">found</a>.
The four unions combined outspent the defense, transportation, and construction industries. “Any progressive organization that you can think of is probably getting something from the unions,” Commonwealth Foundation Senior Fellow for Labor Policy David Osborne told The Daily Wire.
Millions of union PAC dollars went toward leftist groups like For Our Future and dark money group the Sixteen Thirty Fund, as well as Democrat candidates like Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock and Pennsylvania Democrat Governor Josh Shapiro.
While it’s no surprise that unions overwhelmingly back Democrats and Democrat causes, Osborne that many union members likely didn’t know how much their dues were being spent on the “pet political projects” of union leaders rather than representation for members.
“What unions often try to hide is the fact that membership dues can also be used for politics,” he said. “The union doesn’t really have to tell membership what it’s [the money] going to go to. Doesn’t have to take a vote on it. By and large, what they do is, take all that money and then shovel a bunch of it over to a super-PAC, sometimes it’s affiliated with the union so that they can do all kinds of political spending that members may never find out about.”
According to the report, about 57% of the total money spent on politics by the unions came from union dues, while the rest came from state and federal PACs, which union members are encouraged to support.
“When employees learn that their dues are being used to fund political projects, that’s a value in and of itself. There are some things they can do as individuals to cut off the funding if they desire,” Osborne said.
The biggest beneficiary of union dollars was Shapiro, who raked in about $4,540,000 million from the PACs during his campaign for office, the Commonwealth Foundation found. Osborne told The Daily Wire that this number was “absolutely shocking,” pointing out that this amount was three times more than any other individual.
Shapiro <a href="https://www.law.com/thelegalintelligencer/2023/08/28/major-unions-ratify-contract-proposals-with-shapiro-administration/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">would</a> later negotiate with members of both the local SEIU and AFSCME, which included an increase in pay and benefits for union members.
Other top recipients of union money at the state level included California Attorney General Rob Bonta ($1,297,200), Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson ($1,179,100), and failed Texas gubernatorial and 2020 presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke ($990,000).
<div id="attachment_666625" style="width: 1005px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-666625" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-666625 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/Screen-Shot-2023-12-11-at-4.22.41-PM-995x576.png" alt="" width="995" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/Screen-Shot-2023-12-11-at-4.22.41-PM-995x576.png 995w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/Screen-Shot-2023-12-11-at-4.22.41-PM-300x174.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/Screen-Shot-2023-12-11-at-4.22.41-PM-768x445.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/Screen-Shot-2023-12-11-at-4.22.41-PM-1536x890.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/Screen-Shot-2023-12-11-at-4.22.41-PM.png 2022w" sizes="(max-width: 995px) 100vw, 995px" />Courtesy: The Commonwealth Foundation.</div>
At the federal level, union PACs gave significantly to Warnock ($60,500), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries ($50,000), and failed Senate candidates Mandela Barnes ($45,000) and Tim Ryan ($42,000).
“In total, PACs tied to the four largest government unions contributed to 282 candidates for the House of Representatives. Of those, 273 were Democrats, seven were Republicans, one was a third-party candidate, and one was an independent,” the report says.
The report made note of the close ties between the unions and President Joe Biden, who has billed himself as the most &#8220;pro-union&#8221; president ever. &#8220;During the COVID-19 pandemic, Biden&#8217;s Centers for Disease Control directly adopted language suggestions from the AFT into the organization&#8217;s school reopening guidelines,&#8221; the report notes.
Text messages <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/texts-show-teachers-union-working-with-cdc-director-to-keep-schools-closed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">revealed earlier this year</a> showed AFT President Randi Weingarten and NEA President Becky Pringle texting with former CDC Director Rochelle Walensky about school reopening policies.
<div id="attachment_666631" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-666631" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-666631 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/Screen-Shot-2023-12-11-at-4.19.53-PM-1024x544.png" alt="" width="1024" height="544" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/Screen-Shot-2023-12-11-at-4.19.53-PM-1024x544.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/Screen-Shot-2023-12-11-at-4.19.53-PM-300x159.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/Screen-Shot-2023-12-11-at-4.19.53-PM-768x408.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/Screen-Shot-2023-12-11-at-4.19.53-PM-1536x815.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/Screen-Shot-2023-12-11-at-4.19.53-PM-2048x1087.png 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Courtesy: The Commonwealth Foundation.</div>
A variety of Democrat-leaning PACs and leftist organizations also pulled in a significant amount of money from union spending. For example, the unions gave a whopping $29,138,171 to the SEIU Political Education and Action Fund, a PAC that primarily backs Democrats for federal office and $13 million to the State Engagement Fund, a Left-wing dark money group. The Senate Majority PAC and the House Majority PAC, which support Democratic majorities in Congress, both received millions of dollars from the union PACs.
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1700760801843000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2PQrVSrJfhxNb4LcARqniG">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
The report found that the union political spending favored Democrats in every state but Alabama, Mississippi, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. The states with the most union political spending were Illinois ($27.9 million), California ($24.9), Minnesota ($13.2 million), Pennsylvania ($12.1 million), and Washington ($7.5 million).
“Armed with millions of members and numerous special privileges, the four largest unions have dedicated significant financial resources toward maintaining and expanding the legal structures from which they derive their power,” the report says, pointing out that union-backed candidates performed well during the midterms, and states like California continue to expand union privileges.
“Government unions use this power not only to advance leftist causes but also to elect political leaders who will protect their interests and influence. The result, unfortunately, is that federal, state, and local governments are increasingly led by politicians who care more about union executives than union members or taxpayers,” Osborne said.

