Working as a union firefighter for close to 20 years, as well as growing up in the heartland of America’s auto industry, I have seen both sides of the organized labor movement, pro and con. I will always maintain that it is the local union- not the state or national organized labor thugs, that work for the interests of working men and women.
Unfortunately, the big wheels of these unions for the most pay lip service to the members. Proud union member? Hardly. Proud member of a local union, but the bigwig state and national union thugs can kiss my conservative ass. In the case of my particular union, the IAFF, they get a goodly chunk of change called per capita tax, for each member of our local per month. For that, we do not get any union pension from the IAFF ( unlike most other trade unions such as carpenters etc) . We, as a local. pay all of our own legal fees for contract negotiations and arbitrations. In fact at one point during a prolonged contract negotiation, we asked for some financial assitance from the national union. They first told us to raise dues on our members, and in the long run, we got nothing from them. What we do get from them is political lobby of the IAFF. This is where things get sticky.
It is well known that no good labor union worth its salt would support anyone except democrats, at least 90% of the time. And while it is illegal for unions to use our dues for political action, we get bombarded with political mailings, and watch as the President of the international union travels far and wide campaigning for liberals. It strikes me as pathetic, as my dues pay his obnoxious six-figure salary.All the while he is stumping for liberals, he’s obviously not doing what he gets paid to do. I figure over a 25 yr career, I’ll have shelled out in excess of 10K in dues just to the IAFF, all the while, it is brothers from our local union who do all of our collective bargaining.
Another example is the Union Sportsman’s Alliance. This is a “sportsmans organization founded by unions( IAFF played a big part in it), under the veil of hunting and fishing., to get union members to vote for democrats. These would be the same democrats that have repeatedly attempted to destroy the 2nd Amendment. It seems these union thugs figured out a big percentage of the members were avid outdoorman who will not vote for democrats trying to destroy their rights. So they brainstormed this U.S.A . Is this what we pay dues for? Its a bait and switch, and many union members are unknowingly supporting politicians they would normally never dream of.
The hypocrisy of the whole union/liberal democrat marriage is so thinly veiled, that its a shame more don’t see right through it. THe typical battle cry- ” democrats are for the working man” – is laughable. If that were truly the case, then why do these democrats fight against tax increases, which are of direct benefit to workers? Then, they throw in a good dose of class warfare and government regulation. They rail against tax cuts as benefiting the “rich”, or Big Business”. Ok, tell me, who is it that hires working folks? Poor people? No, cut taxes for business owners, and it creates more jobs and better benefits. Latest example of politicians killing jobs are the new cafe auto standards. Appparently politicians know how to build cars better than auto-workers, and have shoved a bunch of new gas mileage standards down the auto industry throats that will cost thousands of US and Michigan jobs. Who led this charge-UNION BACKED LIBERAL DEMOCRATS!
Where are these union thugs and politicians when our brothers are getting laid off? I’ll again refer to municipal employees for an example here. Democrat run cities ( and you won’t have to look far to find examples) are regularly run into financial ruin. As soon as this heat gets too much to handle, democrat leaders start out by cutting police and fire service jobs. There inability to maintain a budget doesnt effect them, they pay for it on the backs of the citizens safety.
So then after repeated requests for help, the bigshot union thugs roll in to town to protest these cuts. They make speeches, bang on the podiums, and posture for the cameras -WE WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS!!! Of course after they are done ranting, they get back on their plane, to their high paying union thuggery job, and then the layoffs happen anyway. They write an article for their union paper about the outrage, while on the next page is a picture of them with a mouthful of another Democrat, paying lip service to the working stiff.
I’ve had to choke down this bullshit for a lot of years, and frankly am sick of it. Its a sham,and its time the rank and file took back our unions. Union organization is a good thing when done the way it was intended. Local laboring folks organize to keep unscrupulous employers in check, and negotiate for better conditions. But when it get s out of whack, they bite the hand that feeds them .(See UAW)
As a conservative, I (we) have no voice in union politics. As soon as you expose your conservatism, then the class warfare stereotypical slam begins. I was active in local union activites for several years early in my career, but lost my stomach for it when I was told ” No, Jeffry Feiger really is the best guy to be governor”. It went downhill from there fast. By the way, Jeffry got his ass kicked at the ballot box back then. We now have another highly touted liberal governor, backed by unions, that responded to fiscal irresponsibility in the typical fashion- she raised income taxes on us working folks.This while jobs are leaving our state faster than Bullshit from a democrats lips.
Why is it that non profit charitable organizations are prohibited from political action, campaigning or endorsements, yet unions , which are also given non profit status, are allowed to bombard their members with political endorsements????
Why is it that an increasing amount of union members( a majority in some elections) vote other than Democrat, yet we have no voice?
Lets talk NAFTA for a second . “Anti-NAFTA forces–led by organized labor….launched verbal attacks against the trade pact on Capitol Hill early and often in 1993, despite President Clinton’s efforts to allay their concerns. In related action, several House members with close ties to organized labor announced the formation of an “Anti-NAFTA Caucus” early in 1993. In July, more than 100 House and 7 Senate Democrats joined House Majority Leader David Bonior (D-MI-10) in urging President Clinton to postpone action on NAFTA until after Congress had completed work on health-care reform–a strategy that most NAFTA supporters believed would kill the trade pact. The White House responded that both NAFTA and health-care reform would be on the agenda in the fall.
In the end, the House approved NAFTA by a 234-200 vote. The Senate followed suit by approving NAFTA 61-38. President Clinton signed the legislation into law (P.L. 103-182) on December 8, and the agreement took effect January 1, 1994. (http://www.nam.org/s_nam/doc1.asp?CID=201740&DID=223558)
Hmmm, wasn’t Slick Willie the endorsee of organized labor? Sounds to me like he really remembered and appreciated that, now didnt he?
With another battle looming for the White House, I can hardly wait for my mailbox to fill up with union political rhetoric. I’m just a dues hostage to the IAFF.
YEAH, I kicked over the beehive with this one. But even after several passes through the Bullshit Filter, this one just won’t come clean.
