In a Labor Day email titled “Big Labor Attack Squad,” U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann asked supporters to “level the playing field” with labor by donating to her campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.

In the email, Bachmann said unions have been falsely attacking her campaign ”as they grow fearful of our increasing momentum,” referring to a labor rally in Detroit that President Barack Obama spoke at over the weekend.

Bachmann rejected an earlier assertion by International Brotherhood of Teamsters President James P. Hoffa that she wanted to end Social Security. She referred to him as a “notorious union boss and Obama advisor.”

At the event with Obama, Hoffa earned the ire of Republicans when he criticized tea partiers as “anti-labor” and called Republican congressmen “sons of bitches.”

“We got to keep an eye on the battle that we face, the war on workers. And you see it everywhere, it is the Tea Party. And you know, there is only one way to beat and win that war. The one thing about working people is we like a good fight. And you know what? They’ve got a war, they’ve got a war with us and there’s only going to be one winner—it’s going to be the workers of Michigan, and America.”

Bachmann blamed unions for job losses, using the example of the National Labor Relations Board’s ruling that Boeing’s South Carolina plant was built in retribution for legal labor actions by the company’s unionized Washington workers, a ruling that Bachmann called “un-American.”

“When they’re not on the attack on CNN, union bosses like Hoffa in Washington, DC, are getting big returns on their election day influence, yielding unprecedented power granted by Obama appointments to the National Labor Relations Board, and costing Americans countless jobs in the process.”

Bachmann said unions that are using terms like “anti-worker” are engaging in “class warfare.”

“Big labor policies enforced by unelected and unaccountable Obama bureaucrats cost Americans jobs, while boosting the professional and political prospects of union leaders like Jimmy Hoffa. As President, you can be sure that I will respect the right of Americans to work, and enact policies that promote prosperity and economic freedom, not membership in declining unions.”

Bachmann’s email repeatedly asked supporters to make “a contribution of $25, $50, $100, or any amount up to the legal limit.”

Photo: TarrylClark.com

State Sen. Tarryl Clark has picked up another endorsement from organized labor for her congressional bid. Yesterday, Teamsters Joint Council 32 officially gave the St. Cloud Democrat the nod in her challenge to 6th district incumbent Rep. Michele Bachmann. Joint Council 32 has 62,000 members, many in Bachmann’s district.

“We will reach out to our members in the district and show them the facts as to how they have been ignored by the current congressional representative,” said Sue Mauren, Teamsters Joint Council 32 president. “She has been an absolute disappointment and, in many cases, an embarrassment to voters in the area.”

The endorsement follows that of AFSCME Council 5, which represents some 5,000 government employees of voting age in the 6th district, in early August. AFSCME Council 65 threw its support behind Clark, who is the state Senate’s Assistant Majority Leader, a week later.

Two items from yesterday make reappearances in today’s edition:

Editor responds to funeraltweet criticisms: An editor at the Rocky Mountain News has responded to criticisms — first leveled by the Colorado Independent, but picked up by Poynter, Journalism.co.uk, and others — about its reporter who used Twitter to liveblog the funeral of a 3-year-old boy killed by a hit-and-run driver. In an email to a concerned reader (posted on  a SportsJournalists.com online forum), RMN editor/publisher John Temple wasn’t exactly apologetic:

…I think you’re making a mistake in not differentiating between the execution (yes, some of the updates could have been better) and the idea itself. We don’t attend funerals without permission of the family. We wrote a story for the paper about the funeral. The death of that child was a huge local story. It touched many people. Why not connect with them in real time, as long as we’re not disruptive at the funeral, which we weren’t and wouldn’t be? And by the way, I’m the father of three children. And I’ve covered more tragedy than I could ever have imagined, including the Columbine shootings.

Strib Teamsters concessions “null and void”: A switch in the Star Tribune’s Teamsters contract story. As reported yesterday, the Teamsters Joint Council reportedly claimed that no agreement existed between three Strib locals that stated that if any one union chapter voted against contract concessions, all three Teamster locals would reject the concessions. After a petition by Teamster mailers and drivers, word now is that the concessions were indeed rejected. A Thursday memo to drivers by Robert Moore, Teamster Local 638 business agent, and Mark Rime, the local’s secretary treasurer, stated in part: “As you are probably aware, on Monday, Sept. 8, 2008, the Pressmen of Local 1M rejected the company offer. It is our position with management that the offer voted on by Local 638 members on July 31, 2008 is null and void. The contract that you voted on in November 2007 is in effect and the wages, pension, health and welfare and all working conditions will remain the same.”

Strib HQ Photo: Paul Schmelzer

Strib Teamsters again reject concessions: The Teamsters press operators union at the Star Tribune has for the second time rejected contract concessions that would’ve cut their wages by 16 percent over the life of the agreement. Last month the union voted down a similar deal. At that time, two other Teamster locals at the Strib voted for the concessions, but due to an agreement struck between the three groups, a no-vote by any single local would kill the agreement for all. In an interesting twist, the Teamsters Joint Council is claiming they approved no such thing and that the contracts for Teamster drivers and mailers will stand. The pressmen’s givebacks would’ve meant the cutting of 60 of the 340 shifts per week, pay cuts of 10 percent for members and changes to overtime provisions, among others.

Funeraltweeting? Our sister site, the Colorado Independent, is outraged that The Rocky Mountain News used the microblogging tool Twitter to liveblog the funeral of a three-year old. My take: the form of Twitter itself — a 140-character limit, which often leads to abbreviated words — is too informal for such an affair. Plus, RMN didn’t bother to capitalize or punctuate its tweets, adding to the feeling that it was a glib endeavor.

Kersten’s idea of a “storm”: Conservative Star Tribune columnist Katherine Kersten is again tilting her rightward-bent lance at the majority-Muslim charter school TIZA, writing that a “storm is brewing” between the school and the Department of Education over the state’s concern about the school’s voluntary Friday prayer time. But David Brauer of MinnPost provides critical context that Kersten omitted, a letter a TIZA administrator sent to the state. While Kersten calls the note “defensive,” Brauer says “the letter patiently and respectfully makes it case, then offers to make the changes anyway.” He concludes that the paper has “occasionally provided supporting documentation for past Kersten columns, but it really needs to make that a habit when TIZA is involved.”

The Pulitzer Prize of YouTube: YouTube and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting are teaming up to award $10,000 to a videomaker covering under-reported stories of global importance. Begun Sept. 8, the contest will give its winner funds for travel, production aid from the Pulitzer Center, high-end equipment and distribution on YouTube.