"Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted."Vladimir Lenin
The California Teachers Association has a glowing article about how a Los Angeles high school teacher indoctrinates teaches his students about the "benefits" of unions.
The question, posed by social studies teacher Dean Wood to his 12th-graders at Drew Medical Magnet High School in Los Angeles, draws mostly blank stares.
"It's a place where they treat workers bad. It's a place where people are overworked," one student ventures.
If this urban classroom is any indication, there is a great deal of work to be done when it comes to educating tomorrow's workforce — and the general public — about the importance of the labor movement and what it means to be part of a union. But Wood is up for the challenge.
He calls on another student, who informs her classmates that unions protect the rights of workers. Her teacher beams his approval before talking about union benefits, contracts, negotiations, mediation and arbitration — and last but not least, strikes. Everyone, it seems, knows what a strike is.
[snip]
"Do you know anybody in a union?" Wood asks. Most students shake their heads no and only a few raise their hands.
"Lots of people you know are in unions," says Wood. "I'm in the California Teachers Association and also a member of United Teachers Los Angeles. When you leave here, I want you to interview a family member or friend who belongs to an organized labor union. I want you to find out what union they belong to, what the union does for them, and why they joined a union."
After interviewing a union member, students must research the union their interviewee belongs to and write a paper that explains that union's history, goals and tactics.
"Find out how this union benefits the workers it represents," says Wood. "How does it get information to workers? What techniques does it use to gain leverage on behalf of the workers it represents? Have these techniques proven to be effective?"
Wood admits that he goes above and beyond the state standards when it comes to teaching his students about unionism. But he feels it's too relevant to just gloss over.
[snip]
"When I teach about unions, I'm honest and keep my own personal bias out of it," says Wood. "But when they ask questions, I explain about the good things my union does for me."
If you live in California, New York, Illinois, Nevada, Ohio and Pennsylvania, you may want to read this, then turn on your TIVO and bolt your door.
Here's why: Your state has become a "must-hold" state for the bosses at the AFL-CIO, which means you will be inundated with ads, home visits, robocalls, and 'fly-ins' from all sorts of Democrat dignitaries (including the Big Guy himself).
The Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), who are meeting in Florida this week, have decided to spend even more of their members' money than they did in 2008 on the upcoming mid-term elections.
The AFL-CIO plans to roll out its biggest political campaign ever, surpassing the $53 million spent in 2008 to help elect President Barack Obama, to try to avert a repeat of the 1994 midterm election when Democrats lost a majority in Congress.
In its political campaign, the AFL-CIO is focusing its efforts on a "firewall" of six states with key congressional elections and where union voters make up a relatively high proportion of the electorate: California, New York, Illinois, Nevada, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
On Tuesday, the AFL-CIO said it would endorse Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, who announced Monday he would challenge Sen. Blanche Lincoln. That will include millions of dollars in financial backing and thousands of members knocking on doors to get voters to polls. The Communications Workers of America, the Service Employees International Union and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees have pledged $1 million each to support Mr. Halter.
AFL-CIO leaders said Tuesday their decision to oppose Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln's re-election bid should send a powerful message to other Democrats who fall out of step with unions.
Officials at the nation's largest labor federation call the move part of a more aggressive posture to make sure labor's support is not taken for granted.
"The time has come to draw a line in the sand," said Gerald McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. "Regardless of your party affiliation, if you're not with us, you are against us."
Although it would have been much cheaper (there is a recession going on, after all), the thought of sending a dead fish to Ms. Lincoln apparently never crossed the union bosses' minds. Instead, the union bosses opted to throw a few million more of their members' dollars away to make a point.
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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776
As the AFL-CIO Executive Council meets in Orlando this week, the Workforce Fairness Institute put this great video out.
For more on the job-destroying and hallucinogenically-named Employee Free FORCED Choice Act, go here. ---------------------------
“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776
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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776
In the world of labor relations, all too often, union violence is commonly associated with unions when they are on strike. In many cases, union violence occurs when an employer maintains his ability to continue his operations using replacement workers while unionized workers are out striking. In some rarer instances, union violence will occur during inter and intra-union battles, with union members occasionally being the victims of union violence at the hands of their own union.
