Labor Unions 101 for all of you total idiot liberals

Union 101 for all of you total idiot liberals.




Here's a quiz: Who said that the prospect of a strike by a government union is "unthinkable and intolerable?"

Who said, "It is impossible to bargain collectively with the government"?

Was it Reagan? Palin? Did Wisconsin's Gov. Scott Walker utter these provocative words?

No, no and no. The first quote is from Franklin Roosevelt -- that champion of working people. The second is from George Meany, the AFL-CIO's legendary first president.

Today, Gov. Walker is under siege in his bold fight to rein in public unions.

Walker is one of a growing number of governors who aim to close their state's yawning budget deficit while engineering long-term fixes that will head off a fiscal train wreck -- the otherwise inevitable result of exploding public-union pensions and benefits.

Walker's reward is to hear enraged Wisconsin teachers liken him to Adolf Hitler.

President Obama condemns Walker's "assault" on unions, and our own Gov. Mark Dayton denounces his "drastic" attempts to "steal" workers' rights.

Public-union supporters would have us believe that government employees' right to bargain collectively was handed down to Moses on Mount Sinai. In fact, these unions are of relatively recent vintage, and some states don't allow them.

"The founders of the labor movement viewed unions as a vehicle to get workers more of the profits they help create," explained labor expert James Sherk of the Heritage Foundation in the New York Times.

"Government workers, however, don't generate profits. They merely negotiate for more tax money. When government unions strike, they strike against taxpayers.'"

So why did public unions catch on, then grow exponentially in the 1960s?

Because union leaders and Democratic politicians, like New York City's Mayor Robert Wagner, figured out they could benefit big-time from scratching one another's backs.

They could guarantee full campaign coffers for Democratic candidates while arming public employees with a power to dictate their own wages and benefits that private-sector unionists could only dream about.

Here's the vicious cycle: Union leaders take money from union dues and pass it to Democratic candidates. Once elected, the politicians "negotiate" with the unions that helped elect them.

In essence, the unions hire their own bosses who face them across the bargaining table. Eat your heart out, Delta Air Lines union members.

Politicians repay unions' financial support by doling out hefty pensions and benefits. It's easy to be generous when you're spending taxpayers' money, not your own.

Elected officials aren't accountable to a board of directors or shareholders, and they don't have to worry about going bankrupt, as private companies do.

Government is a monopoly, or near monopoly, so it has no concerns about competitiveness or efficiency to keep it honest. To keep unions happy, politicians need only kick the can down the road.

Today, public unions are among the Democratic Party's largest donors, and form the core of its on-the-ground campaign machine.

AFSCME was the biggest outside spender in the 2010 elections, shelling out $91 million. War chests of this magnitude strike fear in the hearts of politicians of both parties.

When New Jersey's Gov. Chris Christie took on the teachers union last year, he faced a $6 million barrage of attack ads in just two months.

Government unions' cozy relationships with the politicians who write their checks short-circuits the democratic process, giving partial control of public agencies to unelected labor leaders.

The public good suffers. Today, for example, union power makes it almost impossible to fire a bad teacher.

But the gig is up.

Increasingly, taxpayers understand that the structural deficits this arrangement generates will bankrupt us. Already, taxpayer-subsidized pensions and benefits are edging out other spending priorities -- from schools to parks and highways.

Scott Walker joins New York's Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey's indefatigable Chris Christie in shining the light of truth on this situation.

Recently, Christie confronted a crowd of catcalling union firefighters.

"I understand you feel deceived and betrayed," he told them. "For 20 years, governors ... have lied to you, promised you benefits that they had no way of paying for ... just hoping that they wouldn't be the man or woman left holding the bag."

Christie is trying to save the state's public-employee pension system, he said, which is close to bankruptcy. "What I don't understand is why you're booing the first guy to tell you the truth."

Walker's battle is our battle. Christie puts it bluntly: "If we don't win this fight, there's no other fight left."

