It's been said that there is no honor among thieves...
An AFSCME official stole $180,000. Big news? Not really. Union corruption in the form of union bosses stealing from their members happens all the time. What is surprising is when union bosses steal from one of their own.
A former union official from Milwaukee has agreed to plead guilty to embezzling about $180,000 of union funds, according to federal court records.
Paula Dorsey, former president of District Council 48 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, withdrew the money from an account between 2004 and 2009 to finance her gambling habit, said Mel Johnson, an assistant U.S. attorney. Dorsey faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release, in addition to repayment of the estimated amount stolen.
The money was intended to fund Operation Big Vote, a national initiative to increase minority voter turnout.
So what is Operation Big Vote? Well, it appears to be one of the nuts from the fallen ACORN tree...
This year alone ACORN has registered 1,315,037 voters.
Although the organization prides itself for its registration efforts, it also has a long history of scandal. In the state of Missouri in 1986, 12 ACORN members were convicted of voter fraud. But that case was not an isolated incident in the state. In December 2004, in St. Louis, six volunteers pleaded guilty of dozens of election law violations for filling out registration cards with names of dead people and other bogus information. Authorities launched an earlier investigation after noticing that among the new voters was longtime St. Louis alderman Albert “Red” Villa, who died in 1990. The volunteers worked for “Operation Big Vote” — a branch of ACORN — in St. Louis.
Like we said...no honor among thieves.
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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
Three Connecticut labor leaders, Art Perry, Anna Montalvo and Gwen Mills, will be honored on Sunday, Dec. 6, with the annual Amistad Award presented by the People's World, on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the Communist Party USA. The reception, "Keep the Ball Rolling ... to win jobs with union rights, health care, peace and equality!" will be held at 4 p.m. at the New Haven People's Center, 37 Howe Street, New Haven.
The three are being recognized for their contributions in mobilizing in the workplace and community and building coalitions for social change. Also featured on the program will be music and spoken word, a holiday gift table and homemade buffet.
Art Perry has been an organizer and community and political activist since working at Southbury Training School as a member of New England Health Care Employees Union / District 1199 in the 1970s. His grassroots political organizing with working families has elected many progressives to local, state and federal office. He served with1199 for 17 years, and is now Connecticut political director of SEIU 32BJ Justice for Janitors where he furthers his beliefs in justice, equality and community organization.
Anna Montalvo is the first woman and the first Latina to serve as president of the 1,500-member AFSCME Local 1522 in Bridgeport. As a child she experience discrimination in the schools of New York which gave her the drive to pursue her education, and help ensure that all parents and students are treated with respect and dignity. She is a vice-president of AFSCME Council 4 and active in many community and labor organizations, and is recipient of numerous awards.
Gwen Mills was raised in New Haven. In the 1980s she participated with CISPES (Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador), and later spent a year in Mozambique working with local groups to re-establish activist organizations at the close of the civil war. In 2000 Gwen returned to New Haven where she has served as a lead organizer with the CT Center for a New Economy (CCNE). In 2007 she became political field director of Unite-Here unions for Connecticut and Rhode Island.
McCarthyism? Yeah, right.
__________________ “I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776
Although, due to its planned short duration, it appears to be a mere union pressure tactic to get the American Red Cross to cave at the bargaining table, multiple unions have hit the not-for-profit with a three-day strike in six states.
The unions involved include AFSCME, the CWA, OPEIU, and, of course, the SEIU.
Blood collections were suspended Wednesday as 60 union workers joined a broader coalition to initiate a strike against the American Red Cross.
Locals workers sit and stood along Veterans Memorial Boulevard. Some held signs, while one yelled into a megaphone. Each belonged to Service Employees International Union Local 1199.
A union official attributed the work stoppage to disagreements about health insurance, pension and staffing levels. Red Cross declined specific comment, but said its contract proposals are consistent to benefits afforded to its non-union staff.
Unionized American Red Cross workers are on strike on Wednesday and there will no blood drives for the day.
About 200 Connecticut Red Cross workers, who are members of the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees, started a three-day strike at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. It will end at midnight on June 4.
Union officials warned in May of a possible strike and said the Red Cross is taking part in unfair labor practices, including a lack of nurses at blood drives, and skimping on important benefits for employees.
Unionized workers for the American Red Cross Blood Services Division in Buffalo are set to go on strike today.
