Big Labor Not Looking Good on Labor Day
Moreover, card check has now become an issue in one of the key gubernatorial races this year. Republican Bob McDonnell, in a recent conference call with business leaders, explained:
I’ll use every resource of my office to speak out strongly on behalf of the business community, and against card check. … We’ll use every possible political resource to fight card check, which I think is important and I think that will, in the long term, serve Virginia businesses well. … While others have said that it is a federal issue and doesn’t affect Virginia and there’s nothing they can do about it, I think that’s absolute nonsense.
Those “others” include his opponent, Democrat Creigh Deeds, who is all too happy to take Big Labor’s money but becomes very uncomfortable when asked his position the issue.
McDonnell has also gone after the other provision in EFCA — mandatory arbitration. He explained, “If there is no agreement between management and labor within 120 days, it requires the appointment of a federal arbitrator to come in and essentially write the contract for a private company.”
So now Big Labor may become a liability rather than an asset to the Democrat Deeds running in a key gubernatorial race, one that is likely to be interpreted, correctly or not, as a referendum on Obama.
Now, none of this is to say that Big Labor hasn’t gotten its share of victories since the 2008 election. Obama’s secretary of labor isn’t enforcing pesky financial disclosure requirements on Big Labor, which chaffed when the Bush administration put them into effect. Big Labor did after all persuade the Obama administration to not only bail out two auto companies, but spare them the usual bankruptcy fate for labor unions — the evisceration of their collective bargaining agreements. And even “cash for clunkers” was a special favor to the UAW, a little boost just for their industry in dire need of some customers.
But the current state of affairs wasn’t what Big Labor imagined when they spent millions of their members’ dues to elect a pro-labor lineup in Washington. What happened? Whether you buy the Kaus or the Marcus theory, it is clear that they made themselves a tad too conspicuous at the expense of the average taxpayer, the vast majority of whom belong to no union. Big Labor appears to be not the defender of the common man, but a special interest bully that doesn’t want to play by the same rules — whether at the ballot box or the bankruptcy court — as everyone else.
Big Labor may recover their clout and may still get some legislative goodies before the next election. But so long as they insist on special treatment, average Americans will likely regard them as just another special interest, the sort that, come to think of it, Obama promised to banish from Washington. Well, maybe after the next election.
Good article, although I guess we could also add, big government, big political parties, big wars, (some) big banks and big insurance and big politicians. With the exception of big oil, not many of the “bigs” have had a good year. Thanks.
“…one that is likely to be interpreted, correctly or not, as a referendum on Obama.”
It will be a referendum on Obama. Virginia may very well be a very secular state where a slight majority of Yuppie voters are pro-abortion. These folks want to find any excuse to cast their ballot for Creigh Deeds. During a so-called normal election—they prefer to vote for candidates representing their secularist cultural values. This year these same voters are going to vote on behalf of their pocketbook issues! They are scared excrement less about the sharply declining economy. The heck with the abortion stuff. That can wait until their financial situation greatly improves sometime in the distant future. Yuppies are quickly realizing, whether they like it or not, that both the Democrats and “moderate” Republicans cannot be trusted on economic issues. Only center-right politicians have their act together.
The destruction of stable, good paying manufacturing jobs is leading to the destruction of stable, good paying white collar jobs which will lead to the destruction of stable, good paying professional jobs which will lead to the destruction of America.
We have sold economic strength for wealth transfer to the very very wealthy from the middle class. When teachers and police officers are forced to furlough, facing pay cuts of meager salaries or are being laid off across the country, we know big corporation has won and that we are in deep trouble.
Big Oil has not had such a good year either. If you look at the rate of drilling in US Land you find a good percentage (if not the outright majority) of rigs that were here, are now O’seas (most never to return). This extends to the ancillary technologies that support field operations, (Frac sets, etc). So it’s slow too in the oil patch.
