1.   A public employee union in Michigan sued to block the state from contracting out job training for welfare recipients.

2.   In part for this reason, in part because several public employees unions opposed any merit pay, Congress yawned.

3.   And on Monday, Sun Healthcare Group Inc. sued a health-care employees union, saying it ran newspaper ads defaming the company.

4.   At the urging of Valdes, its former president, the state employees union went to court and succeeded in blocking the proposal.

5.   Austin attorney David Guillory, representing Strain in a countersuit against the women and their employee union, said his client plans to proceed with that case.

6.   Already, half of the members of the local hotel and restaurant employees union are out of work.

7.   But he also saw candidates backed by city employee unions and some city council members win a sweeping victory in races for seats on the charter reform commission.

8.   But Mark Blum, a health care economist who represents a coalition of UCSF Stanford employee unions, said the issue came down to values.

9.   But that program, under scrutiny by public employee unions and retired employees, remains just a concept.

10.   But the largest independent federal employees union is seeking a court injunction to prohibit the government from requiring their members to work without pay.