The walkout will involve about 100 area workers who collect, process and distribute blood, said James Wagner, president of Local 1122, Communications Workers of America. Another 60 tele-recruiters who recruit blood donors will not join the strike for fear their work would be moved immediately to Rochester, he said. Wagner had initially said that group would join the strike.
__________________ “I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776
Once upon a time, you're at one of your children's softball games and your cell phone rings. You recognize your home number and you quickly realize it's an emergency call from your teenager whom you left home alone (doing God knows what).
You sense the sheer panic on the other end as you ask what is the matter. At first you think the house must be on fire, or something worse...
"I don't know, dad, they're not flashing any gang symbols that I know of...
...but they're all in colored shirts."
Now, if you were the one to get that sort of call, instead of Greg Baer, perhaps it would help you to know in advance some of the colors of the various gangs unions, so that you could identify the goons activists for the police (not that they'd do anything anyway).
The following is a quick tutorial on the colors of some of today's major street thugs unions.
The Purple Behemoth.
The Color Purple is synonymous with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and is probably the most recognizable today.
Green with envy?
Green is the official color of SEIU competitor AFSCME (which stands for the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees)
Seeing Red?
The Communications Workers of America have long been a red union (in a purely colorful form, of course).
Mellow Yellow.
Yellow is all-too-often the color for the United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW).
Paint it Black (or whatever color they choose).
Never wanting to be dull, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters prefers black, but is happy in just about any color, as long as it bears two severed horses' heads.
Of course, the identification of marauding mobs of protesters by their shirt colors alone can get confusing if the mob is actually an astroturf organization of community activist like ACORN (red) or the NPA (a color combination). If, however, you cannot tell whether it is a union or an astroturf organization (it is difficult, you know), just look for the union label.
We hope this short list helps you should you ever have unwelcome trespassers visitors on your front lawn.
__________________ “I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.”Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776
You've seen part of the video (here), now watch the whole thing (via Big Government) as union astroturfers from the SEIU, AFSCME and members from the teacher's union in Illinois clamor for tax increases:
Apparently, American History is not in their teaching curriculum.
__________________ "I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776
Across the country, teachers, those who are responsible for educating children and young adults basic skills in reading, writing and arithmetic (and a whole lot more) are acting out.
One of the basic tenets in business or of common sense (which, unfortunately, they don't teach in school) is that you cannot eat more than you produce. However, teachers and, more importantly, their unions seem to be failing at grasping that basic concept.
Sometimes organizations don’t realize how good they have it until public support for their positions erodes, the good will vanishes and the bottom suddenly falls out.
Well, the bottom has fallen out in many cases. States and municipalities are on the brink of bankruptcy, many taxpayers are out of work and they still have mortgages to pay and the property taxes that fund the salaries that public-sector workers receive still come due. Therein lies the rub.
As Americans have cut largely cut back on their own personal expenditures by putting less on their credit cards, eating out less frequently and clipping more coupons, it is only reasonable that the public-sector workers who are fed from the trough filled by income and property taxes tighten their belts as well.
But unions like AFSCME, the SEIU, NEA and AFT are fighting tooth and nail (and actually spending their members' money) to raise taxes to keep the public till well fed. And, when cuts are made (or even proposed), they take to the streets in protest, causing more costs to be borne by the taxpayers.
This week alone, teachers in Pennsylvania and in California have gone on strike in protest of budgetary cuts cuts. In the Pennsylvania strike, despite the recession, the dispute is not over cutting salaries but how much the teachers' raises should be:
The union proposed no salary increase in the first year and raises of between 2.50 and 2.85 percent in each of the next four years.
[snip]
...the school district proposed a zero percent increase in the first year and a 2 percent salary increase in each of the next four years.
School Board President Vince Sherpinsky argued that the district must pay additional millions to finance salary increases, due to changes in seniority.
When those figures are considered, the district's last offer amounts to an 18.81 percent cumulative pay raise; the union's proposal is 22.74 percent, Sherpinsky said.
The union offered to reduce its proposal by $1.25 million to address the seniority issue, but that, too, was rejected by the school board.
To add insult to injury, as the teachers' union bickers with the school district over how much of the taxpayers' money to spend, while the teachers are striking, many single parents (or those households where both parents work) have to make other child care arrangement or miss work entirely. This takes an even bigger chunk out of their already-strained budgets.
For the first time since 1976, New Jersey voters rejected a majority of proposed school budgets. Only 41.3 percent of the 538 proposed budgets received voter approval in yesterday’s Annual School Election, according to unofficial results released this morning by the New Jersey School Boards Association. That figure compares with a 73.3 percent approval rate last year.
