Archive for December, 2007
December 31, 2007 - 12:14 pm - Posted by WTH
George Will gave us a few words in his wrap up of the 2007 Congress on their union supporting activities:
Bruce Raynor, president of the union Unite Here, expressed organized labor’s compassionate liberalism when he urged sparing workers the burden of democracy: “There’s no reason to subject workers to an election.” The House agreed, voting for “card check” organizing that strips workers of their right to a secret ballot when deciding for or against unionization of their workplace. Senate Republicans blocked this, but the Senate Democrats voted to cripple the Department of Labor agency that requires union bosses to explain how they spend their members’ money.
This has been one of the union’s newest tactics and our anti-democratic Congress has been doing their best to help them out. Keep your eye on this next year as the unions continue to try and eliminate the secret ballot from the people voting on organizing.
The reason this is a danger is one of intimidation. You see, if the votes are not secret, everyone can know if any particular employee voted against the union and, if made public, could leave that employee up for union harassment. And, with the violent past that all unions have, that would be sure to place many thousands of people in danger.
Of course, it shouldn’t surprise that the unions want to be able to intimidate workers into agreeing to their thuggish “representation” but it is shocking that in the venerable halls of government our voted representatives should be passing laws that they know will be used to put the citizenry in mortal danger.
This card check deal must be stopped at all costs.
Posted in Warner Todd Huston | No Comments »
December 28, 2007 - 11:38 am - Posted by WTH
OK, so you are a business trying to stave off union thugs and, instead of acting like civilized adults, the thugs put an unauthorized padlock on your driveway gate and then park a trailer in front of the entrance so that your trucks cannot enter or leave the premisses. Then, when the police come to try and restore order, the unions thugs start a street brawl. Of this incident, the police claim “there is no riot.”
So, what’s a business to do?
Somerville - At approximately 1 a.m. his morning, members of Teamsters Local 25 established a picket line at F.W. Russell Disposal Company located at 120 McGrath Highway and Broadway Brake at Broadway and Lombardi Way.
Russell Disposal is the contractor providing trash removal services for the city of Somerville.
Protestors bused into the scene padlocked the front gate and parked a trailer in front of it so Russell’s employees could not enter and the trucks could not leave.
At approximately 8:15 a.m. Thursday morning, acting Chief Robert Bradley gave the order for police to push back the picketers who had been bused into the site. Somerville Police were backed up by Northeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council (a regional force from other cities) which includes a SWAT Team. Officials from Peabody, Concord, Pepperell, North Andover, Watertown, Bedford, Chelmsford, Lexington and Woburn staged in the Target parking lot and marched to the site in full riot gear.
As police pushed picketers back, a scuffle broke out. Ten picketers were arrested.
“There is no riot. There never was a riot. We do not have a riot. We have a labor dispute,” Somerville Police Capt. Upton said this morning.
What a mess. 10 were arrested… but everyone claims it isn’t a riot. The unions get a pass from the police, for sure. I’ll tell you one thing, if you or I had illegally blocked someone’s place of business and our friends started a street brawl, the police would surely not act so delicately.
And no one is mentioning the violent coercion attempted by the union thugs, either!
Posted in Warner Todd Huston | 4 Comments »
December 27, 2007 - 12:48 pm - Posted by WTH
Boy is this one embarrassing for two unions in one shot. Both the Teamsters and the United Food and Commercial Workers union got cremated in a vote by workers pondering representation. Turns out the employees of FreshDirect, a New York City grocery corporation, turned down BOTH of the unions by a vote of 80% against the unions!
The UFC reports the following:
NEW YORK — FreshDirect workers voted against joining a union, but the United Food and Commercial Workers will renew its push to organize the online grocer in the new year, according to reports. Employees of the company, based here, had been courted by both UFCW Local 348S and Teamsters Local 805, but 80% of the 530 warehouse workers who voted over the weekend chose not to organize with either union, the reports said. The vote came shortly after the company asked workers to provide proof of citizenship, saying the grocer was the subject of an investigation by federal immigration officials. Neither the unions nor FreshDirect could be reached for comment yesterday.
Notice, however, that the UFCW could care less about the rejection and have no intention of leaving these workers alone even when they were rejected by a massive percentage of them. No might mean no to some people… but never to a union thug.
As LaborPains.org quips:
It’s not a proud moment when you have to admit 80 percent of the voting public reject you. In politics, it’s a landslide. For today’s organized labor, it’s another day at the office.
Right on!
Posted in Warner Todd Huston | No Comments »
December 24, 2007 - 4:13 am - Posted by WTH
Here is a loss to liberty, freedom and our rights. Once again, judicial activism slaps down one of our most central rights, property rights, n favor of union thugs. In California, unions won the right to be able to disrupt the businesses inside malls.