Gubernatorial Candidate Josh Shapiro Campaigns With John Fetterman In Philadelphia

Gov Unions Spent Over Half A Billion Dollars Backing Democrats, The Left During Midterm Elections: Report

2022 Midterms

General

Joe Biden

Josh Shapiro

Labor Unions

Politics

Raphael Warnock

Service Employees International Union (SEIU)

spending

Teachers Unions

California’s largest state worker union has demanded government officials “come to the bargaining table” over Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom’s mandate requiring all state employees to show proof of full COVID-19 vaccination by August 2 or be subject to weekly testing.
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1000 President Richard Louis Brown posted a letter to social media on Wednesday to the California Department of Human Resources (CalHR). Written by the union&#8217;s chief counsel, the letter claimed &#8220;the Governor abruptly turned away from the legal requirements of notice and bargaining&#8221; by changing work conditions for the local&#8217;s 96,000 members.
Brown said he &#8220;did not consult&#8221; the union&#8217;s board before the document was drafted, a move that has reportedly divided members, <a href="https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/the-state-worker/article253118103.html">according</a> to The Sacramento Bee.
A press release from Brown said that Newsom never specified how the vaccine verification mandate would be implemented by state agencies and went on to question whether the requirement “was a knee-jerk reaction to the rising number of COVID-19 cases.”
“Last March, Governor Newsom was quick to issue a stay-at-home order in response to the growing COVID-19 pandemic, forcing thousands of state employees into teleworking full time,” said Brown in a <a href="https://www.seiu1000.org/sites/main/files/file-attachments/press_release-_cease-and-desist__7.28.21.pdf">statement</a> issued on Wednesday. “His actions today might suggest he is willing to risk the health and safety of state employees by having them return to the office.”
“I’m not willing to accept that risk at this time.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
<a href="https://twitter.com/sacbee_news?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@sacbee_news</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/SacBeeEditBoard?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SacBeeEditBoard</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/amychance?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@amychance</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/TheStateWorker?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TheStateWorker</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/GavinNewsom?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GavinNewsom</a> Local 1000 Listens to You!Cease &amp; Desist against GAVIN! Finally a REAL LABOR UNION fighting for ALL of its represented employees! <a href="https://t.co/exTTD5LJTD">pic.twitter.com/exTTD5LJTD</a>
&mdash; Richard the Real 7437 (@RichardReal7437) <a href="https://twitter.com/RichardReal7437/status/1420396411632242691?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 28, 2021</a></blockquote>
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In the letter to CalHr, Anne M. Giese, chief counsel at SEIU Local 1000, claimed Newsom’s new policy violated the requirements of a state employer-employee relations act that grants state employees the right to join labor organizations.
“This is a change in the terms and working conditions of our represented employees and requires meeting and conferring with the Union prior to implementing the change,” she wrote.
Giese called on CalHR and state officials to “cease and desist enforcing this requirement or imposing an immediate deadline” until they “meet and confer” with the union.
Early last month, SEIU Local 1000’s board of directors overwhelmingly approved a $1 million donation to help Newsom fend off a recall in a special election that has since been set for September 14.
The massive contribution was opposed by Brown, who was the union’s incoming president at the time. He was elected in May and took over the role on June 30. <a href="https://apnews.com/article/government-and-politics-f77c7772d349bed42b8140313a6999ca">According</a> to The Associated Press, “his anti-Newsom comments caused a stir in the organized labor movement that largely backs the governor.” The outlet reported, Brown “ran on a platform that included opposition to Newsom because of a state worker pay cut topping 9% last year.”
The Sacramento Bee reported that Brown said, “We will bring the state to a standstill, and we’ll run Gavin Newsom out of office one way or another,” during an interview during the campaign.
On Wednesday, Brown said, “Governor Newsom has counted on support from organized labor for quite a while,” adding, “It’s time Local 1000, and the other bargaining units, take a hard look if that support should continue.”
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/california-mandates-vaccine-or-testing-for-state-employees-health-care-workers">California Mandates Vaccine Or Testing For State Employees, Health Care Workers</a>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/poll-california-voters-almost-evenly-split-on-recall-of-dem-gov-newsom-larry-elder-leading-republicans">POLL: California Voters Almost Evenly Split On Recall Of Dem Gov. Newsom, Larry Elder Leading Republicans</a>