Between the politicians and the unions they have destroyed the greatest industrial nation in the world. The politicians by uncalled for regulations and the unions by undeserved demands. Thanks to these people most of the jobs went off shore and more will go if they have their way. Wake up America before it’s to late.
Just like every other failing business model, Big Labor turns to the government for a subsidy.
Private sector union membership has declined to the point where it’s laughable. In fact, if not for legislation and government contracting decisions favoring unionized companies for government contract work, this nominally “private sector” would disappear altogether.
Now in the public sector, the unions are holding their own. The number of civil servants in union membership is statistically MUCH higher than in the private sector.
But this raises a question…should civil servants be allowed to join private unions?
Members of the military are not so allowed.
The taxpayer is paying civil servants’ salaries, who in turn are “donating” a portion of those monies to a private entity…the union…which then spends it on political campaigns which will result in the taxpayer paying higher taxes.
Are they going to go on strike against the People?
One look at California and its’ budget shortfall shows where THIS leads…
It should be remembered that in the Democratic primaries, the UberFrauFuhrer consistently out-polled The Alleged Hawaiian among blue-collar households, but The One rather consistently received the official endorsement of the Unions that these blue collar workers preferred.
What’s good for “the Union” is not necessarily good for the worker.
In fact, as a 20 year rank and filer, I’d assert that that is usually the case.
The only sector of the unionized labor force that has shown significant growth in recent years are public employee unions. Such unions pushing for ever higher wages and particularly unsustainable pension benefits have been at the forefront of many a recent state and local financial crisis. Increasingly such unions are seen as being full of featherbedders and incompetent busy bodies who presume to rule over rather than serve the taxpayers. That they are making unions toxic to average American voters is not surprising.
7. NC Mountain Girl:
The only sector of the unionized labor force that has shown significant growth in recent years are public employee unions.
These are unions represent a serious conflict of interest at the voting booth.
Of all the unions, these are by far the most sinister.
I’m fascinated by the hatred of unions. Folks seem to believe its a bad idea for people to have job protection, decent working conditions, clearly defined duties, health care and pensions. No one seems upset that the loss of these things has meant nothing but a transfer of wealth to the very very rich and lower wages, job insecurity and reduced benefits for the workers.
It wasn’t the unions that decided to end tariffs. It wasn’t the unions that decided that free trade with countries who have no protections for workers or the environment and give free energy to their corporations. It wasn’t the unions that decided that it’s a great policy to replace 40 year old workers with cheaper workers.
I think the anger against unions is highly misplaced but has been a successful propaganda campaign by corporations.
Kinda hard to work up a big case of sympathy for a group who — with the help of an enabling pantload-in-chief — has strong-armed their way into our pocket books and portfolios.
Hmmmmmmmm. Here’s a suggestion: why not move this holiday to May 1st so the union bosses and the first t*rd can celebrate along with the other commies of the world?
I have worked with the Chrysler Corp for 14 years. The UAW is incompetent to put it lightly. It is also a RACIST/SEXIST organization. The whole concept of unionism is supposed to be equallity, equal work for equal pay. Women are not made to do jobs that require heavy lifting or hard manual labor. There are many committees and sub-committees within the union. One, the Black Men In Unions committee speaks for itself. That is what it is actually named. Let me say this about UAW employees. The workforce is broken into 3 groups. Roughly 1/3 goes to work everyday and works very hard at everything they do going above and beyond what is expected of them, you tell them build 500 and you might get 1000. Another 1/3 show up and do the absolute minimum that is expected of them you tell them build 500 and you get 500. Then, there is the other 1/3. If they show up at all, they spend their day working at not working. You tell them build 500 and you might get 250. They are the demoralizing group of the bunch and whats amazing is these are also the ones that run for elections in the union and they win. Our local presidents often have had the worst performance, worst attendance, and quite often have recieved disiplinary time off. Our last president was fired for stealing a steering wheel for a Dodge Viper that he carried out in a pizza box. Of course they hired him back only to fine that he was selling stolen parts on Ebay. Then, they forced him to retire since he had over 30 years with the company. The race card is often played on supervision that tries to make these people do their jobs and it is so effective that its best to leave them be. If you ever get to read Michelle Malkins piece on the UAW golf course known as Black Lake, it’s quite a eye opener of the way my union dues are squandered.