Now, a mall should be considered private property, but these extremist leftists on the Calif. Supreme court have decided in their finite wisdom that a union may legally invade a mall and protest a business that they don’t like, disrupting the store’s operations and scaring customers away.
The 4-3 ruling came in a case dating to 1998 involving the Fashion Valley mall and a labor union representing press workers at The San Diego Union-Tribune. The court majority said that free-speech rights – as interpreted under the state Constitution and a 1979 state Supreme Court case – also extend to the private property of shopping malls.
“Urging customers to boycott a store lies at the core of the right to free speech,” Associate Justice Carlos Moreno wrote for the majority.
Moreno was joined by Chief Justice Ronald George and Associate Justices Joyce Kennard and Kathryn Mickle Werdegar.
Almost half the court had enough sense to understand that this ruling is a violation of the rights to private property:
In a strong dissent, Associate Justice Ming Chin criticized the ruling and said the court should have overturned the 1979 case that extended free-speech rights to shopping malls.
“Private property should be treated as private property, not as a public free speech zone,” Chin wrote.
He was joined by Justices Marvin Baxter and Carol A. Corrigan.
Call this one a strike against Americanism and our rights and a win for union thugs all across the state. Now, lets hope that such a blow against freedom and liberty isn’t replicated elsewhere.
Posted in Chuck Muth | No Comments »
December 19, 2007 - 9:20 am - Posted by WTH
The New York Sun brings us the heartwarming Christmas tale of union corruption, extortion and embezzlement,once again. This time it is Anthony Rumore who is accused of trying to order union members to “contribute” money to his own defense fund to help him fund his legal efforts concerning pervious charges of wrongdoing.
Prosecutors accuse Anthony Rumore, 63, of ordering members of his union to perform personal services and collect contributions for a legal defense fund he established in response to earlier accusations of wrongdoing by a union review board.
There is no free will in a union, ya know? Someone shudda told them union members to just shut up and pay… oh, wait. Rumore DID do that.
According to the indictment, Mr. Rumore ordered union officers, business agents, and staff to work as his personal chauffeur and run personal errands, including picking up his daughters from high school and installing a roof, skylight, and deck at his second home in Lakeview, Pennsylvania.
Employees did not raise objections because they feared being fired, the indictment said.
This isn’t Rumore’s first spot o’ trouble, either.
In 2003, prosecutors say Mr. Rumore ordered his staff to collect $30,000 in contributions from union members for a legal defense fund he created in response to a disciplinary proceeding against him by a court-appointed board that monitors the union. The panel charged Mr. Rumore with embezzlement and improper behavior for his alleged role in similar activities that federal prosecutors described today.
Like the sequel to “Home Alone” said, “Merry Christmas you dirty rat.”
Posted in Warner Todd Huston | No Comments »
December 18, 2007 - 9:20 am - Posted by WTH
FedEx corporation was given an early Christmas present by the House early this week. In the omnibus spending bill being sent to the Senate, House Republicans succeeded in stripping language that would force the air delivery service to be open to unionization by the Teamsters, language the Democrat Party was pushing to get included.
We get the story today from the Memphis Commercial Appeal:
FedEx wins labor word war House passes spending bill without jurisdictional change
WASHINGTON — In a victory for FedEx, the 2,206-page omnibus spending bill passed by the House Monday does not contain language to change the jurisdiction of labor agreements that involve FedEx Express.
Efforts to kill the language that put the division under the jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Act, which was passed in a House bill that reauthorized the Federal Aviation Administration earlier this year, were successful, those familiar with the negotiations said Monday.
This is a blow to the Teamster’s efforts to destroy yet another business…
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters has been trying to organize the company’s drivers at the local level, where labor disputes are resolved by the National Labor Relations Board. A labor dispute at a single local could affect FedEx’s overall operation and jeopardize the company’s reputation for next-day deliveries.
Kudos to the GOP for this win. Let’s hope that the GOP continues to be able to resist any and all union efforts.
Posted in Warner Todd Huston | No Comments »
December 14, 2007 - 11:59 am - Posted by WTH
The Village Voice in New York gives us the all too common tale of another corrupt union local this Christmas season. It is filled with union officials who “roam about” their palatial Summer homes instead of reporting to work, and “a mismanaged mess where [business agents] come and go as they please, following few, if any, rules.” We are, of course, completely used to such stories here. After all, it is our well proven contention that corruption and unions are inseparable. But, the amusing thing with this story is that the unions thuggish officials were dismissed three weeks ago and union members STILL don’t have any real answers to what the heck is going on.
