The Union Label - June 8th
Posted on June 8, 2006 at 11:21 pm by Chuck Muth
FORGET INTERPOL
“Mexico has asked world police body Interpol to help capture the fugitive leader of Mexico’s main miners union, who is accused of stealing millions of dollars from workers,” Reuters reported on June 2.
A fugitive Mexican union boss on the lam? Forget Interpol. Just have LAPD check out the SEIU’s office in Los Angeles!
FORE!
“What does Tiger Woods have in common with union officials? Answer: they both play a lot of golf. The only difference is union officials get to play on their members’ dime. A lot of dimes, actually. Organized labor spent $1.3 million on golf in 2005.”
- Columnist Michael Reitz in The American Spectator, 6/7/06
POT CALLING KETTLE BLACK
“On June 4, Teamster Local 332 unanimously approved a strike authorization against Allied Automotive Group in the event that bankruptcy court allows the vehicle-hauling company to reject its labor contracts,” reads the June 5 press release from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. “I applaud our members for taking a stand against corporate greed, the parasite feeding off our members’ invaluable contributions,” said Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa.
Since it’s the union bosses who live off the union dues of the union workers who only have jobs thanks to the company which employs them, it seems to us that it’s the union folks who are the “parasites” here. And you can bet a dollar to a donut that union greed is at least partly responsible for driving the company into bankruptcy in the first place, which will cost 5,000 workers their jobs. But the union would rather destroy this business and kill off those 5,000 jobs than concede any ground to the company.
Burn the village down to save it? What a wonderful concept. After all, it worked so well for us in Vietnam.
FROM THE E-MAILBAG
“Hi Chuck: So what do you get for being an anti-labor idiot? The FAA is actually the entity that wanted this to go to impasse to force the union onto the FAA’s last offer. The FAA is not negotiating fairly, that is why these Congressmen are getting involved. The money Air Traffic Controllers get is not the point. Don’t use it to justify your position. I’m sure as far as you’re concerned the only person who doesn’t get overpaid is you. One day someone will tell you that you’re overpaid. If you get nothing for what you do it would be too much. Have fun in Hell.”
- Ralph Fulvio
CONTROLLERS UNION TAKES IT IN THE SHORTS
“The U.S. House of Representatives rejected an attempt on Wednesday to nullify a contract imposed by the Federal Aviation Administration on the nation’s 14,500 unionized air traffic controllers. Supporters of the bill, which would have sent the disputed five-year contract to binding arbitration, failed to muster the two-thirds majority needed for passage. The vote was 271-148.
“The bill proposed by Rep. Steven LaTourette, an Ohio Republican, sought to change rules that permit the agency to impose new wages and work rules if contract negotiations fail to produce an agreement. The White House pressured Republicans by threatening to veto the measure.
“…The contract will be phased and will cut pay up to 30 percent for new hires. It will also slow wage increases for current controllers and overhaul work rules to increase productivity.”
- Reuters, 6/7/06
THUGGISH KIND OF MANNER
“Teamsters Local 237’s George Geller, running for re-election on the International Brotherhood of Teamsters delegate slate of President James P. Hoffa, has been formally reprimanded by the International’s Election Supervisor for making obscenity-laced threats to a vendor hired by a member of challenger Tom Leedham’s slate.
“…Pam Stimatz of Impala Press, which had been hired to conduct a mailing on behalf of Mr. Leedham in March, responded to Mr. Geller’s threats not to send out the mailing by saying, ‘I only work here,’ and asking him to stop verbally abusing her. Mr. Geller replied, ‘I’ll talk to you however the f–I want to,’ adding ‘If I find out you gave the Leedham campaign one f—–address, I’m going to come after you, and I’ll bring in the FBI, and I’ll shut you down.’
“…Eunice Rodriguez, the member of Mr. Leedham’s slate who hired Impala Press, expressed satisfaction with the ruling. ‘I’m glad that the decision was what it was,’ Ms. Rodriguez said in a May 31 phone interview. ‘It brings to light his whole demeanor. This is not the first time I’ve heard of his outbursts. If it’s not his way, he’ll come after you in a gang, thuggish kind of manner.’”
- The Chief-Leader, 6/9/06
MARXIST CLASS WARFARE AIN’T SELLING
“The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) have tried for years to pressure Wal-Mart to agree to unionize - all for naught. Union ‘Wal-Mart Watch’ and ‘Wake Up Wal-Mart’ campaigns have gone nowhere. Perhaps that’s because the union anti-Wal-Mart campaigns employ Marxist class warfare rhetoric, a hallmark of union corporate campaigns for decades.”
- Ryan Ellis, Labor Watch, June 2006
GOVERNATOR vs. UNION STOOGE
“…Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, got the Democratic opponent he wanted and polls best against. The California Labor Federation is taking credit for the narrow victory of state Treasurer Phil Angelides over state Comptroller Steve Westly. Unions put 5,000 volunteers on the streets, contacting 100,000 union families and helped push the more liberal Mr. Angelides over the top.”
- John Fund, Political Diary, 6/7/06
NEW DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIP
“A union that represents blue-collar workers and a group of ‘green’ environmentalists joined forces Wednesday in Washington, D.C., to create the ‘Blue-Green Alliance,’ which has three goals: good jobs, a clean environment and a safer world. During a news conference at the National Press Club, Leo Gerard, international president of the 850,000-member United Steelworkers (USW) union, and Carl Pope, executive director of the 750,000-member Sierra Club, signed a joint resolution establishing the partnership.”
- CNS News, 6/8/06
HOP ON THE MOB BUS
“More than 90 elected officials are so concerned about corruption charges involving the main union representing New York City school bus drivers that they are asking the union’s parent to hold hearings on how the local organization is being run. The lawmakers say that public hearings are needed because little has changed at the union - Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union - since last July when its top three officials were indicted on charges that they were under the influence of the Genovese crime family.”
- New York Times, 6/3/06
HOFFA’S BEER STRIKE GOES FLAT
“The last time I visited the striking Teamsters at their outpost at Eighth and Hickory, just outside the gates of Lohr Distributing (in St. Louis)…was in February, and even then, the strike was clearly a failure. The community had not rallied to the strikers’ cause. Would beer drinkers in the city swear off Anheuser-Busch products even temporarily? No, they would not. Would the image-conscious brewery worry about the effects of a prolonged strike? Nope.
“Beer might be the beverage of choice for working-class people, but labor issues don’t seem to resonate with working people these days. Guns and gay marriage are bigger issues. When Jim Hoffa, president of the international, came to town last fall, he said he was going to call the brewery and ask them to step in and get the dispute settled. Maybe the first Jimmy Hoffa had that kind of power, but if his son made his call, nothing came of it.”
- St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 6/7/06
UNIONS AND THE GOV’T BLOB
“Unions are rapidly becoming our nation’s fourth branch of government. In 2005 the nation added 163,000 new government jobs, and unions captured 40 percent of this growth. American unionized industries may go bankrupt or move jobs overseas, but the government is here to stay. Meanwhile unions, of course, will act in their own interest to grow the size and cost of government.”
- Columnist Michael Reitz in The American Spectator, 6/7/06