According to the Center for Union Facts, an average of nearly 300 incidents of (reported) union violence occur every year. In one example, a three-year strike conducted by the Teamsters against the trucking company, Overnite Transportation (now UPS Freight), produced 55 shootings and prompted the Teamsters to settle with the National Labor Relations Board by posting a four-page notice on the union's website where the union agreed that (among other things):
“WE WILL NOT brandish or carry any weapon of any kind, including, but not limited to, guns, knives, slingshots, rocks, ball bearings, liquid-filled balloons or other projectiles, sledge hammers, bricks, sticks, or two by fours . . ..
“WE WILL NOT use or threaten to use a weapon of any kind, including but not limited to guns, knives, slingshots, rocks, ball bearings, liquid-filled balloons or other projectiles, picket signs, sticks, sledge hammers, bricks, hot coffee, bottles, two by fours, lit cigarettes, eggs, or bags or balloons filled with excrement . . ..
WE WILL NOT damage, threaten to damage or attempt to damage any vehicle or equipment owned or operated by Overnite, its employees or security guards, by any means or manner, including but not limited by slingshots, rocks, ball bearings, liquid-filled balloons or other projectiles, knives, picket signs, sticks, sledge hammers, bricks, bottles, two by fours, eggs, or paint, or by tearing off mirrors, windshield wipers or antennas, or breaking windows.
WE WILL NOT disable or attempt to disable vehicles owned or operated by Ovemite, by any means or manner, including but not limited to disconnecting or otherwise severing air brake lines, padlocking doors, spraying substances in or otherwise jamming locks, stealing keys, puncturing radiators, cutting hoses or door cables, flattening tires or throwing, placing or otherwise spreading any nails, screws, star nails, jack rocks or similar devices capable of puncturing tires on any road surface.
WE WILL NOT endanger or impede the progress of or harass any non-striking employee or any employee of a neutral person doing business with Ovemite, while he or she is operating a company vehicle or his or her own personal vehicle, by forcing or attempting to force him or her off the road, blocking, delaying or limiting his or her access to or passage on any road, swerving toward, driving recklessly near, tailgating or braking abruptly in front of him or her, impeding his or her progress by speeding up and slowing down, driving at speeds below the legal minimums while in front of him or her.[Emphasis added.]
Until recently, when the topic of union violence arose, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) was missing on the list of "most violent unions." In fact, this 1999 study by the National Institute for Labor Relations Research showed that, over a 25-year period, the SEIU didn't even rank in the top 20 most violent unions.
Times Change: A Portrait in Union Dictatorship
While the SEIU has never been on the radar screen for its use of violence, it has always been known as a 'militant' union. However, with the ascendancy of Barack Obama to the presidency of the United States, the influence of the SEIU has grown beyond its members and their employers, with much of its agenda having an impact on all Americans. As a result, its actions have garnered the SEIU and its leaders Andy Stern and Anna Burger more of a spotlight than they might have had in years past and, so far, many Americans do not like what they see.
For example, as many Americans never knew who Andy Stern was before 2008, they likely did not know that Mr. Stern:
Almost single-handedly orchestrated the 2005 break-up of the AFL-CIO.
Is reviled by many within his own union for forcibly merging SEIU locals with one another, using union appointments, rather than members electing their own leaders (see article here)
Is at war with many other union leaders for his engaging in "piracy on the high seas of organized labor," in reference to his raiding (or stealing members of) other unions.
As Andy Stern's influence has grown, so too has knowledge of the SEIU's militant ways and, even more recently the SEIU has taken on an image of a 'thug-like' union.
In April 2008, at a Labor Notes (a pro-union group) conference, while at war with the California Nurses Association, the SEIU bused in 200-300 purple-shirted members who stormed the conference, sending one attendee to the hospital and leaving one SEIU member dead (from an apparent heart attack).
SEIU organizers used threats of physical violence, profanity, and sexually threatening gestures to intimidate NUHW supporters as they walked door to door.
At least two workers' doors were vandalized or defaced, and many had signs stolen which they had placed on their homes to show their support for NUHW.
In November 2009, SEIU protesters allegedly threw eggs at attendees of an event honoring a rival union, the NUHW, with several attendees, including Vice President of the United Teachers of Los Angeles. Members of UNITE HERE Local 11 were also targets of eggs and water bottles.
Last week, SEIU staffer Lisbeth Castillo was caught on camera yelling at a Garden Grove Hospital employee and spouting obscenities before lunging at an NUHW volunteer and striking him (see video below).
