The Union Label - June 2nd
Posted on June 2, 2006 at 3:40 pm by Chuck Muth
LIBERAL “OLD BULL” SLAMS UNION GREED
“I have always been a supporter of the labor movement. Unions have a proud legacy of improving the lives of millions of workers over the last century. But lately I have seen developments that have me worried.
“…Delphi Corp., the biggest auto parts supplier in the country and the employer of 34,000 hourly workers, is bankrupt. One big reason is that the company’s unionized workers earn $64 an hour in wages and benefits - more than twice what some of its competitors pay.
“General Motors and Ford - the companies that have epitomized high-paying unionized jobs over the last several decades - have stated that they will lay off 30,000 workers each…
“Airlines have come under similar pressure. The bankruptcy stories associated with legacy carriers are driven in large part by the compensation packages and work rules that unions have won for their members, which are too expensive compared to more recent entrants such as Southwest.
“…Not unlike members of Congress, union leaders are in the business of asking for more. That’s what their mentors and predecessors and heroes did. It’s very difficult to turn around and say that ‘more’ is not always possible. . . . But union leaders who still see American businesses as the enemy must update that vision.”
- Former Democrat U.S. senator and presidential candidate George McGovern, Los Angeles Times, 5/22/06
A VERY STERN UNION BOSS
“(60 Minutes reporter Leslie) Stahl also noted that (SEIU president Andy) Stern is ‘known as a street fighter and will use hardball tactics’ against companies that don’t capitulate to his demands. This has recently included encouraging a hunger strike at the University of Miami, where at least four people became so ill they had to leave the picket line. One even had a mild stroke.
“…Other ‘hardball tactics’ Stahl may have been referring to include campaigns against non-profit hospitals, which Stern’s union attacks with a swarming collection of lawsuits, publicity scares about hospital safety, and bureaucratic fights. In Chicago, his union and its ‘sister’ organization ACORN were accused of intentionally dumping bus-loads of poor people on an uncooperative hospital’s emergency room — going so far as to falsely tell one person that the facility would give him an organ transplant.”
- Center for Union Facts, 5/18/06
CULTURE OF CORRUPTION CENTRAL
“A Washington, DC teachers union official was sentenced to serious jail time (11 years) for massive embezzlement. And the case is by no means unique, even within that one union local. . . . Teacher unions are one of the foundations of the modern Democratic Party. Democrats might do well to ponder how strongly they wish to emphasize the slogan ‘culture of corruption.’”
- Ed Laskey, The American Thinker, 5/23/06
UNION BOSS HEADING FOR HOOSEGOW
“Charles W. Cart, the former chairman of the Sussex County Democratic Committee, pleaded guilty Wednesday to two counts of conspiracy, admitting he used his health benefits company to pilfer from a labor union he had founded, ultimately bankrupting it, authorities said. The guilty plea means Cart, 56, of Hampton, who is recovering from triple bypass surgery, will likely serve between 18 and 30 months in federal prison after he is sentenced on Sept. 5.”
- New Jersey Herald, 5/25/06
UNION CORRUPTION STILL TOO COMMON
“The 2005 annual report is out for the Department of Labor’s Office of Labor Management Standards, proving again that transparency in organized labor continues to be lacking while corruption remains far too common. Summary statistics of particular interest: A total of 325 criminal cases were processed, resulting in 114 indictments, 97 convictions and $23,244,979 in court-ordered restitution. Many unions continue to resist properly reporting their finances: 2,048 delinquent reports cases were processed, along with 706 deficient reports cases.”
- Labor Reform News, 5/9/06
GOOD ENOUGH FOR UNION WORK
“Andy (Ryan) is the son of Tom Ryan, a high-ranking official of the Carpenters Union Local 13. Back in 2004, Andy managed, at just 19, to get a coveted, $50,000-a-year job as a building inspector for the City of Chicago. It was mind-boggling to think a kid who looked so young, who was so young, had accumulated all the requisite credentials to qualify for such an important job.
“…So why did young Andy get hired? Because the fix was in. According to a recent government filing, a top (Mayor) Daley administrator complained that a ‘Carpenters Official was ‘busting my balls’ to hire’ Andy Ryan. And also hire Kevin Sexton, the son of Carpenters Union President Mike Sexton. Just like Ryan, the Sexton kid wasn’t remotely qualified.”
- Chicago Sun-Times, 5/17/06
“SOPRANOS” CAN’T BEAT THIS TALE OF CORRUPTION
“For decades, Laborers’ Local 394 in Elizabeth was considered by many to be a mobbed-up union,” reports the Newark Star-Ledger. “The construction union’s longtime business manager was DeCavalcante crime family boss John Riggi Sr., who went to prison in 1990 for racketeering. And more than a dozen former officers and members of the local have been identified in court testimony as associates of the infamous New Jersey mob organization, whose late patriarch was Simone Rizzo ‘Sam the Plumber’ DeCavalcante.
“Now, Local 394 may be the target of a hit by its own parent union, which is seeking to impose a trusteeship — alleging continued widespread corruption, no-show jobs, threats of violence and mob influence. Documents filed with an independent hearing officer by the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) contend the 470-member local has been controlled by organized crime since its inception in the 1930s, and say it remains a job bank for DeCavalcante crime family members.”
THE PURPLE PENSION EATERS
“’This state doesn’t work if we don’t work,’ a California SEIU leader recently threatened as he warned of a strike by public employees. SEIU Local 100, which represents about 87,000 state employees, is demanding pay increases totaling $400 million and no belt-tightening for the state’s uniquely generous retirement system.
“But as one newspaper pointed out, it’s not just California residents that may be harmed in a strike — it’s the union’s own membership. Calling SEIU the ‘Purple Pension Eaters,’ the Sacramento Bee ran an editorial May 15 calling on the union’s leadership to cease reckless retirement demands on behalf of public employees lest the budget be spread so thin that services and employment have to be cut back.”
- Center for Union Facts, 5/18/06
BROKEN PROMISES AND ABUSE
“According to some members of Local 78, for the past two years they have watched their union slowly deteriorate from the secure institution they once knew it to be to an organization of broken promises and abuse, a group of union members said Tuesday. The members of Local 78, Asbestos, Lead And Hazardous Waste Labors, say that if the current union slate remains in power they are afraid the abuses will not just continue but increase.
“…Since (current business manager Edison) Severino took his position in 2004, union members said they have seen discrimination against undocumented workers and those who opposed the current slate’s 2004 campaign. They also make claims of corruption by the hands of executive members who hold the union credit cards. Two members added that they had endured physical abuses by the current business manager, supplying police reports.”
- Queens Tribune, 5/25/06
NLRB DECISION COULD WOUND LABOR
“Organized labor is bracing for a series of legal decisions that could restrict union representation for a significant number of workers, including many nurses, and deal a major setback to the struggling labor movement’s efforts in growing areas of the economy such as health care.
“…The AFL-CIO expects the (National Labor Relations Board) to decide within the next few months to broaden the definition of supervisors to include more workers, effectively limiting the number of workers that unions would be able to organize. The labor federation estimates that the NLRB’s decisions could affect several hundred thousand workers, including tens of thousands of unionized nurses who have responsibilities that include scheduling or dividing duties among nurses.”
- Wall Street Journal, 5/25/06
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
“It wasn’t all that long ago that Hillary Clinton floated the national healthcare balloon. It was popped quickly back then, but if guys like (SEIU president Andy) Stern can get big business on board, we’ll all be lining up at doctors offices to enjoy the same level of service provided by the DMV or TSA.”
- Liberty Watch columnist Doug French
