We have not been hearing much about the job-destroying and hallucinogenically-named Employee Free Choice Act. However, given last Tuesday's Democratic drubbing at the polls in NJ and VA, we know that unions and their allies on the Hill are getting a bit antsy (read desperate) to try to get their agenda passed before the mid-term elections in 2010.
On EFCA, as it's been stalled in the Senate, rumor has it that there will be an attempt to do something…anything…after the first of the year.
While "anything" may be a watered-down version (i.e., "quickie elections," baseball-style arbitration, equal-access, and punitive fines), or it could be the EFCA in its original form, the real reason unions and their cohorts are going to try for something after the first of the year is to see who's with them and who's against them. This way, with the help of Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) and his help in developing labor's 'hit list,' they'll know who to target in the mid-terms.
Now, this might sound a bit like 'extortion' to laypeople (like us). But no one should dare call it 'extortion.' For 'extortion' really has no place in politics…And, stating the truth would be about as absurd in today's political environs as laypeople calling political threats from union bosses 'extortion.'
Labor Shorts #6: Exposing Union Bosses, One Skid Mark at a Time…
- Proud Propagandists: SEIU Leaked Memo Exposes Union Propaganda Techniques Used For Union Bailout Bill
- Angry in Arizona. As a strike deadline nears, UFCW-represented grocery workers in Arizona are upset with their union and picketed the UFCW offices in Phoenix…BUT…
- Grocery workers in Colorado want to strike. However, UFCW bosses quibble on constitutional language as member claims union is "playing games with our lives."
- The SoCal Slaughter. In Washington, UFCW bosses' bad memories of the 2004 SoCal strike that went kaput are causing some angst over granting a strike sanction.
- Tough Times for the UFCW Staff as one UFCW Local Threatens its Own Staff Union With Layoffs!
- Black and blue and purple too! With two alleged beatings over the last few months, we take a look at The SEIU and its Purple Pattern of Persuasion
- Don't Mock Them! It may be hard to take unions seriously when one sees American Airlines' flight attendants mocking a strike. [LMAO!]
- No Tips Today… Workers at the San Francisco's Palace Hotel walked off the job this morning, taking to the streets with picket signs, drums and whistles.
- Bugging Becker… Eminent scholar Richard Epstein takes on NLRB nominee and SEIU radical Craig Becker, as well as the overly (and overtly) politicized National Labor Relations Board.
- What a MESS! The Teamsters are threatening to walk out on the mess hall at West Point, possibly leaving 4,000 cadets with nothing to eat.
- Dis-United Unions… The ongoing slug-fest between the union (formerly) known as UNITE-HERE and the SEIU-backed Workers United continues as laundry worker Carmen Padron says: "They should be organizing workers who don't have a union, not harassing us." [More here…]
- More Machinists to Lose Jobs as Hawker Beechcraft announces the closure of its Salina, Kansas plant--one of the two locations where the Machinists waged a bitter (and fatal) strike last year. The strike resulted in one fatality.
- A Disastrous Divorce or a Swimmingly Sweet Note? It all depends on one's point of view of how good the now-locked out musicians of Broadway's "Tony N' Tina's Wedding" played.
- The Last of the Mohicans? YRC bankruptcy may only be a matter of time as the last major Teamster trucking company continues to get creative in trying to save itself. If this latest effort fails, YRC's bankruptcy may be imminent and the company will join a long, long list of failed Teamster trucking companies.
- Topping 34,000. In the last day or so, the total number of site visits to 1-888-NO-UNION.COM have topped 34,000. This is all through word of mouth, as the site (as a free resource for employees and their employers) grows in popularity.
Okay. So "apocalypse" may be a bit of a stretch (*see footnote).However, despite being declared DOA in the Senate (and whether you like it or not), Nancy Pelosi and her minions passed a 1,990 page monster of a bill under the cover of darkness on Saturday night.
“There’s no doubt that this is the most liberal health care bill that’s ever going to be passed by the Congress,” said a senior Democratic aide who helped ram it through the House. “Everything after this is likely to be weaker.”
While union bosses, like CWA's Larry Cohen gloat on the House's passage of PelosiCare, others are not so keen on the idea of a government-run, nationalized health care debacle.