With SEIU boss Andy Stern being appointed to the White House deficit reduction commission last week, many view the President's appointment of Stern with disdain due to Stern's "progressive" ideals of bigger government and higher taxes.
However, Stern's appointment raises a greater concern:
By elevating Mr. Stern to a White House commission, does this mean that the Obama administration is condoning Mr. Stern's actions and that of his union against other unions, his members, or persons like Kenneth Gladney?
This leaves us to wonder: When will the violence stop, Mr. Stern?
And, more importantly, will the Obama administration ever condemn the SEIU’s violence?
Read more on union violence here. ---------------------------
“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776
This is not a political prediction but, rather, a statement of fact: Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) will be unemployed by the end of 2010.
According to just about every poll taken, Ms. Lincoln is losing to just about any Republican who may run against her in November and, in most cases, by double digits.
Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter is moving ahead with a primary challenge to Sen. Blanche Lincoln, he announced Monday.
"Washington is broken," Halter said in a video on his campaign website. "Bailing out Wall Street with no strings attached, while leaving middle-class Arkansas taxpayers with the bill; protecting insurance company profits instead of protecting patients and lowering health costs; gridlock, bickering and partisan games while unemployment is at a 25-year high. Enough's enough."
Halter's decision further complicates Lincoln's already difficult path to a third term. Polls have shown the senator trailing a slew of Republican opponents, including Rep. John Boozman and state Sen. Gilbert Baker, and she has angered her own party's base by shying away from support for liberal priorities such as the Employee Free Choice Act and a government-run health insurance plan.
In a statement, Lincoln described herself as a "target of both political extremes" and reiterated her plans to file for reelection.
"I'm excited about today and I'm excited to be a Democrat," she said. "This Senate seat belongs to Arkansas, not to outside groups that are angry I don't answer to them."
In the day since he officially announced his intention to take on Lincoln in the primary, Halter has lined up the support from Democratic base groups, including progressive groups MoveOn.org and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. Those two, among others, raised nearly $500,000 for Halter from progressives across the country in less than 24 hours.
[snip]
The backing of the AFL-CIO is an important one for any Democrat. For Halter, it signals that the unions are prepared to put their money where their mouth has been for almost a year now when it comes to Lincoln. When Lincoln came out against the "card check" provision in the Employee Free Choice Act, unions balked and threatened to fight her. Now it seems Halter has given them their chance.
That Ms. Lincoln will be joining the ranks of the unemployed, there is no doubt. The only question is whether the end of her Senate career will be by her own hand (resignation) or at the hands of Arkansas voters.
AFL-CIO leaders say the decision to oppose Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln's re-election bid will send a message to other Democrats who fall out of step with unions.
Officials at the nation's largest labor federation call the move part of a more aggressive posture to make sure labor's support is not taken for granted. At least three unions have already pledged $1 million each to helping Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter in his primary challenge to Lincoln.
Perhaps a dead fish would have been cheaper? ---------------------------
“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776
General Motors Co. said Monday it will recall 1.3 million Chevrolet and Pontiac compact cars sold in the U.S., Canada and Mexico to fix power steering motors that can fail.
The recall affects 2005 to 2010 Chevrolet Cobalts, 2007 to 2010 Pontiac G5s, 2005 and 2006 Pontiac Pursuits sold in Canada and 2005 and 2006 Pontiac G4s sold in Mexico.
The automaker said the vehicles are still safe to drive and never lose their steering, but it may be harder to steer them when traveling under 15 mph.
[snip]
GM told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration about the recall on Monday. NHTSA began an investigation into 905,000 of the models on Jan. 27 after getting 1,100 complaints that the cars lost their power steering assist. The complaints included 14 crashes and one injury.
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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776
Vowing to spend one-quarter of a million dollars less than last year's AFL-CIO Executive Council meeting, the leaders of the 57-union federation are meeting this week for their annual winter meeting at the Buena Vista Palace Hotel in Orlando, Florida.
Earlier this afternoon, Vice President Joe Biden met with the union leaders and, according to the Wall Street Journal, was "muted, and even defensive at times."
Nevertheless, Biden paid homage to an otherwise disappointed group of labor bosses who have little to show for putting Biden and his boss, Barack Obama, in the White House.