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• scott
• walker
• wisconsin
• chris
• christie
• public
• unions
• budget
• protest
• madison
• AFSCME
• SEIU
• collective
• bargaining

[nktank84]

@you831able If it wasn't for Unions you would've grew up working a real job as soon as you were big enough. If you hate union you must like the things they have fought against throughout our history. You must like child labor, you must like thousands of men dying in ming and construction industries. You must like working 7/12s for pennies an hour. When you work overtime do you give the extra half back to your employer? I mean you must feel guilty right?

[nktank84]

No but Gov Walker did say his budget could afford a 137 MILLION dollar tax cut for the richest 1% of wisconsin residents. And when the workers even agreed to the cuts to their pay it wasn't good enough. Walker wanted to dismantle the unions, it wasn't good enough to cut taxes for his rich bastard supporters, he wanted to really pay back his supporters by really fucking the workin like hell, because thats what republicans do, they cut taxes for the rich and screw everyone else.

[nktank84]

@BrandonCRC There are always 2 sides to a coin.Back in the 70s the price of the minerals mined in my home town (lead zinc, copper) hit reord highs. Those prices would be pretty good even today. So the mining companies were making extremely high profits. And yet folks like my dad who worked 2000ft underground had to strike and fight like hell to get a measely $.25 raise. I mean if you really think unions have not helped you at all maybe you should go to a place where there aren't any

[nktank84]

@BrandonCRC If you are part of the middle class pretty much every aspect of your life today that is good is because Union men fought for those things. OSHA, MSHA and all the safety regulations controlled by those agencies, workman's compensation. The 40 hour work week andovertime over 40 was a hard won victory of organized labor. The only reasn you didn't grow up working 12 hours a day in a sweatshop is because of organized labor in this country.

[nktank84]

@BrandonCRC The relevance is that construction trade unions provide top quality tradesmen to the companies who employ them. By being faster and doing better quality work, union companies can and do compete against nonunion. I do my best for the contractors I work for, we're not out to break the companies we work for, what good would that do us?

[skyer1201]

love this music

[BrandonCRC]

@nktank84 I honestly don't care how much you personally make. I simply don't like it when unions make demands that cannot be fulfilled by the company, when they are told this they strike or threaten to strike. I don't know why you include the part about how people in your union have an apprenticeship program. If you could explain the relevance, I would appreciate that. What exactly has a union done to help me? I can't think of a SINGLE thing.

[nktank84]

@BrandonCRC Most construction companies who use union tradesmen often times compete and bid against non union companies. The big difference (especially in trades like mine) The union has apprenticeship programs and school to provide the highest quality tradesmen that we possibly can. We are more expensive, so we have to be better and faster to ensure to make up for that.

[nktank84]

@BrandonCRC You don't mind the things union do to help you. You just don't like it when somebody who is union makes more money than you. I'm a Union Boilermaker, I travel 9 months a year for my job and I wish I had a nickel for every person I've met who thought I made too much money, or said they wished they made what I do. But guess what? None of em wanted to make the sacrifices I do to make it. 

[BrandonCRC]

@nktank84 Let me explain this, most people who don't like unions now aren't against the traditional unions that stood for workers rights and such. Now however, the unions just ask repeatedly for more, even though they know the company can't afford it. Thats what I don't like.

[4u2sabotage]

See how liberals think if they here about 137 million dollars they already feel that THEY are entitled to it. Please bleed the state dry until there is no money left. That's the liberal way. But don't worry we can just borrow money to pay for our overpriced employees. Good for the unions but not so good for the taxpayers. But they don't care. They only offered a reduction and to help pay for a pension that they will get back only after they found out that collective bargining bill was real.

[4u2sabotage]

How many companies have moved out of state due to union greed??? In the private sector the markets keep the unions in check. You don't have that in the public sector. Who was that that saved Milwaukee over the pension mess that the liberals and unions caused??? Scott Walker. Milwaukee would have gone bankrupt . But who cares right. I hope that you all move to Illinois and see just how your union policies are working there. Then you can live in your mess like a dog who crapped in his dog house.