According to the New Jersey Department of Education, nearly 26.7 percent of eligible voters participated in Tuesday's election, a significant increase from last year's 15-percent voter turnout.
“This has been a year unlike any we’ve seen before,” said Marie S. Bilik, NJSBA executive director. “Local boards of education did their best with the hand they were dealt. The election results should not be viewed as a rejection of public education or school programs. It's clear that voters were reacting to many concerns, including the poor economy and high property taxes."
In Chicago, however, public-sector workers rallied with their unions on Wednesday and, as noted on Big Government.com (from which the title of this post came), "a phalanx of public sector employees, including SEIU, Illinois Education Association, Illinois Federation of Teachers, AFSCME, and AFL-CIO, rallied in support of the tax hike in the capital, Springfield." [Emphasis added.]
As the attitude of many public-sector unions is greatly (and grossly) personified by this teacher, it has become a national problem. Unless and until more Americans realize the basic principle that you cannot eat more than you produce, taxpayers will continue to be the meal by which public-sector unions will continue to feast.
If some men are entitled by right to the products of the work of others, it means that those others are deprived of rights and condemned to slave labor.
Now, back to work you serf!...There's a government worker out there who needs a new car.
__________________ “I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776
Multiple, New York City: 1,100 New York City sewage workers receive their first wage increases in 15 years, after two unions ratified new contracts. Some 200 plant managers, represented by Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 3, had been without a contract since 1995 and will receive an increase of 83 percent. About 800 members of AFSCME Local 1320 had been without a contract since 2002 and will receive increases of between 43 percent and 63 percent.
Even if the wage increases were 100%, there's nothing here to indicate retroactivity.
One question that goes unanswered: How much will their union dues go up?
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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
Since Andy Stern's announced retirement this past week, there has been a lot of positive hopeful speculation from the labor-friendly press on whether or not the SEIU and its four fellow unions would soon be re-joining the AFL-CIO now that Andy is gone.
"They are pretty happy where they are. I don't think they will be coming back," said McEntee, who said he spoke last week with Stern and Burger, chairwoman of the Change to Win coalition.
Oh well. Hopes for one big, happy family reunion in the House of Labor have been dashed...for now.
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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
Union workers for the Springfield Park District Thursday overwhelmingly rejected a proposal that called for unpaid furlough days and deferral of a raise in exchange for fewer layoffs.
Park district officials have sent out layoff notices to 27 employees. AFSCME represents 20 of those people.
If the union had agreed to the concessions, it would have saved six jobs. The deal called for the workers to agree to five unpaid furlough days and defer a previously negotiated 4 percent raise.
"An injury to one is an injury to all?" Apparently not.
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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
Yesterday was Tax Day, the day when most Americans file their income tax returns and either shell out more money, or not.
Yesterday, there were protests going on all over the country by people who are fed up with government's runaway spending.
However, in Minneapolis, the recipients of the runaway spending, members of the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees were out at the post office handing out (in typical class warfare style) 'Tax the Rich' fliers.
"The trouble with Socialism is you eventually run out of other people's money." Margaret Thatcher
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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
For the last several years, union-bought politicians have been giving unions like AFSCME and the SEIU the ability to unionize tens of thousands of care givers who receive state subsidies even though many are in their own homes, caring for their own family members.
Some care givers are pushing back. In Illinois, the SEIU lost its bid to unionize care givers. However, some are not so lucky.
In Michigan, Geri Millirons cares for her 32-year old quadriplegic son and was surprised to learn that a union was deducting union dues from the stipend she receives from the state.
Millirons said she is not an employee of anystate department or office, and has not been getting any union benefits like health care or retirement.
"They don't represent me. I am a mother, I take care of my son. I still work 24 hours a day, weekends and holidays," she said.
After questioning and demanding that the state stop the deductions, Millirons said they did -- but have not issued her a reimbursement for the roughly $700 that were taken out.
She said she wants to warn others about the automatic deductions.
"I know there are hundreds of women out here in the country just like me," she said.
Rep. Kim Meltzer has been working to introduce a bill that would end the automatic deductions.
"It was an inter-local agreement between the governor and the union officials. But why was this put in place? And why are family members who are taking care of their own children being required to be in a union?" Meltzer said. [Emphasis added.]
Why are family members required to pay union dues to take care of their own children?
