GraniteGrok

Update and bumped: (H/T: RedState) Boy Scouts win!

Looks the utter arrogance of the local SEIU President, Nick Balzano, has done him in:

Allentown union official Nick Balzano has been a political punching bag all week because he threatened to file a grievance against the city for allowing a Boy Scout to clear a walking path in a city park.

Three days of taking body blows nationally from conservative pundits, a rebuke from the Lehigh Valley’s congressman and even a lashing from his own union led Balzano to voluntarily resign his position Thursday as head of the local Service Employees International Union.

Balzano said he and seven other executive officers of the local SEIU stepped down.

Will Eagle Scout Anderson get an "SEIU Hunting" badge, or Balzano a "Dope of the Week" award?

Michelle adds more SEIU Union malfeasance:

• Last June, union officials in Baraboo, Wisconsin filed a complaint against volunteer firefighters who built sandbag barricades to protect the city from record flooding...the government union got mad that other people scrambled to work together in an emergency to put sand in bags, save homes, and help their neighbors. Public-sector unions aren’t about serving the public interest.
  
• In Montpelier, Vermont...the teachers’ union went after a superstar educator, Bill Corrow. The students, staff, and supervisors at his school loved the social studies teacher and Vietnam veteran. But the Vermont Educators Association hated him because he was a volunteer who did not accept payment for his elective course. ...God help the community service-oriented individual with a passion for sharing his knowledge in their classrooms.
• In California, union heavies in the Sacramento area sued a non-profit environmental group for using college-age volunteers on a state-funded project to clean up a canyon and build a community trail. Big Labor dusted off an old law to require that community service volunteers be paid prevailing wages for doing the same kind of clean-up that Allentown Boy Scout Kevin Anderson was punished for doing freely

  VS.

The Boy Scouts have had it rough the last few years - their Right to Assembly as a private group has been under attack for a number of years now.  A traditional values type group, how does one argue specifically with this:

A Scout is: 

Trustworthy - Loyal - Helpful - Friendly - Courteous - Kind - Obedient - Cheerful - Thrifty - Brave - Clean - Reverent

The Scout Oath

• On my honor, I will do my best,
• To do my duty to God, and my country,
• and to obey the scout law;
• To help other people at all times;
• To keep myself physically strong;
• Mentally awake, and morally straight.

Yet, there are those that care not for these values nor the fact that Community Service is a big deal which is, if one is collecting the Scout badges, just about mandatory.  Often, at the Eagle Scout level, they turn into Community Organizers in getting other volunteers to help (gee, just like Obama?).

Like this young guy who was only out to make something nice.  Too bad, he didn't realize that charity continues to be professionalized - if Government is doing it, better not step in its way! Especially if the work is normally done by a union - especially the SEIU:

In pursuit of an Eagle Scout badge, Kevin Anderson, 17, has toiled for more than 200 hours over several weeks to clear a walking path in an east Allentown park.

Little did the do-gooder know that his altruistic act would put him in the cross hairs of the city's largest municipal union.

Nick Balzano, president of the local Service Employees International Union, told Allentown City Council Tuesday that the union is considering filing a grievance against the city for allowing Anderson to clear a 1,000-foot walking and biking path at Kimmets Lock Park.

"We'll be looking into the Cub Scout or Boy Scout who did the trails," Balzano told the council.

Balzano said Saturday he isn't targeting Boy Scouts. But given the city's decision in July to lay off 39 SEIU members, Balzano said "there's to be no volunteers." No one except union members may pick up a hoe or shovel, plant a flower or clear a walking path.

Great PR Sense, Mr. Balzano - piling on a Scout who has done a good thing. Who owns that city?

 Balzano said Saturday the union is still looking into the matter and might cut the city a break.

"We are probably going to let this one go," Balzano said

Good call, Claude.  "Might cut the city a break"?  Just another sign of expanding professionalization of Government crowding out charitable acts.

I once ran afoul of a union shop when first working for Honeywell Information Systems in Billerica, MA.  Back then, the mainframe computers (MULTICS!) were in huge rooms and one connected to them either by going to a "terminal room" where lots of computer terminals (not PCs - they were just starting to come out - think Apple II+ were state of the art at the time).  Lucky folks had one at their desk - I was lucky.

As with many in cube-land, a "nicer" one opened up and I wanted to move.  I was told to wait - Maintenance had to do the move.  Having seen their age, and I was fresh out of college, I knew that I could do it faster - like now.  In a stern voice, my section leader said NO.  

Silly me - I waited 3 days - nada.  I finally just unplugged it, moved it (about 75 pounds), set it up, and went back to work.  I was about to get schooled by the union - yes, the maintenance union.

Three days lost productivity and I was the one who got yelled at. Nothing about the cost to the company for waiting around and a deadline at risk for this "unplanned time".  Didn't matter that I was working on a project tied into a multi-million $$ project for the Navy (we called the project SNAP - still have the "thank you" token.

My section leader, when the shop steward finally ran out of gas and my section leader's boss left, looked at me sternly again, then quickly winked, and yelled "GET BACK TO WORK".

Three days vs 10 minutes - tell me, from the company's productivity perspective,  which was the right thing to do...

(H/T: RightWingNews)