John Kline wanted to let all his FACEBOOK friends know  not to miss the 2013 Taxpayers Rally held this past Saturday:  The theme was to protest high taxes, economic freedom, the freedom to keep and bear arms, and the freedom to choose to join a union or not … with featured speakers Grover Norquist, Representative Michele Bachmann and radio personality “America’s Mr. Right” Jason Lewis.

Yeah … to join a union or not.
Who needs a union when the Chairman of the Education and Workforce Committee is John Kline … who is quite adept at ignoring corporate shenanigans designed to cut obligations to its current labor force and to deliberately end benefits for retirees.

That was the subject of a protest in Saint Louis yesterday :

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Sixteen people, including eleven retired coal miners, were arrested Monday in the latest non-violent demonstration against Peabody Energy spin-off Patriot Coal. In all some four-thousand demonstrators showed up Monday, the largest in a series of protests against Peabody this year.
The United Mine Workers of America allege Patriot was created to go bankrupt so Peabody could wash its hands of union contracts.
Peabody, which retained profitable coal mines throughout the United States and Australia after the spinoff, loaded Patriot up with pension and benefit liabilities for retirees, many of whom retired before the spinoff and never worked for Patriot.
Patriot would cease pension contributions and replace current health benefits with a voluntary employees’ beneficiary association.
13,000 union workers could be impacted.

Click this link to see a Protest recorded by KSDK.com or watch it below:

Yep, Chairman Kline promotes a tax protest rally that draws a couple hundred supporters while ignoring the plight of 13,000 workers and 4,000 protesters.

But that is the norm … while the Senate plans to hold hearings on the West Fertilizer explosion, Chairman Kline is silent.
Heck, there is a sequester after all … a sequester that is causing furloughs at the Department of Labor. And if employees cannot work, they cannot review Safety violations. But, heck, according to Peabody’s 2010 Annual Report there were only 147 legal actions pending before the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission. In addition, the 2010 Annual Report, the company had received 3,233 notices of violations — over 9 a day — from the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) under section 104 of the Mine Act.

Yep, that’s John Kline … he will promote rallies against workers rights … and ignore corporations that are putting workers lives and futures at risk.

Happy International Workers’ Day !