California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom

Leader Of SEIU, California’s Largest State Worker Union, Opposes Newsom’s Deadline To Verify Vaccinations

COVID-19 Vaccine

Gavin Newsom

An influential Democrat on the powerful Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has called on California Governor Gavin Newsom to bring the Navy hospital ship, USNS Mercy, back to the Port of L.A.
Supervisor Janice Hahn recently sent a letter to the governor “in support of SEIU 721’s request to provide additional healthcare workers to all hospitals” in America’s most populated county that have reportedly been inundated with coronavirus patients. The local is the largest public-sector union in Southern California, representing more than 95,000 workers, many of whom work in hospitals.
“Our SEIU healthcare workers are exhausted and our hospitals are overwhelmed. They need backup,” Supervisor Hahn <a href="https://hahn.lacounty.gov/action_on_healthcare_workers_and_usns_mercy">said</a>.
In the <a href="https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/CALACOUNTY/2020/12/30/file_attachments/1636556/Ltr.%20Govenor%20Newsom%20SEIU%20and%20USNS%20Mercy%2012.30.20.pdf">letter</a>, dated Dec. 29, Hahn asked Gov. Newsom to “call on our federal partners to bring back the USNS Mercy with accompanying medical staff.”
“Emergency departments throughout LA County are overwhelmed and cannot take in all patients in need of urgent care,” she wrote. “The USNS Mercy can add more emergency care capacity for patients not suffering from COVID-19 related health complications. This will in turn alleviate the burden on hospitals, so they can focus on severely ill COVID-19 patients.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Reminder our experts are all hacks. <a href="https://t.co/VDQDjYtOLH">https://t.co/VDQDjYtOLH</a>
&mdash; Ron Bassilian (@Ron4California) <a href="https://twitter.com/Ron4California/status/1344587213711974407?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 31, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Hahn’s office <a href="https://hahn.lacounty.gov/action_on_healthcare_workers_and_usns_mercy">cautioned</a>, “Hospitals across LA County are preparing to ration care as COVID-19 hospitalizations rise and surpass the ability of available staff to properly treat patients.” She is backing SEIU 721&#8217;s appeal for Army National Guard medical personnel to be dispatched to the area to provide support.
“Our public health experts warn that the worst is yet to come with the anticipated incoming Christmas and New Year’s holiday surge,” Hahn wrote.
USNS Mercy briefly docked at the Port of L.A. in March. It was one of several medical field stations established by the state in preparation for an expected COVID-19 surge Newsom <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/23/gov-newsom-california-will-need-an-additional-50000-hospital-beds-to-respond-to-coronavirus.html">said</a> would require an additional 50,000 hospital beds.
<a href="https://www.kpbs.org/news/2020/mar/27/usns-mercy-hospital-ship-arrives-port-los-angeles/">According</a> to Democratic Mayor Eric Garcetti, the 1000-bed ship immediately became the largest hospital in town. “This truly is mercy on the water,” he said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Hospital ship <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/USNSMercy?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#USNSMercy</a> arrives in Los Angeles to support <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID19?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#COVID19</a> response efforts: <a href="https://t.co/Y4Vr6ykGyZ">https://t.co/Y4Vr6ykGyZ</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/USNavy?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#USNavy</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/MSCSealift?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MSCSealift</a> <a href="https://t.co/LKSIYdRjmy">pic.twitter.com/LKSIYdRjmy</a>
&mdash; U.S. Pacific Fleet (@USPacificFleet) <a href="https://twitter.com/USPacificFleet/status/1243598162360582144?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 27, 2020</a></blockquote>
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The ship was staffed by more than 800 Navy medical personnel and support members and meant to treat trauma patients, allowing shore-based hospitals to concentrate on people who would fall ill with COVID-19.
However, area hospitals were not overwhelmed, and the expected wave of sick people never materialized. Mercy’s crew only <a href="https://www.dailybreeze.com/2020/05/14/after-nearly-7-weeks-and-77-patients-usns-mercy-will-leave-port-of-los-angeles-on-friday/">treated</a> 77 patients in seven weeks, and the ship departed on May 15.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
So <a href="https://twitter.com/GavinNewsom?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GavinNewsom</a> &amp; <a href="https://twitter.com/MayorOfLA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MayorOfLA</a> is that Mercy medical ship coming back? What about that backup hospital in the L.A.? St Vincent Medical Center? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID19?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#COVID19</a>
&mdash; Mia Alanis (@MiaAlanisPR) <a href="https://twitter.com/MiaAlanisPR/status/1336713197101875203?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 9, 2020</a></blockquote>
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The state had also leased a shuttered hospital in L.A. at the time in anticipation of the surge that never happened. The former St. Vincent Medical Center temporarily reopened as the Los Angeles Surge Hospital (LASH). The pop-up facility only admitted coronavirus patients who met certain criteria. It was open for only 39 days and treated just 64 patients. <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-07-06/la-surge-hospital-coronavirus-pandemic-st-vincent">According</a> to the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, the operating costs totaled $21.5 million.
The complex is owned by Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, who also owns the Los Angeles Times. <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-04-10/st-vincent-medical-center-coronavirus-patrick-soon-shiong-bankruptcy-judge">According</a> to the outlet, he had planned “to create a coronavirus research facility on the campus” <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-04-17/la-surge-hospital-opens-westlake-coronavirus-covid-19-st-vincent">that would</a> “relieve pressure on other hospitals.” But as The Daily Wire reported earlier this month, the property was recently used to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/los-angeles-surge-hospital-that-treated-covid-19-patients-now-appears-to-be-the-site-of-full-scale-hollywood-production">shoot a full-scale Hollywood production</a>.
On December 4, a shortage of intensive care unit beds in Southern California triggered a stay-at-home order that shut down outdoor restaurant dining, hair salons, and restricted capacity at retail stores. The regional directive <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-12-05/la-me-coronavirus-stay-home-order-sunday-southern-california-covid-19-highs">took effect</a> two days later, and was <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-12-29/california-breaks-single-day-record-coronavirus-cases-66811">extended</a> on Tuesday.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
If hospitals in Los Angeles are so overwhelmed, how come a 366-bed hospital designated for overflow Covid patients is instead being used as the set for a movie? Could it be because the billionaire owner of the L.A. Times also owns the hospital? <a href="https://t.co/jXl4XtSx6w">https://t.co/jXl4XtSx6w</a>
&mdash; Daniel Kotzin (@danielkotzin) <a href="https://twitter.com/danielkotzin/status/1337494526173143040?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 11, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/los-angeles-surge-hospital-that-treated-covid-19-patients-now-appears-to-be-the-site-of-full-scale-hollywood-production">Los Angeles Surge Hospital That Treated COVID-19 Patients Now Appears To Be Site Of Full-Scale Hollywood Production</a>

