Articles tagged as

Unions

The Embrace of Administrative Despotism – A Notable Quote

Our contemporaries are constantly excited by two conflicting passions; they want to be led, and they wish to remain free.  As they can not destroy either the one or the other of these contrary propensities, they strive to satisfy them both at once.  They devise a sole, tutelary, and all powerful from of government, but … Read more

Well, it looks like Teachers Unions are starting to lose more and more….

First in Wisconsin and now in Colorado.  In a post at Townhall:

The Douglas County School District, a suburban community south of Denver, Colorado, has decided to part ways with their teachers’ union in the absence of progress on a new contract which expired June 30th, 2012.

“The Board of Education finds and declares that the Collective Bargaining Agreements between the District and the Unions,” said the district on July 3rd in its formal resolution dissolving the bonds between the union and the district, “which had been effective from July 1, 2011 through and including June 30, 2012, are now expired and of no legal effect whatsoever.”

The dissolution between the district and the union is unprecedented  and sources close to the union tell me that unions are pensively watching, worried that other districts around Colorado and the country could take the same action as Douglas County has.

We can only hope.

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Tyranny Plain and Simple – Public Sector Unions

“Every lazy nation is grave; for those who do not work regard themselves as sovereigns of those who work.” – Montesquieu For those who do not work regard themselves as sovereigns of those who do work.  This could not be more true. It also occurs to me that this also applies to public sector union … Read more

First it didn’t work, then it did, then it didn’t….reliable?

Last weekend, I did a couple of forays from the Marriott Downtown where our event was being held over to the RI Convention Center where the NetRoots Nation event was being held.  Well, in registering, I got a “SWAG bag” – a canvas tote that was chock-a-block with Progressive “stuff”.  Well, earlier today, I desperately needed a pen to take a couple of notes with and I remembered that the bag had just the thing I needed.

Problem was, it acted like the title – and the folks that “supplied” it (heh!)!

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Look For The Union Label (Hint: There’s a Hammer and a Sickle)

Unions being Unions: Angry socialists and communists Union leaders in Wisconsin promise that the fight to destroy capitalism will continue. We knew that, but thanks for sharing.  It’s nice to be able to remind the people who may have forgotten or never knew what your real mission was.  

A Letter of Thanks from A Wisconsin Taxpayer

Scraped from a Milwaukee AM station blog; it is a letter of thanks from a Wisconsin Taxpayer

To all leftists, occupiers, union thugs and malcontents,

Thank you! What an election! We couldn’t have done it without you. Without your tantrums, outbursts and boorish behavior we might have stayed home for this election. Without your filthy, pot smoking hemp -headed minions occupying, dirtying and damaging our Capitol we might have been complacent. Without your obnoxious protests, boycotts and other actions from your union playbook, we might have sat this one out.

But you couldn’t hold back. You couldn’t restrain yourselves and behave like adults. You couldn’t accept the 2010 election results. We sat and watched as you erupted in a juvenile hissy fit that embarrassed Wisconsin. The spectacle you created is what motivated us. And thanks to your pathetic behavior, we won. We turned out. Big time! And now we are organized and energized. Committed. “All in”. And we aren’t going away. We now have our own organizations (no dues required), an army of volunteers and the means to communicate. And countless new sources of funding, including a donor base from all 50 states. And we have “iverifythe recall” to ferret out your infiltrators in our future local elections.

So thank you little boy Tate, Graeme Zielinski, Fred “Loonie” Levenhagen, Ismael Ozanne, Maryanne Sumi, Noble Ray, Charles Tubbs, Joanne Kloppenberg, Segway Boy, John Chisolm, public employee union members, UW TA’s, WEAC, SEIU, MTI, AFSCME Council 24 in Union Grove and WI prison guards,. Thanks for the death threats, the intimidation, the bullying, belligerence, thuggery and goonish behavior. The lack of ethics and the failure to enforce rules and laws. Thank you for putting your selfish, greedy motives on display for all taxpayers to see.

Your antics might have made you feel good but they didn’t make you look good. They sickened the rest of us.

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The unions have been defining “the Middle Class” as themselves – so what happens when members become UMINOs?

UMINOs – Union Members in Name Only (e.g., still belonging to the Union, but no longer paying the dues?)

I saw this a couple of days ago and didn’t blog it then because I got distracted.  However, I think it is a very important turning point in the Union political battles and that it shows a major chink in the vaunted “Solidarity Forever!” that is constantly blasted out in the political and cultural realms.  Frankly, this gives lie to the union yell of “Mighty, Mighty Union!” we hear at protests – the only takeaway from this news is now going to be “Mighty, Mighty Poorer!”.