3) The SEIU thugs. And this directly projects on Obama and crew, because it screams “Chicago”.
11. union thug,
That rings so true. I worked at a union chemical plant (on the management side; I’m withdrawn in good standing from two unions including the Teamsters), and the (French) management was literally trying to use a convoluted loophole in the US tax laws to give a bonus to all of the employees. Most of the union guys got it, and played. But the ones who were most active in union politics were convinced that it was an elaborate scheme by management to “screw them”, and chose not to participate, and very vocally were trying to dissuade others.
This is the problem with that “250″ third that you describe (and our union workforce was roughly like that, too). They’re downright paranoid. That, and they have a zero-sum mindset.
It wasn’t completely that way, we did have some sane and reasonable people active in union leadership, but the really bad actors were, as a group, a lot more enthusiastic about stirring up shiite than actually doing anything.
But come hunting season, those guys would put in 18-hour days out in the woods. They got the concept of hard work brings home an animal. They just didn’t approach work that way.
FWIW, that plant was shut down in the ’90s, a ship came in from India, the crew on the ship disassembled the plant down to the last bolt, and put it on that ship, and it’s now making chemicals somewhere in India.
The union guys? I’ve bumped in to a couple of them. A couple became cops. One guy (one of your “1000″ guys) bought a septic tank sucker truck, and was making very good money sucking septic tanks. The rest? Who knows?
Most forces in government and the economy work or fluctuate like a pendulum from a position of strength to a position of weakness. This warring of ideas, parties, policies, and systems builds a stronger more dynamic country.
The Progressive Marxist with the concept of Totalitarian forms of Socialism don’t want to relinquish their gains, for them an election win and legislative victories are to be held in perpetuity. Labor, by sacrificing their previous patriotic position to throw in with the Progressive Marxist, in order to consolidate power and control, have compromised all sympathetic feeling throughout the rest of the country.
Led by leaders who sold out their membership with slogans and promises in the forlorn hope of achieving elite status with Obama’s Marxist Government, the membership can observe the slow dissolution of not only the Progressive Marxist Movement, but the unions as well.
The Unions didn’t choose the wrong side, there are many patriotic Americans that are union members, they merely made the same mistake as the United States, of not paying attention and electing incompetent leaders who had ulterior objectives and priorities.
Will the trade union movement suffer? They will be lucky to survive the backlash that is gaining momentum daily, the Obama Presidency is doomed from its own incompetence and the trade unions attached all their faith in the Wee Wee man. So long, trade unions.
Lisa @ 9: Few people would deny workers some of the benefits you name in your second sentence. Most Americans, however, object to:
1. Excessive, strike-leveraged demands that ultimately bankrupt private businesses and/or drive jobs to foreign countries.
2. Agenda-driven, bused-in, union goon-squads crashing political meetings.
3. Leftist politicians repaying union bloc-voting with patronage looted from taxpayers.
4. Governments effecting legislation favoring public-employee unions in exchange for big-bucks campaign donations. Conflict-of-interest, anyone?
5. High-living Big Labor bosses cutting back-door deals with politicians/government agencies that reek of anti-trust violations. Can you spell GM?
The fact is, Big Labor bosses care less for their rank-and-file than corporate executives do. Twenty-five years of dues-paying membership in the International Association of Machinists taught me to detest present-day Big Labor and all the corruption, graft and patronage it stand for.
#9 Lisa: Instead of being “fascinated” by the hatred of unions, why not look further into the issue and question WHY the hatred? You would be better served looking for the reasoning behind the feelings rather than trying to again silence people who have a legitimate reason for such strong feelings.