U.S. Navy Hospital Ship Mercy Arrives At The Port Of Los Angeles

California Democrat Asks Newsom To Bring U.S. Navy Hospital Ship Back To Port Of L.A. To Relieve SEIU Workers

California

COVID

On March 26, a powerful California union released <a href="https://www.seiu-uhw.org/press/union-locates-massive-supply-of-n95-masks/">a statement</a> saying it had “located 39 million critically needed N95 masks and is connecting states, counties, health systems and individual hospitals to the supplier so they can purchase them in quantity.”
The Service Employees International Union – United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) bragged that it had “launched an exhaustive search for masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE) five days ago in response to pleas from frontline healthcare workers that they need more protection and feel unsafe on the job as they treat the growing number of COVID-19 patients. SEIU-UHW has 97,000 members who work in hospitals across California.”
“Within 48 hours of painstakingly calling leads and potential suppliers, the union discovered a distributor who had the 39 million masks, and has since found another supplier who says his company can produce 20 million more masks a week. The union also has found a supplier who can deliver millions of face shields,” the statement continued.
As Twitchy <a href="https://twitchy.com/gregp-3534/2020/04/12/remember-the-story-about-the-union-that-was-somehow-able-to-source-39-million-n95-masks-yeah-totally-bogus/">noted</a>, Democrats and their media supporters delivered numerous union-good-Trump-bad takes, such as former Media Matters writer Oliver Willis, who tweeted: “seiu just revealed they found *39 million* n95 masks while trump is sitting on his hands.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
seiu just revealed they found *39 million* n95 masks while trump is sitting on his hands <a href="https://t.co/qwivLjvtmh">https://t.co/qwivLjvtmh</a>
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) <a href="https://twitter.com/owillis/status/1243258453965111296?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 26, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Former Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Donna Brazile tweeted: “Union Locates Massive Supply of N95 Masks &#8211; SEIU UHW. Thank you <a href="https://twitter.com/SEIU">@SEIU</a>. Proud to be a member of this union. We are all in this together.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Union Locates Massive Supply of N95 Masks &#8211; SEIU UHW. Thank you ⁦<a href="https://twitter.com/SEIU?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SEIU</a>⁩. Proud to be a member of this union. We are all in this together. <a href="https://t.co/WvA3eQFevd">https://t.co/WvA3eQFevd</a>
— Donna Brazile (@donnabrazile) <a href="https://twitter.com/donnabrazile/status/1243269199570653190?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 26, 2020</a></blockquote>
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They praised the union despite others having immediate concerns about the press release, including Twitchy Editor Greg Pollowitz, who asked, “this press release doesn&#8217;t make much sense. so there was a distributor just sitting on 39 million N95 masks until this union convinced them to sell them to hospitals?”
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this press release doesn&#8217;t make much sense. so there was a distributor just sitting on 39 million N95 masks until this union convinced them to sell them to hospitals? <a href="https://t.co/EzEkYd5tYB">https://t.co/EzEkYd5tYB</a>
— Greg Pollowitz (@GPollowitz) <a href="https://twitter.com/GPollowitz/status/1243247390183903232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 26, 2020</a></blockquote>
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It turns out Pollowitz was right. There was something fishy about the whole deal.
The Los Angeles Times <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-04-11/coronavirus-seiu-masks-fraud-fbi">reported</a> Sunday that scammers were behind the allegedly discovered 39 million masks. The outlet and others, <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/fbi-discovers-promised-stockpile-39-million-medical-masks-was-scam-1497489?amp=1">such as Newsweek</a>, claimed the FBI only started investigating in an attempt to intercept the masks for the federal government using the Defense Production Act. But through the FBI’s investigation, the bureau discovered the union had been scammed – meaning they released the press release before they had proof of the existence of the masks.
U.S. Attorney Scott Brady of the Western District of Pennsylvania announced the FBI had traced the tip about the stockpile to a businessman in Pittsburgh. The man told FBI investigators that he was working with the union to obtain the masks and claimed some were in a Georgia warehouse.
“Brady said the businessman had been using WhatsApp to connect with a broker in Australia and a supplier in Kuwait, who are both now the target of a federal investigation,” the Times reported.
The outlet further reported that the Pittsburgh businessman and other middlemen had also been duped by the scammers.
“There are opportunists who are looking for any victim,” Brady said.
More from the Times:
<blockquote>Brady, the federal prosecutor, said the Pittsburgh businessman told investigators he was buying the masks at $3.50 each and turning a “slight profit” in the SEIU-led deal. The union said the masks were being purchased for $5 and that SEIU was not making any money. It’s unclear whether the Pittsburgh middleman intended to pocket the entire $9 million profit.
Brady said the foreign connections asked for a 40% payment upfront and that they planned to give Kaiser details on how to forward that payment at the last moment.
At one point, the Australian broker told the middleman in Pittsburgh that 2 million masks were located in a warehouse in Georgia and that the product had been inspected by a particular certification company.</blockquote>
Brady said the claim about the Georgia warehouse “was also part of the ruse.”