A good question.
------------------- "I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes." Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776
Union bosses have spent HUNDREDS of MILLIONS (dare we say over a billion?) of dollars over these past few years trying to get the hallucinogencially-named Employee Free Choice Act enacted.
One of the hallmark provisions of EFCA is what is known as "card-check." Card-check means that if 50%+1 of a given unit of employees sign union authorization cards, the union wins without a secret-ballot election.
Again, the Employee Free FORCED Choice Act has been union bosses' number one legislative goal for several years...their TOP legislative goal...
Given the above, one would think that a union boss would be happythrilled to hear that his own union's workers signed union authorization cards and want to unionize...right? Further, one would think that said union boss would readily recognize his workers' union using the card check method...right? After all, the ends do justify the means and with all the money that has been spent, the politicians that have been bought, the lies that have been told, card-check is good...right?
Well, check out this little story of union hypocrisy, courtesy of Philadelphia AFSCME boss Henry Nicholas:
In about a month, 20 secretaries, clerks, and administrators - all employees of one of the city's most storied unions - will participate in a National Labor Relations Board election to decide whether they want to be represented by a union themselves.
Ironically, their employer, longtime labor leader Henry Nicholas, declined to recognize the bargaining unit when he was presented with signed petition cards from a majority of the workers.
Nicholas is a staunch supporter of a proposed federal law known as "card check," which would allow unions to organize workplaces without a separate election if a majority of workers sign cards requesting representation.
The Labor Relations Board has scheduled an April 2 election for the employees of District 1199C of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).
Organizer John Hundzynski said "all the employees" in the office signed cards, declining to comment further. Hundzynski is a union organizer for District 1199C, usually trying to sign up nurses and other health-care workers. The Philadelphia union has 11,000 members, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
Before Hundzynski asked Nicholas to recognize the union based on the signed cards, Hundzynski "had already asked for an election," said Nicholas, who heads District 1199C.
"I'm not going to campaign against him. I'm not going to give out handbills. I'm not going to hold meetings," Nicholas said. "If he wins, I'm ready to bargain expeditiously."
Nicholas said the two disagreed Friday over whether the union's bookkeeper should be included in the proposed bargaining unit.
When Hundzynski lost that battle, Nicholas said, he countered by proposing the card-check provision and threatened to go public if Nicholas did not agree. [Emphasis added.]
Well, Henry, now it’s public and now we know, you’re just another union hypocrite.
Card-check for thee, but not me…Right, Henry?
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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 Follow LaborUnionReport on Twitter.
With his city in tatters, its finances in ruins, Detroit's mayor, David Bing, doesn't mince words.
Mayor Dave Bing today criticized leaders of the city's largest union for foot-dragging on contract negotiations, saying it's costing the financially strapped city $500,000 a month and could result in more layoffs.
"Either they can't read, they can't add or they can't comprehend," Bing said at a press conference this morning in his office at City Hall. "It has to be one of the three."
"Everyone is running with a deficit in their budgets. It's leadership or a lack of leadership that has got us to where we are."
Bing said he's ready to impose a contract on the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 25 but said the city must follow the law. Both parties are now in fact-finding, a process which could last until July.
More layoffs may be necessary in the meantime to help shore up the city's estimated $325 million deficit, although Bing didn't give any numbers.
Bing has been at odds for months with AFSCME leaders over calls for concessions, including 10 percent pay cuts through 26 furlough days and fringe benefit cuts. The union represents about 3,600 workers such as landscapers, street pavers and crossing guards.
[snip]
Bing has ratified deals with 26 of the city's 49 unions, one union vote is pending, and he has imposed contract conditions on three others, staffers said.
He blamed union officials, who he said have repeatedly tried to delay negotiations in court unsuccessfully, including asking a judge at one point to jail Bing for contempt. Bing said he is sensitive to the rank-and-file city employees but said the city is in a "financial crisis".
"It's not the rank and file," Bing said. "The (union) leadership will still have their jobs."
The City Council recently approved fringe benefits reductions that Bing negotiated with about 25 unions representing nearly 1,400 staffers and another 1,300 non-union workers. They include:
Suspending tuition reimbursement until 2012 to save $520,000 a year.
Reducing vacation and sick days for new hires, including eliminating up to six bonus vacation days if they don't call in sick.
Dropping coverage for fertility and impotence drugs such as Viagra to save $1.6 million a year.
