The Union Label - June 14th
Posted on June 14, 2006 at 3:08 pm by Chuck Muth
UNION BOSSES LOVE AMNESTY
“Whereas union leaders for decades had believed – and with more than passing evidence – that a huge influx of unskilled workers from abroad drives down wages, they have come to view immigrants as the salvation of the labor movement. Their current position is to get as many immigrants here as possible, and then organize them. That way, the primacy of unions in American life would be restored. Such a strategy includes adjusting the status of those illegally here – in other words, granting amnesty.”
- Union Corruption Update, 5/8/06
THANKS, UNION BOSSES
“A commercial airing during WPXI’s (Pittsburgh) evening newscasts this week begins by asking the question ‘What do you love about your union?’ Actors playing workers then smile sweetly as they turn the question completely upside down. ‘You know what I love?’ says one woman dressed as a grocery clerk. ‘Paying union dues, just so I can keep my job.’ It’s the latest sarcastic salvo from the Center for Union Facts, a pro-business group that is waging an aggressive campaign against union leaders. . . . In the ad, which debuted Tuesday nationwide, other actors portraying workers complain about union racial discrimination, corruption and political contributions.”
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 6/8/06
“WBIR Channel 10 (Knoxville, Tenn.) is one of a handful of NBC affiliates in the country that has declined to air a commercial criticizing union leaders. The 30-second television spot, sponsored by the pro-business group Center for Union Facts, debuted nationally this week and highlights abuse of union members by labor leaders. . . . The other NBC affiliates that declined to air the commercial were Indianapolis, Boston and Champagne, Ill.”
- KnoxNews.com, 6/9/06
“Several television stations nationwide are refusing to run an advertisement sponsored by the Center for Union Facts that lays bare the economic and moral corruption of unionism. One station manager said the ad was ‘inflammatory’ and ‘incendiary.’ Notice he didn’t say ‘untruthful.’”
- Pittsburgh Tribune-Review editorial, 6/11/06
YOUR UNION DUES AT WORK
“When a vice president of the International Longshoremen’s Association and two other men were acquitted of corruption charges in November, their lawyers said the verdict was a blow for federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, who contend that the Genovese and Gambino crime families have controlled the waterfront union for half a century. What looked like a victory for the union, however, now seems to have led to a falling-out between the vice president, Arthur Coffey, 63, and the union’s longtime president, John Bowers, 83, as a separate federal civil racketeering lawsuit seeks to oust them and the rest of the union leadership.
“…Mr. Coffey says the union is refusing to pay some of his legal fees and expenses from the criminal case. As a result, his lawyer, Gerald J. McMahon, wrote an unusual letter to the trial judge, I. Leo Glasser, also the presiding judge in the civil case, accusing Mr. Bowers of treating the union as his ‘personal piggy bank,’ an accusation Mr. Bowers’s lawyer emphatically denied.
“Mr. McMahon’s letter highlights the salaries the union paid in 2005 to Mr. Bowers and his son, John Bowers Jr., $417,881 and $300,866 respectively; the union’s payment of more than $100,000 in legal fees for Mr. Bowers in connection with the civil suit; and Mr. Bowers’s control of the selection of two law firms, which were paid more than $2 million in 2005 to represent the union. According to reports filed with the Department of Labor, the elder Mr. Bowers also was paid an additional $167,673 for his posts as president of the union’s Atlantic Coast District Council.”
- New York Times, 6/9/06
KICKBACK KING BUSTED
“Following a three-year investigation, the former president of Houston’s largest Teamsters local was arrested Friday on charges of rigging a union election and accepting a $20,000 kickback from a union vendor. Chuck Crawley, 56, who lost control of Local 988 in 2003 after an investigation into corruption allegations by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, was released on a $100,000 bond after posting a $5,000 cash bail. Crawley gained national attention that year when it was learned he used nonunion labor to build the local’s $1.7 million union hall…”
- Houston Chronicle, 6/9/06
TEAMSTER BOSS DANCING FOR DEMOCRATS
“(Teamsters President James) Hoffa was heavily courted by then-Gov. George W. Bush when he was running for president, but is now working to get Democrats elected, especially Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm. The Teamsters remain a force in the state, with 60,000 members here. Hoffa derided Granholm’s expected opponent in the November election, businessman Dick DeVos. ‘He’s got no answers,’ Hoffa said. ‘What’s he going to do, make everyone an Amway salesman?’ DeVos’s father co-founded Amway Corp. Hoffa offered no endorsements in the 2008 presidential election. ‘I just hope a Democrat wins. I’ve never seen such a poorly run country,’ he said.”
- Detroit News, 6/13/06
BAD OMEN FOR HOFFA
“Boston’s powerful and controversial Teamsters Local 25 is poised for a major leadership shake-up, with possible widespread ramifications for the movie, trucking and other local industries. Union agent Sean O’Brien, the son of a longtime Teamsters boss with numerous family ties to the local, and his backers have easily nudged aside president Ritchie Reardon and his supporters to represent Local 25 later this month at the Teamsters’ national convention in Las Vegas.
“O’Brien’s delegate slate for the convention swamped Reardon’s faction by a 2-1 margin in a recent election - and O’Brien is now the odds-on favorite to win a final leadership vote about six months from now. ‘The writing is on the wall for Reardon,’ said David Levin, an organizer for the Teamsters For A Democratic Union, which is trying to unseat national Teamsters president James Hoffa.”
- Boston Herald, 6/9/06
GOV’T EMPLOYEE UNIONS COST TAXPAYERS
“Although union membership in private industry is at an all-time low, one in three public-sector workers is unionized, and the number is growing. . . . While union density in private industries is critically low at only 7.8 percent of workers, government workers are heavily unionized at 36.5 percent, and public-sector unions enjoy healthy growth. Local governments - city workers, firefighters, police officers, teachers - currently have the highest density of union membership at 41.9 percent.
“…Fundamentally, government jobs should only exist to provide essential services to taxpayers. . . . Public employee unions, acting in their own interest, drive up the scope, cost and size of government. . . . As state and local governments cede their policy-making authority to the collective bargaining process, taxpayers are left holding the bill.
“…Unions that exclusively represent state and local government employees enjoy a privilege that makes government workers an attractive organizing target: the unions are regulated by state law and do not fall under the National Labor Relations Act. They are not subject to election rules, financial transparency requirements, or other protections enforced by the NLRB. As a result, they have a huge impact on public policy with minimal disclosure to the public.”
- Michael Reitz, Labor Watch, May 2006