I know it doesn’t seem like it, but we’ve come a long way in 12 months,” Biden told several hundred union officials. “In terms of the NLRB, we’re going to get it done. In the fight for EFCA, we’ve got to sit down and figure out where we go from here…. I think we’re going to get it done.”
[snip]
“I think they owe some answers this time,” said Thomas Buffenbarger, president of the International Association of Machinists. “There’s always something that crops up and gets in the way of labor’s agenda.”
BusinessWeek says that union bosses are "reeling" from the losses they've suffered under Obama and the Democrats.
“The labor movement is at a crossroads, and it has to rethink its political strategy,” said Amy Dean, a former labor official who is co-author of “A New New Deal,” a book about reshaping the labor movement. “The conversations that we are having at our kitchen tables and our living rooms that express our disappointment with this administration are very similar to the conversations that we had under the Bush administration.”
[snip]
“We’re demoralized,” said Robert Haynes, president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO. “We’re not happy about anything.”
Struggling to cope with their lack of progress, several are laying the blame at the feet of the GOP:
"I think that everyone is frustrated literally, but it's important to understand who we have to be frustrated with," said United Steelworkers president Leo Gerard.
Gerard said unions are angry about Republican tactics they view as obstructionist and a few conservative Senate Democrats who are making it tough for Obama to push through his agenda. Gerard said that Democrats may not count on the usual support they expect from union members in this fall's elections.
"If we don't have clear progress and clear attempts at progress, we're going to have a hard time motivating our folks," he said.
And, Ms. Dean, a former AFL-CIO organizer says "unions made the mistake of waiting for an agenda 'and as a result, got rolled.'" ---------------------------
“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776
It looks like San Francisco, the home of Nancy Pelosi and leftie goon squads are turning on one of their own, the folks over at UNITE-HERE.
Word around San Francisco is that UNITE HERE Local 2 leader Mike Casey is steaming mad that the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau(SFCVB) voted unanimously to reprimand him for the union’s aggressively anti-San Francisco, anti-employee tactics.
The San Francisco Chronicle’s Phil Matier and Andy Ross reported that SFCVB voted to reprimand the union leader for urging trade groups and professional organizations to take their business to other cities.
SFCVB boss Joe D’Alessandro warned that if the union continued to interfere with efforts to bring business to San Francisco, its leaders could be booted from the group, according to Matier and Ross.
Reports are that Casey lost his temper and started shouting a string of obscenities when he received notice from the SFCVB. He is now desperately trying to overturn the SFCVB decision, but it is unlikely that he will be successful.
[snip]
Despite the undeniable, bad economic news for city hotels, Local 2 has demanded a more expensive contract for some 9,000 city hotel employees. As in the past, the leaders of Local 2 are staging random sit-ins, pickets and demonstrations.
What has changed this year is a new tactic of harassment and intimidation of conference and event planners, and even event committee members. In recent months, Local 2 officials have sought to discourage a AIDS research conference and a conference of pediatricians from holding their events at those hotels in San Francisco that can accommodate large groups.
So far, Local 2 has succeeded in prompting three union-associated conventions to take their business to San Jose, Las Vegas and Washington, D.C. Union tactics are likely forcing event planners considering venues for 2011 and beyond to take San Francisco off their list of potential sites. While Local 2 President Mike Casey claims the actions of his union are designed to impact only a select group of hotels, clearly they are harming the entire city of San Francisco.
Casey and UNITE HERE Local 2 have refused to come back to the negotiating table. In essence, he has said: “accept my deal or I won’t negotiate at all.” This is no way for a labor leader to act when the local economy is in dire straits and his own members are suffering and out of work.
Perhaps the City by the Bay has woken up to the economic damages that unions can bring?
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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776
By reading some of the comments made by union bosses in BusinessWeek, one might wonder if the labor leaders wasted a whole bunch of their members' money back in 2008 or whether they set their expectations far too high.
“We’re demoralized,” said Robert Haynes, president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO. “We’re not happy about anything.”
“The labor movement is at a crossroads, and it has to rethink its political strategy,” said Amy Dean, a former labor official who is co-author of “A New New Deal,” a book about reshaping the labor movement. “The conversations that we are having at our kitchen tables and our living rooms that express our disappointment with this administration are very similar to the conversations that we had under the Bush administration.”
Ouch!
On labor issues, to compare President Obama to President Bush, is stunning!
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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776
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