I think this is rather amusing myself – after all the trouble and money spent by Unions all over the country as Right To Work efforts have become law in several states (alas, not here in NH because of some squishy Republicans not understanding that they were actually keeping their political foes strong and flush with political funds from their members’ dues by not following Gov. Scott Walker’s example in this).  And of course, the most well known state is that of Wisconsin where the Left is going all in AGAIN to try to stop “the destruction of the unions by Republicans!”.

This is just laughable – as they have a much more serious problem (as reported by the Wall Street Journal (paywall) via American Thinker).  Solidarity?  Not so much – given the chance, given the Freedom to Choose (after all, what IS freedom but the ability to choose among alternatives and letting someone choose something that satisfies their own needs and self-interests?), union members are choosing to not pay their union bills (emphasis mine):

Wisconsin membership in the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees-the state’s second-largest public-sector union after the National Education Association, which represents teachers-fell to 28,745 in February from 62,818 in March 2011, according to a person who has viewed AFSCME’s figures. A spokesman for AFSCME declined to comment.

Much of that decline came from AFSCMECouncil 24, which represents Wisconsin state workers, whose membership plunged by two-thirds to 7,100 from 22,300 last year.

A provision of the Walker law that eliminated automatic dues collection hurt union membership. When a public-sector contract expires the state now stops collecting dues from the affected workers’ paychecks unless they say they want the dues taken out, said Peter Davis, general counsel of the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission.

In many cases, AFSCME dropped members from its rolls after it failed to get them to affirm they want dues collected, said a labor official familiar with AFSCME’s figures. In a smaller number of cases, membership losses were due to worker layoffs.

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NH Unions Using Religious Bigotry to Affect Merrimack School Board Elections?

(Derp- Fixed the title.)

I was recently informed (my source has asked to remain anonymous for good reason) that a teacher from a nearby town was repulsed at the sight of a Joe Kearns for School Board sign on a Merrimack residents lawn.   When asked “why that reaction” she proceeded to explain that her union had told her that Merrimack School Board candidate Joe Kearns was a member of the Christian Coalition.   If the union told her, it must be true, right?  Smart lady like that would have looked that up.

But if she had looked it up she would know that Joe is not a member of the Christian Coalition, and so would her union.  Neither of them did, or neither of them cares to know the truth.  But they did want someone to know the lie.

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An Apology to the NH SEA/SEIU

No one understands the problems of perception like the Democrat Party.  They invest a good deal of time and money into hiding what they are truly up to.  Almost as much time as they spend painting pictures of their opponents for the main stream media to hang on your living room walls.  So we should not be surprised when a prominent member of the New Hampshire SEA, a chapter president with the local SEIU, sees the kind of perception issues he creates when we uncovered months, even years of online comments, posted during office hours, while he was supposed to be performing state business, on the taxpayer dime, from the Department of Environmental Services, where he is employed by you and I.

Perception is a problem but not nearly as much of a problem as reality.

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Taxpayers On The ‘Rack’

Elective Surgery on the taxpayer dime? I have a question for progressives.  If a fetus is just a lump of tissue, isn’t abortion just another form of plastic surgery?

You can’t even find a Democrat willing to admit the procedure is not elective.  It’s woman’s choice, yes?

And if you’ve ever gotten an unwanted earful from some feminis, going on  about what pregnancy can do to a woman’s body,  appearance is a consideration.  That makes it cosmetic, yes?

So if  abortion is the elective, cosmetic, removal of unwanted tissue, and not the termination of a human life, why doesn’t the liberal super-state demand the wholesale taxpayer funding of liposuction, nose jobs, and breast implants?

Sorry, trick question.  If you are a public school teacher in Buffalo New York, boob jobs are already covered by taxpayer dollars.

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Where Diane Lacy, President of NH SEA / SEIU can’t even get simple facts right – and tips hand on the upcoming NH election cycle.

SEIU
SEIU

On WMUR “Closeup” this morning, replacement host James Pindell interviewed Diane Lacy, President of the NH State Employee Association and NH Rep. Will Infantine (R-Manchester) during his first segment).  Well, during the interview, Ms. Lacy shows that either she has no grasp of real facts or is just what many people believe: that the SEIU is just another name for “Progressive Democrats” in that they just make up facts and say them as truth. And keep repeating them, just like NH Progressive Press Sec. Harrell Kirstein and Uber-Progressive Chair Ray “Buckles” Buckley  And are in the tank for Obama, as the national SEIU spent over $70 million, by their own admission, trying to get Obama elected. Lacy concentrated on three things:

  • Unions = Middle Class
  • Republican supported budget hurts union workers (with an assisted jab question from James Pindell)
  • Speaker Bill O’Brien is a Free Stater
  • In fact, NH is overrun by Free Staters (and she has no clue who or how many)!
  • She is making the wedge appeal to the RINOs for support with “hey, THOSE Republicans are not like you – support us!”
  • But she’ll replace those RINOS with union members who will be running for election.
  • And kinda mumbled something that without automatic union due deductions from union member paychecks, e-commerce in NH is dead.