N95 Face Mask

Union That Promised 39 Million N95 Masks Was Scammed, FBI Says

The Chicago Teachers Union got a treat as their strike entered its second week: a &#8220;civil disobedience&#8221; training session from a Bernie Sanders staffer.
Monday marks day eight of the CTU strike, <a href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/2019/10/24/20930111/chicago-teachers-strike-updates-cps-live-blog-day-8">according to the Chicago Sun-Times</a>, and neither the city of Chicago nor the teacher&#8217;s union seem poised to give in on contract negotiations. CTU is demanding not just a raise in pay and an increase in benefits, but jobs for nurses, social workers, and librarians, many of whom are represented by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which sees the CTU negotiation as an opportunity to demand more union employees be hired into the Chicago public school system.
The city of Chicago and mayor Lori Lightfoot seem increasingly exasperated with the negotiations, suggesting Monday that CTU is not serious about reaching a deal &#8212; something CTU seemed more than willing to underline but <a href="https://www.ctulocal1.org/posts/ctu-educators-invite-the-rev-jesse-jackson-to-mediate-cps-negotiations/">suggesting that Rev. Jesse Jackson, Jr.</a>, take over as mediator between the two parties.
Both sides called their Friday and Monday meetings, &#8220;good progress.&#8221;
Despite their optimistic public comments, school remains cancelled for the city&#8217;s 300,000 students for the foreseeable future, <a href="https://wgntv.com/2019/10/24/chicago-teachers-strike-hits-1-week-mark-as-contract-talks-continue/">according to WGN, </a>and, over the weekend, the teacher&#8217;s union sent a clear message to city officials that strike methods may become more extreme if negotiations drag on.
Last week, striking Chicago teachers received a day-long training on &#8220;civil disobedience,&#8221; <a href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/2019/10/24/20931416/cps-strike-ctu-teachers-support-staff-civil-disobedience-training-arrests">according to the Sun-Times. </a>There, the educators learned how to grind buildins to a standstill, clog intersections, and draw the attention of law enforcement so that any eventual arrest becomes a visible reminder of the strike for city officials, and, hopefully, a national news story.
&#8220;During the presentation, led by an SEIU Healthcare official and a staffer for presidential contender Sen. Bernie Sanders’ political team, strikers were coached on blocking traffic and shutting down building lobbies,&#8221; the Sun-Times said. &#8220;Despite members agreeing that any protests would remain nonviolent, they were all prepped for being arrested as part of future demonstrations. They were told to avoid carrying anything that isn’t necessary and advised to use the restroom and bundle up in the case they’re locked up.&#8221;
Members of CTU were also advised to dress warmly since &#8220;jail cells can be cold.&#8221;
“We are probably under a consensus and agreement that what we want to do is what is going to advance our message as clearly as possible and put as much possible pressure on the mayor to settle this problem as quickly as possible,&#8221; the Sanders staffer who hosted the workshop told media.
The training, organizers said, was for those “who are ready to step it up a notch…We will learn from the tactics that ended Jim Crow and the Vietnam War&#8221; to end the contract impasse, though reasons for the scale up weren&#8217;t given.
As for when the more visible protests will begin, well, union officials suggested protesting President Donald Trump, who is in Chicago Monday for a fundraiser and to give a speech to the International Association of Chiefs of Police holding their annual convention on the city&#8217;s south side, would be a &#8220;productive&#8221; idea, <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-cps-strike-chicago-teachers-union-updates-20191028-kapm3khjobhc5nxr5inuzcswfm-story.html">the Chicago Tribune reports</a>.
“After pickets Monday, the CTU has not planned any afternoon activity,” an email from union leaders to union members, sent Sunday night, read. “Feel free to rest or take part in any productive activity of your choosing. We have heard that President Donald Trump might be in town. If any members were inclined to show up outside his fundraiser in red, that would qualify as productive, in our view.”