Remember, unions are only there to serve the little guys… as long as the little guys don’t get too uppity and ask all sorts of questions, that is!
“Nobody knows what the hell is going on,” griped a veteran carpenter who called this newspaper in a vain attempt to find something out.
Ouch. So much for the membership being an important part of the union, eh?
The first official out the door was William Hanley, 55, the $140,000-a-year president and business manager of Local 157, who resigned his position shortly before Thanksgiving. Hanley’s sudden retirement came after he was confronted with evidence gathered by William Callahan, the union’s court-appointed independent investigator. The evidence was in the form of cell-phone records that suggested the union leader had spent many weekday afternoons roaming Long Island, where his family happens to have a splendid waterfront home, instead of working the streets of Manhattan’s East Side, where his members are employed.
Similar evidence was presented against Hanley’s second-in-command, financial secretary Fred Kennedy, who made the same quick career choice. Local business representative Daniel DeMorato was suspended from his post and reassigned. But another target, local vice president George DiLacio, told his interrogators to get lost. DiLacio refused to give up his elected post at the local but was summarily fired from his $127,000-a-year job as a union representative.
There is a lot more where that came from… not that the union membership knows any of it.
Go to the Voice and read this whole lamentable story. It’s a laugher, to be sure.
Posted in Warner Todd Huston | No Comments »
December 12, 2007 - 10:19 am - Posted by WTH
Well, mark one in the “win” column for the little guy against union thugs, here.
One thing that many states and employees groups as well as brave individuals have been trying to get settled for at least the last 10 years is a ruling that prevents unions from using a member’s union dues for political purposes of which the member doesn’t approve. It’s an opt out policy whereby an employee can tell the union not to use his dues for political purposes.
Part of the battle to get such a rule in place has been won. But unions continue to try to find ways around this rule so that they can continue to steal members’ dues and use them against a member’s wishes. Currently, many unions force the employee and union member to sign the request every single year instead of allowing it to be stated but once. In this way, the union imagines that the employee will forget (if he ever knew) to apply for the exemption all over again after doing it the first time. Often they are correct. So, even a request not to use dues for political purposes can be ignored at a later date.
Well, apparently there has been a ruling against the unions in Florida. As reported by NRTW.org:
Pensacola, FL (December 11, 2007) – After nearly a four-year delay, a Florida worker has prompted an administrative law judge of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to strike down a nationwide policy of a major international union that requires employees to object annually to prevent union officials from spending their compulsory union dues for political activities. The policy is a pervasive tactic used by union officials to prevent dissenting employees from reclaiming forced union dues used to promote political causes they oppose.
National Right to Work Foundation attorneys helped Robert Prime, an employee of L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace, LLC at the Naval Air Station, file unfair labor practice charges in December 2003 against the International Association of Machinists (IAM) union Local Lodge 2777. The charges alleged that union officials violated Prime’s rights by forcing him to renew his objection to funding union political advocacy every single year.
This decision was originally sought in 2003, but better late than never.
Says Stefan Gleeson of the NRTW:
“America’s workers may have one fewer hoop to jump through to reclaim their forced dues used for politics. However, this lengthy legal battle underscores why no one should be forced to pay dues to an unwanted union in the first place.”
Let’s hope this sort of thing spreads the country over.
Posted in Warner Todd Huston | No Comments »
December 10, 2007 - 8:17 am - Posted by WTH
So, you are a bus driver in Batavia, Illinois. You and your co-workers go to the effort to gather together in true democratic fashion and vote to opt out of your union at Laidlaw Transit. The next thing you know, the union is STILL claiming to represent you in contract talks with the company. Not only that, but the union is demanding you pay dues and if you don’t you are threatened with being fired!
An impossible scenario, you think? Hardly, because that is exactly what is happening.
The NRTW gives us the details:
As Haasch details in his charges, ATU union officials have been negotiating a contract with First Group, despite the fact that Haasch and his coworkers had successfully ousted the union earlier this year. According to First Group’s website, on October 1 the UK-based transit company completed the purchase of Haasch’s employer, Laidlaw Transit.
So, the union is out. But how is it they are still trying to extort the employee’s money?
According to the National Labor Relations Act, by bargaining over the contracts of employees that the union does not legally represent, the union and First Group are engaging in illegal “pre-recognition” bargaining. As part of their negotiations, the union is once again seeking a forced-dues clause in the contract that makes payment of union dues a job requirement. Indeed, union officials have been given access to First Group facilities and are now demanding that employees pay union dues or be fired.
(my emphasis)
These union thugs are ignoring the very wishes of the employees they are claiming to represent.