Like this first statement by Diane Lacy:

“Middle Class is under attack here in NH and the way to get to the Middle Class is by taking away their rights.”

This is getting to be old, but let’s walk through this, shall we?

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A New Year for the RLCNH Report

Hot off the presses, it is the Republican Liberty Caucus of New Hampshire’s 2012 inaugural RLCNH Report. It’s a big one this time—here’s a quick overview of all the bills covered:


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Be A Force Multiplier For Freedom

As important now as ever, whatever the results of the New Hampshire primary and beyond, is that Republicans, Conservatives, Libertarians, and Independents coalesce at the state and local level to greet our opponents on the field of battle.  Our opponents are the institutional left and their mobocracy agenda.  To that end I offer a link … Read more

NLRB closes Santa’s Workshop

So I’m musing about Obama’s NLRB shutting down Santa’s Workshop becasue–you know–it’s not a union shop, and what to my wondering eyes should appear but  video about Obama taking over Santa’s Workshop. Personally, I’d have gone with the Pelosi quote about empowering bureaucrats to close any “business” that wont unionize, but this is funny enough. … Read more

Romney Disagrees With Gingrich on Child Labor…Surprised?

“A charlatan makes obscure what is clear; a thinker makes clear what is obscure.” — Hugh Kingsmill

Willard "Mitt" Romney: The Matthew Lesko of American Politics

Last month, while speaking at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, presidential candidate New Gingrich drew the hue and cry of liberals everywhere when he suggested that children can learn the value of a paycheck by maintaining their own buildings.

 On the face of it, I was perplexed why people were so up-in-arms about Gingrich’s suggestion. But then as I read on, I understood what the real issue was. Newt also said,

“Most of these schools ought to get rid of the unionized janitors, have one master janitor, and pay local students to take care of the school,”

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Professional Licensure: To Eliminate Or Expand?

“None can love freedom but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license, which never hath more scope than under tyrants.” —John Milton

The Union Leaders‘ opposite editorial page give Erica Bickford, a licensed massage therapist from Wolfeboro, ink today not only arguing against House Bill 446, but actually advocating for its’ defeat.

To advocate for licensure on the basis of public health interest is a separate matter from seeking governmental force in protecting an exclusive business interest. Bickford queries, “Would you allow your children to cut your hair?” Actually, there are many people out there cutting hair in kitchens with scissors and clippers purchased at Walmart or Target none of whom have ever enrolled in a 1,500-hour cosmetology or barbering program.  And that has always been the case. Erica then asks, Would you allow an untrained person help you recover from an athletic injury? There are people out there telling others to rest, apply ice, compression and elevation who have never taken a sports medicine class or sat for a licensing exam. Unlicensed mediators currently exist largely as clergy and lay ministers who rarely extract a fee to counsel their parishioners.

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Repost: You Can’t Be A “Republican” And Vote Against Right To Work

(Originally posted September 21st, this seems like a suitable follow up to yesterdays post.  The premise?  Refusing to allow conscientious objection to union participation forces people to fund the Democrat agenda.  How can you claim to support Republican principles when you refuse to allow people the ability to opt out of paying union dues.)

You Can’t Be A Republican And Vote Against Right To Work

Supporting forced unionization is the same as supporting mandatory campaign contributions to the Unions and the Democrat party.  There is no conceivable way to separate the two.  Unions are funded by dues.  Democrats receive millions of dollars from unions to promote their agenda.  And in some cases to promote it violently.

You can’t separate the two.

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Republican Defectors

I think I made my point about Right To Work clear enough when I said this…

 A vote to sustain the Lynch Veto and permit forced unionization is a vote for the mandatory and state funding of abortion;  financing efforts to cripple or bypass our second amendment right to self defense; you are supporting state financed birth control, confiscation of property, increased taxation and broad based taxes, an expanding regulatory state and more centralized top down government, gimmick accounting, Gay marriage, genderless bathrooms,  seat belt laws, the food police, socialized medicine, restrictions on free and corporate speech, and the entire manifold of Democrat party policy wishes which those dollars will continue to support and advance as long as workers are denied the opportunity to decide if they are willing to fund these policies or not on their own.

Unfortunately for New Hampshire we’ll have to wait until next year to fix the problem of worker choice but in the mean time, we can enjoy the benefit of the roll call vote, posted on the Jump.

One point of interest: Union bought and paid for RINO Kevin Janvrin voted against Right to work. That and so much more on the jump.

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