MORE education on the topic Lisa and LESS regurgitation of the old 1950′s union slogans.
PS…Actually READING the article you just commented on would be a great starting point.
The answer is easy Lisa, it’s called distraction. If you can blame all the countries business ills on the workers it distracts from what Wall Street did with the worker’s money.
Ya know that suit and tie, and pencil skirt with hose and heels, looks mighty fine, but when things get hot it sure is uncomfortable. Feels kinda like ya can’t get enough air.
Outrageous! What this nation needs is something to counter Big Labor. If only the corporations would get off their butts and start lobbying, contributing to politicians, forming PACs…. But I know I’m only whistling in the dark.
if we didnt have unions we would still be in the age of sweatshops and child worker exploitation. blaming the unions for GM going down is as absurd as blaming the constitution for our huge unemployment!
Somehow I’m not at all convinced. Labor is more necessary and more potent than it has been in some time. Labor Day is a good time to reflect on what the Labor movement has wrought over more than a century of action.
Without the safety, wages and negotiating power of organized labor, We the People would most certainly be far worse off today than we are. It is not a coincidence that the time of greatest union influence coincided with the greatest improvements in the living conditions of the typical American household.
Income distribution improved, incomes improved, and governments were not in deep debt, mostly because of progressive taxation and strong advocacy for the rights of working men and women.
Legislative attacks on the right of labor to organize have left a legacy of stagnant wages, increased poverty, and the most uneven income distribution in the history of the Republic.
That’s something to think about on this fine Labor Day.
Peace.
DS
Lynn @ 17: No one is blaming workers, just fat-cat, Marxist, Big Labor.
David S. @ 20: Keep drinking that Kool-Aid.
Trolls: Today is Labor Day. If Soros is requiring you to work today, he is required by law to pay time-and-a-half. If you’re not currently represented, please allow me to introduce myself. I’m the business agent for Brotherhood of Trolls, local 234, affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Trolls, Fools, and Knuckleheads.
For now, I’ll have to allow you a secret ballot. We’re working on your behalf to make this insult to your dignity a thing of the past.
Please contact me for a petition. Despite the secret ballot law currently in place, we have ways. So even if your fellow trolls have some sort of misplaced loyalty to Mr. Soros, you still have the right to representation.
Remember, the first to contact me get leadership positions in the union. Contact me now at boss@trolls.org.
I look forward to a very lucrative…er…beneficial relationship.
“Legislative attacks on the right of labor to organize have left a legacy of stagnant wages, increased poverty, and the most uneven income distribution in the history of the Republic.”
Right. So, closed shops, overinflated senses of self-worth, massive egos, lazy ass union workers have NOTHING to do with the failure of industry in this country?
So THAT’S why Michigan is creating jobs at a fantastic rate and Texas has record unemployment!
oh, wait…
“Legislative attacks on the right of labor to organize have left a legacy of stagnant wages, increased poverty, and the most uneven income distribution in the history of the Republic.”
Right. So, closed shops, overinflated senses of self-worth, massive egos, lazy ass union workers have NOTHING to do with the failure of industry in this country?
So THAT’S why Michigan is creating jobs at a fantastic rate and Texas has record unemployment!
oh, wait…
Big Business not looking good on Labor Day. Time for distraction while Wall Street organizes.
Imagine a tree in the garden with no leaves & no fruit, all of its bark has fallen away while several limd have fallen to the floor over time, & the tree itself is rotting as it has long died from a some kind of disease; this is the effect of most unions in America: Unions take a perfectly good working company & slowly destroy it from within. Unions are corrupt to the core. The unions are a good reflection of the corrupt Obama Administration.
Re Lynn: “while Wall Street organizes”. We can only hope!! Wouldn’t it be a great day when the union thug bosses get a taste of their own medicine?