Stopping employees from being able to add adult dependents -- parents or adult children -- to their insurance as long as they pay the monthly premiums.
These are in addition to a 10 percent pay cut in the form of 26 furlough days.
In August, Bing vowed to lay off 1,000 workers if unions didn't agree to new contracts. He backed down, but noted the city's work force has fallen to 11,800 from 13,200 when he took office in May. [Emphasis added.]
Suffice it to say that, if more politicians had the backbone that Bing has, many of America's states and cities might not be in the dire straits they are in today.
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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
Iowa, the home of union-ally Sen. Tom Harkin (D) and the first state to have a crack at presidential contenders, has become a battleground of sorts over whether public unions will gain the right to require public workers throughout the state to pay union "representation fees."
All public employee unions could charge nonmembers fees for services under an amendment introduced Monday to broaden an already controversial labor bill.
The bill being debated by the House is now limited to employees in the executive branch of state government.
If the amendment is adopted, the bill would extend to employees of Iowa's cities, counties and public school districts.
Currently, Iowa is one of 22 Right-to-Work states, which means that unions cannot legally require employees to pay union dues; whereas in the 28 Non-Right-to-Work states, unions can require workers to pay union dues (or have them fired if they refuse).
If the measure passes, it is estimated that unions may reap up to $5.3 million in fees from workers who may suddenly be required to pay the unions. It is also reasonable for Iowans to be concerned that, if unions are successful in eliminating the right-to-work status of state workers, the next step will be an attempt foist forced dues from private-sector workers as well. In fact, this seems to be the 'camel's nose in the tent' for Iowa's unions to take that next step:
"You would not expect to get fire protection without paying taxes. ... Then why would you expect union representation in matters of collective bargaining, arbitration and grievances without people paying their fair share?" said Bill Gerhard, president of the Iowa State Building and Construction Trades Council. "I don't think it's in Iowa's character to expect something for nothing."
State worker Joe Anderson said Monday that he thinks that even if nonunion workers are required by law to help pay their "fair share" for certain union services, they would still face discrimination from union officials.
Anderson, who joined the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees last fall after 13 years of saying no to membership invitations, e-mailed two AFSCME officials asking for their advice on a work issue.
Union leader Danny Homan responded: "A scab, take your time responding to him."
Homan intended that email for a union field representative, but he mistakenly copied it to Anderson.
[snip]
Anderson, an agent for the Iowa Department of Transportation, said: "I know Homan wants to paint the picture that they're providing all these services for nonunion members and they're doing it for free. To me, it's a perfect illustration that they're not."
He also asked, "Does this sound like a man, and an organization, that can be trusted to give nonmembers their 'fair share' of union services? Does anyone truly believe that a 'fair share' fee will change the way Homan and the union treats nonmembers?"
House Minority Leader Kraig Paulsen, R-Hiawatha, said Homan's e-mail, which was meant for AFSCME field representative Adam Swihart, appears to be asking Swihart to treat Anderson differently from dues-paying members.
"That is illegal," Paulsen said. "Public-sector unions are compelled to represent everybody in the bargaining unit equally and without prejudice as to whether they're a dues-paying member."
Homan repeatedly apologized in his written statement. "I apologize to all AFSCME-covered employees, member and nonmember, and this was unbecoming of someone in my position. Our response to workers in need is not something that I take lightly," he wrote. [Emphasis added.]
In most cases, as the saying goes: “Integrity is doing the right thing, even if nobody is watching.”
However, in the case of this union boss, it appears that integrity is something that only comes about when an e-mail is sent to the wrong recipient.
A couple of weeks ago, we posted on the issue of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees wanting an 86-year old school crossing guard fired from his job volunteering as a school crossing guard in Wassau, Wisconsin.
In short, AFSCME wants the 86-year old volunteer fired because they believe the work is "union work" even though there is no crossing guard in the school's budget.
The Wassau Daily Herald has weighed in on AFSCME's attempt to stop the 86-year old Warren Eschenbach from volunteering his time:
AFSCME's position is crazy, and it needs to immediately drop its grievance, which has already been denied by the city. The choice here isn't between a union crossing guard and a volunteer one -- it's between a volunteer guard and none at all.
Riverview has never had a paid crossing guard. And in response to the union grievance, the Wausau Police Department said that even if Eschenbach were forced to stop volunteering, the city wouldn't hire someone else take the job.