Remember, unions only care about the little guy… even when the little guy wants nothing to do with them! So, who are unions really serving? No one but themselves, of course.
Posted in Warner Todd Huston | No Comments »
December 7, 2007 - 5:15 am - Posted by WTH
Amazingly, the city council in Philadelphia is proposing that the new $700 million dollar Convention Center expansion be open to bids from nonunion contractors in an effort to include more workers “of color” in the project. City hall is claiming that the 42 local unions in Philly have refused to disclose the racial makeup of their membership. They also claim that these 42 locals are predominantly populated by white members.
Accusing trade unions of standing in the way of minority hiring objectives, City Council yesterday declared the $700 million Convention Center expansion open to nonunion contractors and workers - an unprecedented gesture in a city dominated by organized labor.
Citing the construction industry’s repeated failures to meet minority hiring goals on public projects and the unions’ refusal to disclose the racial makeup of their memberships, Council voted to amend the Convention Center’s operating agreement to allow nonunion workers, to help increase minority participation.
The Philly Inquirer quotes Bruce Crowley’s amazement that the city is going against the unions like this.
“Wow,” said public relations executive A. Bruce Crawley, one of the city’s leading critics of the union’s efforts at hiring minorities. “Wow.”
“This is very encouraging for African American contractors who would simply like not to be excluded from the work,” he said.
Of course, we have one bad thing (that unions are infesting city contracts) to another bad thing (racial quotes), so Philly is in no way getting any of this right. Why can’t we just have the best bids getting the work no matter if they are union thugs or race card throwers??
Still, it is pretty amusing that the leftist ideal of race baiting is trumping the leftist ideal of union thuggery, here.
Talk about eating your own!
Posted in Warner Todd Huston | No Comments »
December 4, 2007 - 11:55 am - Posted by WTH
Back on the 5th of Nov., we brought you the amusing story of Dems and union thugs eating their own in Maryland. Well, we have an update on this imbroglio that proves there is neither compromise with, nor pleasing union thugs.
The story was that in Prince George’s County, some Dems there were a bit miffed that because the union wasn’t getting all it wanted it was opposing the creation of new jobs in the county. So, instead of working with the new businesses, they tried to stop those business from opening and improving the economy of the county. A few Democrat committeemen took umbrage at this irresponsible behavior and chastised the unions. Then the floodgates of hate opened up by union thugs and these two Dems were attacked unmercifully.
Well, it appears that the two Dem County operatives in question have tried to appease union thugs, even pledging to add more union thug members to the committee, but to no avail. Let’s let the Gazette pick it up from here:
Spat between Democrats and unions continues
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Warner Todd Huston | No Comments »
December 1, 2007 - 10:27 am - Posted by WTH
Only a union could call extorted faux dues payments a “fair share fee” and complain when people want to use the democratic process to stop being forced to pay the extortion. Apparently, Inland Empire’s Caltrans HQ in downtown San Bernadino saw the gathering of non-union State workers who wanted to vote out their forced payment of union dues (euphemistically called “fair share fees”) at an upcoming vote but they were scolded by SEIU Local 1000 prez, Davy Hart, for their desire to stop paying the “fees.”
Of course, Mr. Hart almost has a point about why they might be expected to pay these so-called “fair share fees” and that is because the dolts in Sacramento (Calif.’s State capitol) have passed a really, really stupid law that states that the Local 1000 has to represent all employees whether they are part of the union or not. Of course, this is another example of the incestuous relationship between union thugs and Democrats because such a law should never have been passed in the first place. So, no wonder Davey-boy is a bit miffed. After all, the “fair share fees” that he has come to expect do fund his work on behalf of non-union employees.
On the other hand… and it is a hand that is far more logical and in the right… why should anyone who chooses not to join the union have to pay anything? Who has a right to make a worker a defacto member of a union they don’t want by passing an absurd law that says you are represented whether you like it or not, and THEN force you to pay dues that aren’t called dues!!??
In any case, State workers have an opportunity to vote down their extorted dues payments and I hope they take that opportunity to strike a blow for freedom and tell the union thugs to get stuffed!
In any case, I thought this was an unintentionally funny line by union thug, Hart:
According to Hart, “this election is about fairness, it’s about security and it’s about investment. State law requires Local 1000 to represent all employees regardless of whether or not they are union members. That means non-members get the raises, pensions, health care benefits and other rights that members have fought so hard to win. That’s not fair. We believe everyone needs to share the cost of winning. It’s an investment in economic security, job security, and retirement security.”
Fairness? It’s fair to force someone to pay union dues when they don’t even want to belong to the union in the first place?
Yeah, riiiight.
Posted in Warner Todd Huston | No Comments »