It’s about time the union quit taking money out of every hard working Americans paycheck to further their own agenda. It’s time for the working man to keep that money for himself.
NO MORE UNIONS! Kick those fat cat union bosses to the curb!!
Obama has no concern for all this negativity. Next election day, every polling place will have “Voter Education Teams” made up of union memebrs, Black Panthers and ACORNers, most with records and all holding axe handles, to assist white voters make an informed choice.
Small labor’s not looking too good, either, douche. In fact, the more screwed non-organized labor feels the more that McCarthy inspired anti-labor current in American discourse will begin to fade again, replaced by the visceral pain of an empty stomach and a deconstructed government.
Thugocracy. Plain as the nose on your face. Obama’s cadre is the modern Capone gang. The unions are Nittis enforcers. Wake up America.
As an employee of a mid-size defence contractor (~50,000 employees) I love the fact that NO one has ever approached me about joining their union. Good for them, they get to live another day.
#9:Lisa:
“I’m fascinated by the hatred of unions.”
Then join one and work under a union contract, (contracts, actually, since my outfit has what is known as “sweetheart contracts”), for two decades.
“Folks seem to believe its a bad idea for people to have job protection, decent working conditions, clearly defined duties, health care and pensions.”
Gee those sound wonderful, don’t they?
Now let me tell you how it REALLY works. Are you ready to be schooled?
The Pension and Health Care and Educational benefits are paid for by Funds. Are you with me so far?
Each man/day of work, the employer pays an agreed-upon amount into each of these Funds.
this is, in effect, a deduction from the unionized employee’s wages. Follow?
The Funds generate obscene amounts of cash from this scheme, a very respectable amount of “skim” from that cash. (Want to know what built a lot the Las Vegas Strip and the Atlantic City Boardwalk?). Union Pension funds take first place.
Now this scheme works so well that the LAST thing the Labor Bosses want is for you to qualify and actually start drawing a check from these funds, because now you’d be a liability, and not an asset.
in fact, the best thing from their POV is that you get pissed off and walk away and leave all those contributions behind in their accounts.
So what if your job is harder or more dangerous than it has to be? Your Union rep doesn’t want to hear it, and if you insist on it, will tell you to “Hit the bricks, sister”!
Now if the union really is a dirtbag operation, then why aren’t workers free to quit the union?
Because that only happens in Right to Work states, everywhere else, it’s closed shop.
And it is against AFL-CIO Article 20 for a decent union to come around and make a play for workers under another union’s contract, they cal that “raiding”.
“It wasn’t the unions that decided to end tariffs. It wasn’t the unions that decided that free trade with countries who have no protections for workers or the environment and give free energy to their corporations.”
Look, nobody says Management are angels…they ain’t, but we know where they’re coming from. They want the most they can get for the least they have to pay.
It’s Labor that shows up as “The Working Man’s Friend”, and screws him over even more shamelessly than Management could dream of.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_McKay_(labor_leader)
See, Management in a lot of places, has apparently doped out the fact that their payroll is ALSO their market.
They also have to compete with their competition for skilled workers.
Unions are dinosaurs, stuck in a monopolistic Labor market. This is why they fight “Right to Work” legislation so hard…those fat-asses don’t WANT to have to EARN their keep and don’t WANT workers free to tell them to piss up a rope and still keep their jobs.
They want captive workers, like serfs.
And this is why, outside of the government sector, they’ve been watching their mountain erode beneath their feet.
Like I said…come back in twenty years and tell me i’m wrong.
32.Bilgeman
Thank you for taking the time to try a bit of a tutorial.
Both hubby and I had to join unions because of closed shops in California. Very unpleasant situation.
In one job, I actually had the option. I chose not to give them my money, as it didn’t improve my situation in any way. I was warned by management repeatedly about the possible consequences of choosing not to join. This was in the 1970′s, and they were simply worried about my physical safety. That should tell Lisa something if she cares to learn.