Now AFSCME has the opportunity to take its grievance to arbitration. If it wins, Riverview Elementary School will lose its crossing guard. Is that really the outcome the union wants? That Riverview parents want?
Eschenbach, a retired Wausau Water Works employee, worked as a crossing guard for five years at a different school previously. He is trusted by Riverview Principal Steve Miller, and by all indications he's popular with the students. Kicking him off the job would have no benefits whatsoever, and it would do harm by removing adult supervision from the school intersection.
There's a larger point here. The volunteer work Eschenbach does is valuable and important. We need to have a system that allows for citizen volunteers. For the union to attempt to get in the way of that is obstructive, it's unnecessarily territorial, and it's wrong.
We agree with the editors of the Wassau Daily Herald: 'AFSCME's position is crazy....and it's wrong.' ----------------------------------------
Photo credit (used with permission): Rosa Aralani
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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
There they go again. Big union bosses seem to have a penchant for putting their interests ahead of the larger community.
A couple of months ago, it was purple-shirted SEIU bosses picking on an eagle scout for volunteering his time to clear a pathway. Now, the union bosses at the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union (AFSCME) want 86-year old Warren Eschenbach removed from being a volunteer crossing guard at Riverside Elementary School.
Eighty-six-year-old Warren Eschenbach's voice lifts when he talks about the kids who live on the northeast side of Wausau.
Eschenbach braves frigid temperatures, snow and rain to help Riverside Elementary School students get safely across the intersection of Maple Hill Road and Henry Street.
The Wausau School District last summer built a new area for parents to pick up their kids near the intersection. The added traffic from parents and increasing enrollment caused many neighbors to become concerned about kids crossing the street. That's when Eschenbach met with the school and decided he wanted to help.
"I tell you, you can't get away from these kids," he said. "You tell them you're going to be gone for a couple days, and they ask, 'Will you be back?' They don't want you to go."
But Eschenbach's volunteer job helping the kids might be at risk. A local union representing city workers is challenging him, claiming he is doing a job that should be done by a paid city employee and undermining the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Local 1287. The city pays part-time crossing guards at 12 other intersections near schools.
Those employees are paid $12.65 an hour and the city cut their hours from 15 a week to 10.
AFSCME filed a grievance with the city in October, asking the city to get rid of Eschenbach and instead open the position to the union. That request was denied by the Police Department, Human Resources Department and finally, on Monday, the Human Resources Committee. If the union wants, it now can ask for an arbitrator to make a ruling on the grievance.
AFSCME's local staff representative, John Spiegelhoff, said having a volunteer doing the job raises a lot of questions. He asked who is liable if the man is struck by a car, or if someone did background checks on Eschenbach.
Human Resources Specialist Ila Koss stated in the city's denial that Eschenbach is a volunteer for the Wausau School District, not the city, and the city has nothing to do with his volunteering. Wausau Police Lt. Ben Bliven wrote a letter to the union in response to the grievance, saying that there is not a present need for a crossing guard at the school, and therefore the city wouldn't fill the position. The school has never had a crossing guard, according to Principal Steve Miller.
Eschenbach is a retired Wausau Water Works employee and he also worked five years as a crossing guard at Franklin Elementary School, until about three years ago. The city provided him a vest and stop sign for his new job.
Miller said about 120 people volunteer at the school in the classroom, library and at recess, among other ways.
"He's giving back to the community," Miller said. "I don't know how anyone can find fault in this." [Emphasis added.]
We're not sure how anyone can find fault in this either. However, to unions like the SEIU and AFSCME, apparently giving back to the community is wrong...unless they're collecting union dues.
Pathetic.
[Update: AFSCME Still Want Warren Eschenbach Fired.]
----------------------------------- “I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine December 23, 1776
Apparently, none of those age-old union adages apply in today's collectivist union movement.
Collectivist unions are supposed to be of single mind, single body. A sort of "all for one, one for all," "you go, we go" selfless and self-sacrifing collection of union brothers and sisters. Afterall, that is what a union is, right?
Of course, the problem with this philosophic mindset is that it goes against basic human nature. Nevertheless, it is still amusing when today's unions don't practice what they preach.
For example. in Tulsa, Oklahoma, when faced with the choice of everyone taking a pay cut, or having their union brethren laid off, 73% of workers represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees chose to throw their union brothers and sisters to the street.
Members of the City Worker's Union, AFSCME have voted in an opinion poll for layoffs instead of pay cuts.
AFSCME is the union that represents Tulsa city workers not affiliated with police and fire departments.
