The Union Label - April 7, 2007
Posted on April 7, 2007 at 11:13 pm by Chuck Muth
BIG LABOR COULD BLOW UP DEM CONVENTION
“Teamsters union leader James Hoffa Jr. joined the debate over Denver’s selection as host for the Democratic National Convention by confronting Gov. Bill Ritter at a Washington dinner and promising the issue could ‘blow up’ next summer if Colorado doesn’t become more labor-friendly.
“‘We’re very upset about it,’ the International Brotherhood of Teamsters president said of the Democrats’ decision to stage their convention at the nonunion Pepsi Center. In an interview Monday, Hoffa also mentioned Ritter’s veto of a law that might have made it easier to organize unions in Colorado. ‘All of labor is upset,’ Hoffa said.”
- Denver Post, 4/3/07
ASK FIRST
Now here’s a radical idea: The Independence Institute in Colorado, home to the 2008 Democrat national convention, actually thinks that “no one should be able to take someone else’s hard-earned money and spend it on political candidates and causes without permission.” Not even unions. So they’ve launched an “Ask First” campaign to require unions in Colorado to get permission from union workers BEFORE they take money out of their paychecks for political purposes. Read more about Ask First here
FRONT OF THE LINE
“Not even two months into the new Congress, the bipartisan facade of the highly poll-tested, heavily orchestrated first 100 hours is a distant memory. The real agenda of the new Democratic majority is coming to light, and many of the special interests that helped rally support for Democratic candidates during the last election cycle are lining up to cash in. At the front of the line: Big Labor.”
- Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) in the Washington Times
BIG LABOR’S BIG NEW CLOUT
“Organized labor’s clout in Congress has skyrocketed since Democrats assumed control, even as union membership hovers at around 7 percent of the private sector workforce, the lowest in modern history.”
- National Journal’s CongressDailyPM, 3/19/07
NOT HAPPY DAYS
“It is not a happy time to be a union boss in America. Membership dwindled to 12% of the workforce in 2006, down from 12.5% just a year earlier. Private- sector union jobs made up just 7.4% of the total compared with 7.8% in 2005. The strain has told on the labour movement. In 2005 four big unions tried to ease the pain by leaving the AFL-CIO, the unions’ umbrella body, to search for a new, more effective model for organising.”
- The Economist
THE DEMOCRATS’ DEAL WITH THE DEVIL
Jack Welch, former Chairman and CEO for General Electric, does a weekly podcast (“The Welch Way”) for Business Week. He recently did one which blisters Big Labor’s “card check” scheme to eliminate secret ballots in organizing elections, calling arguments in favor “pure propaganda.” Listen in here
INTIMIDATION NATION
“Allowing union organisers to demand that workers choose sides in public opens up numerous possibilities for intimidation. Pro-union employees can use peer pressure to coerce reluctant workers; foot-draggers can be threatened with reprisals if the union is certified.”
- The Economist, editorializing against the Democrats “card check” legislation
TRUMPING FAIR ELECTIONS
The National Right to Work Foundation claimed this week that a United States congressman conducted “sham union ‘certification’ proceedings for a top union donor and aided union officials in unfair labor practices against employees.” The foundation filed a complaint with the NLRB over the unionization efforts at the Trump Plaza Hotel in Atlantic City. Read all about it here
RAW DEAL FOR POSTAL WORKERS
“Despite the success of the postal unions in securing small but guaranteed raises, it’s actually the union leadership that benefits the most, while postal workers get a raw deal. Why? Because union leaders’ first priority is preserving overall membership, not securing the best compensation for individual workers. The more members in the union, the more clout the union leadership has, both politically and financially.”
- Robert R. Schrum of the Lexington Institute
LABOR PAINS
Our friends over at Union Facts have launched a new blog keeping an eye on Big Labor. You can catch it at LaborPains.org. Here’s a sample of the great “stuff” you’ll find there…
“This morning’s New York Post features an editorial on New York City’s ‘rubber rooms’ for teachers and school administrators who are too wretched to work but too unionized to be fired. We covered the ‘rubber-room teachers need respect, too’ campaign last week, but the Post has since turned up some examples of the remarkable union-defended teachers that the district hasn’t yet been able to fire:
* Yvonne Challom has been, ahem, ‘reassigned’ since April 2004. The tenured teacher was caught making ‘Columbine-like threats’ to her school. Even after her conviction for aggressive harassment, a court ruling says that the Department of Education can’t fire her until all her appeals are exhausted.
* Allen Rosenfeld is a tenured teacher ‘reassigned’ for perpetually leering at girls as they exited the bathroom. He’s been in his room since September 2003.
* Francisco Olivares is a tenured teacher with multiple sex charges filed against him since 1989. He’s been ‘reassigned’ since at least January 2003 (a change in computer records makes it hard to assess exactly how long he’s been ‘rubberized’).”
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
“Big Labor’s problem is not that Americans aren’t free to organize but that more and more are choosing not to.”
- Wall Street Journal editorial