Trump did not acknowledge the strike in his remarks to police chiefs Monday morning, focusing instead on immigration and the failures of Chicago&#8217;s police department. He&#8217;s also unlikely to see any protests; since McCormick Place, where Trump is speaking, is out of the way of downtown, and demonstrations there aren&#8217;t likely to draw attention or disrupt city business. Instead, protesters will gather outside Trump Tower.

U.S.-CHICAGO-TEACHERS-STRIKE RALLY

Striking Chicago Teachers Get ‘Civil Disobedience’ Training From Bernie Sanders Staffers, Plan To Disrupt Trump Visit

Chicago

The Services Employees International Union (SEIU), the second largest union in the nation, a huge Democratic Party supporter, and <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/coralewis/seiu-new-york-director-of-the-fight-for-15-resigned?utm_term=.ye4GaqA8X#.gfvmGLkeO">representing a majority-female workforce</a> largely made up of immigrant women and women of color, has spearheaded a “Fight for $15” minimum wage campaign.
But now executives with the union, who were heavily involved with the “Fight for $15” minimum wage campaign, have either been fired or are resigning as allegations of sexual harassment run rampant.
<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2017-11-02/seiu-ousts-senior-leaders-for-abusive-behavior-toward-women">Bloomberg</a> reported that on Thursday, Kendall Fells, one of the top national leaders of SEIU’s &#8220;Fight For 15&#8221; campaign, had resigned, and Detroit leader Mark Raleigh was fired. SIEU spokesperson Sahar Wali said, &#8220;As a result of information that has come to light through our ongoing internal investigation, today SEIU took action on two senior staff.” An SEIU spokeswoman stated, “These personnel actions are the culmination of this stage of the investigation which brought to light the serious problems related to abusive behavior towards staff, predominantly female staff.”
In October, SEIU Executive Vice President Scott Courtney, the chief strategist of “Fight for $15,” was suspended after he married a union employee. Buzzfeed News reported, “More than a dozen current and former staffers interviewed by BuzzFeed News said complaints about top-level staff on the Fight for 15 were an open secret, and that complaints about abusive behavior by organizers who reported to top strategist Courtney led to no action.” Courtney reportedly had a history of dating subordinates.
After Courtney resigned a week later, Sahar Wali, spokesperson for SEIU, <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/coralewis/seiu-courtney-resigns?utm_term=.tcylqZKRe#.kojxzDXbg">emailed</a> BuzzFeed News:
<blockquote>This morning, President Mary Kay Henry accepted Scott Courtney’s resignation as an elected officer and member of SEIU. This comes a week after she suspended him from his assigned duties based on preliminary information that surfaced through an internal investigation launched to look into questions about to potential violations of our union’s anti-nepotism policy, efforts to evade our Code of Ethics and subsequent complaints related to sexual misconduct and abusive behavior towards union staff,&#8221; Wali added.</blockquote>
Buzzfeed News added:
<blockquote>Seven people who have worked with Courtney, including current and former SEIU staffers, told BuzzFeed News the top official had a history of sexual relationships with young women staffers — who were subsequently promoted, they said. … Two people who spoke with BuzzFeed News also said no significant action was taken after staffers reported abuse and sexual harassment by supervisors — who reported to Courtney. “Nothing happened on those campaigns without Scott knowing,&#8221; one of the sources said.</blockquote>
Also in October, SEIU fired Caleb Jennings, who had spearheaded &#8220;Fight For 15&#8221; in Chicago.
How close was the SEIU to Barack Obama? He <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/article/282754/barack-obama-president-seiu-jan-brewer">stated</a> when he was a presidential candidate, “Your agenda has been my agenda in the United States Senate.”