729 AFSCME members voted and 533 said 'yes' to layoffs, which is about 73%
The AFSCME website details just how far today's unions have devolved into bastions of empty rhetoric:
None of the people who voted today want anyone to get laid off, but a decision had to be made and we all made the decision we had to make for ourselves and our family, but the decision was made with heavy hearts.
UPDATE: The following comments were posted on Newson6.com:
Bill Roland is the union president, "It's tough. How can I look at somebody and say, 'Well, the employees voted that you go out the door?"
"I thought it was wrong. If a union's for unity why didn't they stand together and take the 5.1 or whatever percent it was and everyone keeps their job instead of some guy being without a paycheck, without a way to support his family, it's not fair," said Tulsa worker Howard Coughlin.
So much for principle, long live empty collectivist slogans.
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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 2009 comes to an end and union bosses prepare for an early 2010 push for the job-destroying and hallucinogenically-named Employee Free FORCED Choice Act (EFCA), unions are getting a near-free pass as media types and union bought-off politicans portray today's unions as democratic, worker-run organizations.
A case in point is the union talking point that EFCA is intended for workers who want to "form" unions. This is particularly prevalent through the union-paid EFCA astro-turfing group American Rights at Work, which describes itself as an "educational and outreach organization dedicated to promoting the freedom of workers to form unions and bargain collectively."
The reality is, unions have not spent hundreds of millions of dollars buying politicians,setting up an astro-turf organization like ARAW, and pursuing a misleading campaign to deceive America only to allow workers to former their own unions. After helping to push industry out of the U.S., today's command and control union bosses want workers in their unions in order to collect dues.
Unfortunately, many of today's unions are top-down autocracies which, in many cases leave "rank and file" union members out in the cold.
Take, for example, this ad for a "Service Center Organizer" for the now-infamous Service Employees International Union:
JOB DESCRIPTION
Title: Grievance/Contract Enforcement Representative (also known as a Service Center Organizer)
Purpose: To assist the leadership of Local 615 in building a powerful rank and file union, through organizing and representing workers within the Union's jurisdiction. Specifically, the role of the Service Center is to enforce the terms of the collective bargaining agreement on behalf of members. Equally important, the Service Center's role is to increase the capacity of the internal organizing staff to identify, recruit and train member leaders by assuming a larger share of member representation. [Emphasis added.]
By posting this ad, the SEIU apparently failed to see the irony of talking about a "rank and file union" while attempting to hire from outside the union. Nor does the union apparently see the irony of having a so-called "service center," which is nothing more than a non-rank-and-file-run call center run by union bosses to deal with union members' problems (no face-to-face member contact is necessary).
Another example of a union that apparently feels that grooming rank-and-file union members to build their own union would be this ad for Organizers-in-Training, Organizers, and Journey Organizers from the American Federation of State County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME):
Organizers-in Training, the ad states, "learn the nuts and bolts of an organizing campaign from home calling unorganized workers, to organizing direct actions, to preparing for a first contract campaign." For this, OiTs are offered a starting salary of $36,648 with free single or family health coverage, car allowance, paid travel, 12 paid holidays, 401k, pension plan and more. Journey Organizers (organizers with at least 3 years of organizing experience) start at $52,670 but often, according to AFSCME's reports with the US Department of Labor, take in more than $100k.
As 2010 begins and politicians return to Washington to put the final nails in the health care reform coffin, union bosses are salivating to see EFCA return to the spotlight. It is important to know as EFCA returns that the job-destroying bill has nothing to do with workers forming their own unions and everything to do with union bosses raking in more money.
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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
Nearly 350,000 bay area commuters may be stranded on Monday if the Amalgamated Transit Union makes good on its threat to strike San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART). This would be BART's first strike since 1997, according to Pacific Business News.
Despite a national recession and millions of Americans unemployed, the ATU was demanding a three percent pay increase to add to their average $114,466 total compensation package. Meanwhile, BART's management is seeking to trim $100 million in labor costs over the next four years to help balance a $310 million deficit.
“We have no choice but to initiate the work action,” Jesse Hunt, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555, told KCBS 740 AM radio.
Hunt said BART management imposed a 7 percent pay cut and other demands that were not acceptable to his membership, which includes station agents and train operators.
Although two other BART unions, the SEIU and AFSCME, both ratified contracts with BART management earlier this week, union leaders stated that their members would honor ATU's picket lines.
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