Bob McDonnell demonstrates with the following sentence much that is wrong with GOP politicians:
“I’ll use every resource of my office to speak out strongly on behalf of the business community, and against card check.”
Uh, Bob…listen to me for a sec. The people most directly affected, most directly harmed and whose rights are most directly destroyed are those of the WORKING PEOPLE. Not business.
So, to be more correct and more politically effective, you’d frame your response to protect the rights of working people, whose right to a secret ballot will be destroyed. They are also more sympathetic to the vast majority of voters than a faceless, nameless “business community”.
There’s an old saying, that I believe to be generally true, that if you show me a place with a union, I’ll show you a place that at one time deserved it.
The places that deserve it now are government offices. With all the nepotism and general monkey business that’s so routine at these places, you really need a union to keep your back.
Unfortunately, the unions and management at these places are on the same page. As far as watching their members’ backs go, they’re as useless as the unions in the Soviet Union. Labor and management agree that compensation should keep increasing exponentially. Then never strike, because they’re both working toward the same goal in that regard.
The flip side of that is that if somebody wants you canned, and sets you up, forget about the union backing you up. You’re on your own. The union doesn’t want to make waves.
So basically, everybody’s failing their responsibilities. The management is failing their responsibility to the taxpayer to control costs, and the union is failing in their responsibility to make management behave.
Sux all around.
“Without the safety, wages and negotiating power of organized labor, We the People would most certainly be far worse off today than we are. It is not a coincidence that the time of greatest union influence coincided with the greatest improvements in the living conditions of the typical American household.”
Exactly! We are all better off because government buerucrats have work security, high wages, good pensions, good medical care. It’s not a coincedence that in these times of economic peril, it’s the Washington DC which is getting richer. I mean we should all feel happy that the taxpayer cannot fire a buerucrat, that union run-schools are a mess, and that UAW controlled GM and Chrysler are bankrupt. We are all better because of that.
I absolutely think that job protection is a bad idea; you have to perform to keep your job, not have a pressure group. “Clearly defined duties” means that lack of flexibility; if it’s precisely defined as your job, then you’re not to do it. A real efficiency builder. Health care? No one should have health care through his employer, any more than we get auto insurance that way. It’s a fundamental problem with our system: most people have no idea what they pay for health insurance.
And pensions? Please. Those pensions are going “poof!” as we speak. A pension is basically a promise to pay…later…if the company is still around, and doesn’t go into bankruptcy. Only a fool would go for that. Demand cash – not promises – and take control of your own money.
Bottom line: unions have outlived their usefulness. In 2009, unions are only for losers.
utahphil:”every polling place will have “Voter Education Teams” made up of union memebrs, Black Panthers and ACORNers, most with records and all holding axe handles, ”
that would be SWEEEEEET!i am weary of wasting ammo…punching holes in paper.
OK big labor is doing worst than they have since polling has been done but they still have not fallen below 40% approval. That is insanely high for what they have done to this country the constitution and American industry. When they get down to 17% or lower then America will be recovering from the long nightmare.
While protection of the existence of the job is a bad idea, protection against arbitrary and capricious and wrongful actions is. As I’ve said, some unions do a decent job of this, and some don’t.
Unions and BIG companies are all for Obama and his health plan…it will help them tremendously with their bottom line$$$$…
If you cannot preform your job, you should not have the job. However, the state we live in the boss can walk in and just because he wants to can fire you…that’s wrong too. there has to be a middle line.
Obama sure can stir those people up with “them, they, their etc”…never telling them they have to take responsibility…and quit bilking us.
I totally agree that Obama is not worried about the next election. he will have union thugs,black panthers, a$$holes ready to intimidate you..so beware and help anyone you can to vote.
…Plus!!..there will be some type of fraud..bet on it. The big guys have too much invested in Obama to allow him to , matter what he does.
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