Indianapolis – Open up a McDonald’s Happy Meal and inside you’ll likely find a CD called “Kidz Bop.” It’s a collection of six songs, sung by kids, for kids.

But some parents haven’t been too “happy” with their latest kid’s meal gift. Parents in Alabama were the first to complain about a phrase in the first song by Gavin DeGraw called “I Don’t Want to Be.”

We picked up our own copy to see what all the fuss was about and played the song for some local parents and asked them what they heard.

“It sounded like it said I’m tired of F-in’ around. Which is not a good word for little kids. Oh my goodness,” said mom Bethany Hill.

Listen to this video. When I played it, ironically a Wendy’s commercial came up first.

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Graham Richards’ legacy:

A failed inner-city housing development, a $2 million tax break to a McDonald’s restaurant, the failed Public Safety Academy of Northeast Indiana, the failure in the development of The Harrison condo project, and screwing the city for $300,000 for his consulting gig.

What am I forgetting?

Happy New Year! – AWB

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What they’re pushing is the The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). Read on..

From WIKI

The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is legislation in the United States which aims to “amend the National Labor Relations Act to establish an efficient system to enable employees to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to provide for mandatory injunctions for unfair labor practices during organizing efforts, and for other purposes.”[1] Under current labor law, the U.S. National Labor Relations Board will certify a union as the exclusive representative of employees if it is elected by either a majority signature drive, the card check process, or by secret ballot NLRB election, which is held if more than 30% of employees in a bargaining unit sign statements asking for representation by a union. If enacted, this bill would require the NLRB to certify a bargaining representative without directing an election if a majority of the bargaining unit employees signed cards, the card check process.

Pursuant to the bill, a union can demand that an employer begin bargaining within ten days of certification of the union as the exclusive bargaining representative for an appropriate unit of employees via the card check. In addition, if the union and employer cannot agree upon the terms of a first collective bargaining contract within ninety days, either party can request federal mediation, which could lead to binding arbitration if an agreement still cannot be reached after thirty days of mediation. Where government arbitration determines terms of the agreement, employees would lose their current right to ratify the terms of the agreement. Finally, the Act would provide for liquidated damages of three times back pay if employers were found to have unlawfully terminated pro-union employees. The EFCA also would impose a $20,000 penalty upon employers for each employer violation of the proposed legislation if the NLRB and/or a court deems the violation willful or repetitive.

From The Heritage Foundation

How the Employee Free Choice Act Takes Away Workers’ Rights

Does a ballot cast in private or a card signed in public better reveal a worker’s true preference about whether to join a union? A private vote is the obvious answer, but organized labor has nonetheless made the misleadingly named Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA, H.R. 800) its highest legislative priority.

Recently, unions have switched the focus of their organizing operations from private balloting to publicly signed cards. These so-called card-check campaigns make it much easier for unions to organize workers, but most companies strongly resist the idea of denying their employees a vote. Unions now want the government to take away workers’ right to vote and certify unions after only a card-check campaign. The Employee Free Choice Act would do this and more.

First, it requires the National Labor Relations Board to certify a union after a majority of a firm’s workers has signed union cards, putting an end to almost all organizing elections: “if the [National Labor Relations] Board finds that a majority of the employees in a unit appropriate for bargaining has signed valid authorizations…the Board shall not direct an election but shall certify the individual or labor organization.”[1]

Second, the EFCA requires companies and newly certified unions to enter binding arbitration if they cannot reach agreement on an initial contract after 90 days of negotiations.[2] Neither companies nor employees could appeal the arbitrator’s ruling, and the contract would last for two years.

Third, H.R. 800 would dramatically increase the penalties for unfair labor practices committed by employers, but not unions, during an organizing drive.[3]

More here and it’s worth the read.

AWB

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