Massive Leftist Union’s Execs Hit By Allegations Of Sexual Harassment

Sexual Misconduct

The<a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/coralewis/seiu-suspension?utm_term=.kkoGPgYlQ#.prxrPRn1V"> Service Employees International Union has suspended it&#8217;s vice president</a> — the top official in its &#8220;Fight for $15&#8243; movement — Scott Courtney, after allegations surfaced that Courtney had sexual relations with several female workers who were then promoted.
According to a spokesperson for SEIU, “questions were raised &#8230; relating to our union’s ethical code and anti-nepotism policy.&#8221; Those questions had to do with an alleged affair Courtney was having with a female junior employee at SEIU. The relationship, according to reports, was one of several going back years — and the women who slept with Courtney, <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/coralewis/seiu-suspension?utm_term=.kkoGPgYlQ#.prxrPRn1V">Buzzfeed News reports</a>, were often promoted within the organization.
“I suspended Executive Vice President Scott Courtney from his assigned duties as an officer of SEIU on Monday,&#8221; said SEIU&#8217;s president, Mary Kay Henry. She added that the suspension will continue while SEIU&#8217;s general counsel pursues a full investigation.
Courtney got married this past weekend, so the suspension&#8217;s timing is both ironic and terrible.
According to Buzzfeed, Courtney&#8217;s allegedly lecherous behavior was an &#8220;open secret&#8221; among the Soros-funded union&#8217;s employees, and cast a long shadow over SEIU&#8217;s &#8220;Fight for $15&#8221; campaign, which focused on raising the wages &#8220;of a low-wage, largely female fast-food workforce&#8221; (and also on unionizing fast food workers in a bid to expand SEIU&#8217;s membership and number of dues-paying members).
That&#8217;s right: the union that claimed to be fighting for the rights of hard-working women to earn a fair wage at a part-time fast food job may have been tolerating a serial sexual harasser within its ranks, putting its own female workforce at risk.
Charming.
The SEIU, like Harvey Weinstein, the other newsmaking alleged sexual harasser, is a major Democratic money machine. In 2016 alone,<a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=d000000077"> the SEIU contributed more than $39 million</a> to mostly Democratic campaigns, easily ranking it among Democrats largest fundraising vehicles. Dems won&#8217;t like having to give that back if it&#8217;s revealed SEIU covered for sexual harassment within its ranks.
And it might have: most of the victims, Buzzfeed says, only spoke to the news agency on condition of anonymity because they feared retribution from their union superiors for exposing the danger to women lurking in the union&#8217;s ranks.
If the investigation finds evidence of wrongdoing, SEIU will have to begin a long and arduous process to remove their executive vice president. Unions have a habit of protecting their own, and SEIU is no small union.

