Modern News

Is national security policy any business of a dock workers union? Just think about that for a second. Should some union, just because they have the power to shut down a vital business, take advantage of that capability for ANY reason outside of their direct concerns with their jobs? What other reasons beside their actual business should they be allowed to inconvenience the whole country for? Should dock workers be able to cost the country billions of lost business because, say, they are upset that the L.A. Lakers aren’t doing so well this season? Maybe they’ll shut down the entire west coast because the right person didn’t win on “American Idol”?

In any case, a protest of the Iraq war (something that is not the union’s business either directly or even indirectly) is why union thug Bob McEllrath said that the dock workers all walked off the job today.

All 29 ports on the West Coast, including the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, have been effectively shut down this morning as thousands of dockworkers stayed home to protest the Iraq war. The walkout comes two months before the contract between dockworkers and and port operators expires. Louis Sahagun has the story:

“We are supporting the troops and telling politicians in Washington that it’s time to end the war in Iraq,” union president Bob McEllrath said.

What the government does in Iraq is NONE of the union’s business. Certainly as American citizens it is the business of each member. but this has nothing whatsoever to do with union business. This is an illegitimate strike and each and every one of these “workers” should be fired immediately.

This is an unconscionable misuse of the power of a union.