"If this health care bill becomes law, America, life as you have known it, freedom as you have exercised it and privacy as you have enjoyed it will cease to be," says Judge Andrew Napolitano of the nearly 2,000 page freedom-ending monstrosity of a bill.
You can download all 1,990 pages here and sink into a recliner for a few hours, or you can view a partial breakdown of the bill on WSJ here.
And, if you're into that "holding-your-representatives-accountable" thing, you can see how your representatives voted here.
- Footnote: A few of our readers rebel at our staunch promotion of individual liberty so, on occasion, we like to throw a bit of hyperbolic bluster their way to gauge their reactions. [Bro-hugs, dudes!]
As always, for Labor News & Views delivered to your inbox daily, join the LaborUnionReport group on Linkedin.
And, don't forget, you can also follow us on Twitter.
We hope that you have a productive and prosperous week.
Best wishes.
LaborUnionReport
"I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes." Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776
Posts
UNIONS: THIS IS THE BUSINESS THEY HAVE CHOSEN!
ReplyDeleteIn order to economically survive, unions must consolidate and they must move out of their traditional markets. It is the same for businesses and corporate America. Consolidate, merge or go bankrupt.
Small (Tiny) unions do not have the financial ability to play big time politics and cannot afford to hire expensive lobbyists. They also do not have the clout with employers that a major brand union has.
If I was an employer and the International Toothpick Workers Union came calling and said they were going to unionize my factory or truck drivers, I would laugh at them. My lawyers would eat them for lunch.
However if the IBT (Teamsters) came calling, I would take notice. I would hire the best Labor Relations Consulting firm (read: union-busters) and the best labor lawyers I could afford. The Teamsters do not play. They have a major brand. They have a reputation for breaking knee caps. Think 'Jimmy Hoffa,' also think gangsters and the mob.
The Teamsters have the money and political ability to cause my business a real hardship, and could cut off my suppliers or retail outlets or whatever pressure they could use. They could create a "Corporate Campaign."
A "Corporate Campaign" is basically business blackmail. The union spreads the word not to do business with my company because I treat my employees like dirt, or whatever smear tactic they can find. They contact the press and spread rumors. They contact the IRS and say I am cheating on my payroll taxes.
They contact the local health department and say I do not have clean bathrooms. They spread rumors in the community or my church that I eat small children, or use any negative publicity they can. The objective in a Corporate Campaign is to make the employer look very ugly so it hurts business.
Then the Big Brand Union says they cam make all this go away when I sign a five year contract and agree to all sorts of archaic work rules and pay my workers $60,000 per year for 30 hour work weeks, and hire ten more workers than I need.
It is the same tactic the mob uses to get store owners to pay "protection money." It is strong arm tactics. Agree to the union's demands and the problems go away. Fail to agree and the Big Brand Union will hurt the company socially, economically and politically.
It is a very effective tactic, and is legal (sort off). It is also very hard to prove legally that a Corporate Campaign is blackmail. The Big Brand Union has lawyers also, who are very good at this stuff.
The Itsy Bitsy Union (Tiny) does not have the muscle to pull this off, and will loose most organizing efforts. Especially when they are up against the real union buster pros like Jackson-Lewis Lawyers and professional labor consulting firms.
Unions also go outside of their core expertise, because it is good for their business. The Steelworkers Union organizes nurses. The Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) organizes municipal government workers, etc...
Just like corporate America. They buy or build businesses outside of their core competencies, because they must expand to survive.
This is not personal. It is just good business.
Remember, organized labor is BIG business.
It was once a social movement, but those days have long past.
It is a very profitable BIG business. Combined, organized labor unions earn upwards of $10 BILLION per year on membership dues alone. That is a nice size industry, that produces absolutely nothing, and has low overhead.
Are Unions undemocratic? "You betcha" they are not democratic. It is the 'Godfather' business model. Top down control. The union members are just the meal ticket and cover, for the real politics and money.
Remember, organized labor is all about business, money, power and control.
UNIONS: THIS IS THE BUSINESS THEY HAVE CHOSEN!
Think about these things please....