SEIU Chief Suspended After Complaints He Sexually Harassed Female Staffers

Sexual Assault

<a href="http://nationalactionnetwork.net/featured/we-shall-not-be-moved-march-on-washington-jan-14-2017/">Last Saturday</a>, hundreds of mostly black participants in front of Washington, D.C.’s Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial gathered to fuse communist slogans with phrases historically associated with the Civil Rights Movement.
Organized by Al Sharpton’s National Action Network (NAN) &#8211; a neo-Marxist racial agitation group aligned with the Democrat Party &#8211; on the Martin Luther King Jr. Day long weekend for the purpose of opposing President-elect Donald Trump’s forthcoming inauguration, the event featured elements of racial black nationalism and socialism/communism. Blacks were framed as a neo-proletariat under the oppression of widespread anti-black racism in order to reinforce black racial perceptions of grievance and perpetuate the Quixotic struggle for &#8220;social justice.&#8221;
NAN operative Mary-Pat Hector attempted to co-opt the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. in pushing the political agenda of her organization and the broader Democrat Party.
Hector combined mantras from the Civil Rights Movements with communist slaganeering. “We will not be moved!” was shouted alongside &#8220;we have nothing to lose but our chains!” <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/1117306-it-is-our-duty-to-fight-for-our-freedom-it">(subsequently appropriated and expanded</a> by racial black nationalist and neo-Marxist terrorist Assata Shakur):
&nbsp;
<blockquote>“There’s a war on women in this country. There’s a war on black and brown bodies in this country. There’s a war on justice in this country… We will not be moved.
…
It is our duty to fight for our freedom! It is our duty to win! We must love each other and support each other! We have nothing to lose but our chains.”</blockquote>
“We won’t go back!” shouted several of the event&#8217;s featured speakers, implying that Republicans and the broader right intended to segregate blacks from whites and subsequently enslave blacks for the benefit of whites. Vice-President Joe Biden <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUjXlDzBfoA">expressed a similar sentiment</a> during the 2012 presidential election season.
&nbsp;
Hector called for a “second wave of the Civil Rights Movement” to oppose President-elect Donald Trump.
Sybrina Fulton &#8211; the mother of the late Trayvon Martin &#8211; delivered brief remarks furthering the racial narrative of blacks being violently oppressed by anti-black racism she implied was with police services and the criminal justice system.
“Criminal justice reform” was repeatedly called for by many of the event’s featured speakers as a euphemism for the implementation of racial and ethnic quotas in the justice system (per arrests, prosecutions, convictions, and sentencing).
Sharpton listed four “non-negotiable” issues as essential to black well-being: “voting rights, criminal justice and police reform, equal and fair economic justice, and the Affordable Care Act.”
<a href="http://www.naacp.org/cornell-william-brooks/">Cornell William Brooks</a>, the president and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), attempted to integrate the Civil Rights Movement with the contemporary leftism of Democrats and the broader left:
&nbsp;
<blockquote>“Across this republic, there’s a chill wind that blows. A chill wind of fear for women… who heard a candidate for the presidency talk in the most vulgar terms about grabbing a woman’s genitalia.
&#8230;.
This is a campaign in which we saw racism regularized, homophobia routinized, xenophobia made the order of the day. It’s a campaign in which we heard over and over and over again, our people being marginalized, our people being otherized… it is a campaign in which many of us felt disrespected.”</blockquote>
Other refrains and themes of the event included calls for “social” and “economic justice,” “no justice, no peace,” “voter suppression,” and calls for raising the federal minimum wage.
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) posters and yellow ponchos were visible in the crowd, indicating the leftist union’s involvement in the event.
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Red, black, and green Pan-African racial black nationalist imagery was also present at the event:
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Other prominent neo-Marxist and racial agitators were featured at the event, including former Ohio state senator OhioNina Turner, Georgetown University professor Michael Eric Dyson, and National Urban League (NUL) President Marc Morial.
Dyson&#8217;s drew on his latest book &#8220;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Tears-We-Cannot-Stop-America/dp/1250135990">Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America</a>: &#8211; published this past Tuesday &#8211; as he called on whites to join the left:
<blockquote>&#8220;And what we must tell our white brothers and sisters is, You go to learn from us as well. Don’t be hoodwinked and snookered by investing in white supremacy and the unconscious reflex of bigotry.
&#8230;
Disinvest in your innocence. Disinvest in your amnesia. Disinvest in your fragility, and learn that you and I must struggle together.”</blockquote>
<a href="https://colorofchange.org/">Color of Change</a> (COC) &#8211; a neo-Marxist racial agitation movement founded in part by left-wing CNN Democrat Van Jones &#8211; also deployed a speaker to deliver remarks at the event.
Despite operating as de facto political action committees and get-out-the-vote operations targeting blacks for the electoral benefit of Democrats, the NAN, NAACP, NUL, and COC (as well as most of their subsidiary organizations) enjoy tax-exempt statuses via with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The NAN, NAACP, NUL, and COC are all registered with the IRS as either <a href="https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/charitable-organizations/exemption-requirements-section-501-c-3-organizations">501(c)(3)</a> or <a href="https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/other-non-profits/types-of-organizations-exempt-under-section-501-c-4">501(c)(4)</a> organizations.
Although Sharpton has been an informal adviser, strategist, and ally of President Barack Obama, host of an MSNBC program, and radio host, left-wing and Democrat-aligned media outlets neglected to conduct any meaningful reporting on the NAN-organized event. CNN did, however, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/16/politics/white-nationalists-trump-losing-faith/">produce a report</a> on fringe white nationalists and their supposed relationship with Trump.
Sharpton executed a vanity project in which he circulated an image of himself to be signed by the event&#8217;s attendees:
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Watch the entire event <a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?421836-1/reverend-al-sharpton-hosts-preinauguration-rally">here</a> or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NUp7hgzS44">here</a>.
Follow Robert Kraychik on <a href="https://twitter.com/kr3ch3k">Twitter</a>.

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