WI unions get ugly

[natisha]

From the Wall Street Journal.
Some area teachers are planning a walkout Monday & plan to take the kids to pickett outside targeted businesses



<LI class="articleSection first">REVIEW & OUTLOOK (http://www.baywindfarm.com/public/search?article-doc-type=%7BReview+%26+Outlook+%28U.S.%29%7D&HEADER_TEXT=review+%26+outlook+%28u.s.)<LI class=dateStamp>APRIL 1, 2011Wisconsin Unions Get Ugly

Now they're threatening businesses that stay neutral in the state's budget battle.


Having lost their fight in the legislature, Wisconsin unions are now getting out the steel pipes for those who don't step lively to their cause. A letter we've seen that was sent to businesses in southeastern Wisconsin shows that Big Labor's latest strategy is to threaten small businesses with boycotts if they don't publicly declare their support for government union monopoly power.
Dated March 28, 2011, the letter is addressed to "DEAR UNION GROVE AREA BUSINESS OWNER/MANAGER," in Racine County. And it begins with this warm greeting: "It is unfortunate that you have chosen 'not' to support public workers rights in Wisconsin. In recent past weeks you have been offered a sign(s) by a public employee(s) who works in one of the state facilities in the Union Grove area. These signs simply said 'This Business Supports Workers Rights,' a simple, subtle and we feel non-controversial statement given the facts at this time."
We doubt "subtle" is the word a business owner would use to describe this offer he is being told he can't refuse.
The letter is signed by Jim Parrett, the "Field Rep." for Council 24 of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, which is the most powerful union in the AFL-CIO. The letter presents a litany of objections to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's changes to benefits and public union collective bargaining power, describing them as "things that make life working in a 24-7 facility tolerable."
The missive concludes by noting that, "With that we'd ask that you reconsider taking a sign and stance to support public employees in this community. Failure to do so will leave us no choice but do [sic] a public boycott of your business. And sorry, neutral means 'no' to those who work for the largest employer in the area and are union members."
So even businesses that stay neutral in the political battle are considered the enemy and will be punished. Charming stuff, and especially coming from a union that claims (wrongly) to be losing its constitutional rights. Free speech for others apparently isn't all that important.
On Wednesday we called the telephone number listed under Mr. Parrett's name but his voicemail was full. We then spoke with union officials who said they'd ask Mr. Parrett to call us back, but he never called. He has since confirmed the accuracy of the letter to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, which reports that the threat is an outgrowth of a boycott campaign by other unions that has targeted M&I Bank and Kwik Trip because those companies or their executives supported Mr. Walker's budget proposals.
This kind of union thuggery is all too common and is in keeping with the larger political goal of preventing union members from exercising their own rights of free association. The Walker reform that union leaders hate the most would require unions to be recertified annually by a majority of their members and let those members opt out of paying union dues.
Union chiefs like Mr. Parrett know what that means for their political clout. After taking office in 2005, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels used an executive order to end collective bargaining for public workers—a power granted by former Governor Evan Bayh.
The number of state public employees has since fallen to 28,700 from 35,000. But more important, the vast majority of those employees stopped paying union dues. Today, 1,490 state employees pay union dues in Indiana, down from 16,408 in 2005. Similar declines have played out in Washington State and Utah, when those states gave members the freedom to choose.
This is the prospect that has Wisconsin labor leaders so furious these days—furious enough that they'll even threaten the livelihoods of local business owners who won't join them at the barricades. This is the nasty modern reality of government union power.

[Tatesgram]

This doesn't surprise me. Unions can get ugly when you threaten their way of life. I'm referring to the union leaders that never miss a pay day while encouraging everyday workers to strike. It can get very ugly.

[natisha]

It's all for the children.:rolleyes:

[twofingers]

how stupid and arrogant are these people!? for "teachers" their not very smart. Wisconsin is not a right to work state. So my question would be: If you do not have the right to work, how can you have a "right to collectively bargain" for something that you have no right to in the first place? I would think that the union would be out there striking for the right to work. after all if your not working you can't join a union because unions are about jobs, which of course, you do not have a right to in Wisconsin.:doh:

[mare]

I especially hate it when adults hide behind children to behave badly.

Have your protest. March around with signs. Pester the neighbors and businesses and explain to them why your cause is so important. But leave the kids playing safely at the park or home all cozy and away from the nastiness.

Do what Saler cows do. One momma takes a whole bunch while the other moms are busy.

[natisha]

This is mafia behavior. One restaurant around here had to close. The place & employee cars were being shot up.
Obama (;)) had a garden beer party for a cop & a guy that had a conflict. Where is his opinion on this?

[magayle]

good grief:( i agree, keep the kids at home

[twofingers]

in essence they are kidnapping the children. they take your (the nominative not the personal)children away from the school they are required by law to be at. and use then as shields for their bogus extortion racket. I wonder if when they do that they could be charged ?

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

Thugs. That's the word you're all searching for.

[cowgirlup@idaho]

This is mafia behavior. One restaurant around here had to close. The place & employee cars were being shot up.?

I said it very early on in this thread, unions are the new mafia :mad:

[cowgirlup@idaho]

how stupid and arrogant are these people!? for "teachers" their not very smart. Wisconsin is not a right to work state. So my question would be: If you do not have the right to work, how can you have a "right to collectively bargain" for something that you have no right to in the first place? I would think that the union would be out there striking for the right to work. after all if your not working you can't join a union because unions are about jobs, which of course, you do not have a right to in Wisconsin.:doh:

Idaho is a 'right to work' state, has been for many years. Right to work means you DON'T have to join a union in order to have a job and that unions don't have the right to mandate to an employer. In fact, picketing is against the law in Idaho (still happens). It's considered intimidation/threatening and you cannot do that to an employer in this state.

[Remali]

I find it interesting that the article above doesn't mention the threats that Mr. Parrett received.... maybe getting threats is OK though. Neither side is displaying stellar behavior, it's absurd to think otherwise.

Where is the info about the high school kids?

[natisha]

I find it interesting that the article above doesn't mention the threats that Mr. Parrett received.... maybe getting threats is OK though. Neither side is displaying stellar behavior, it's absurd to think otherwise.

Where is the info about the high school kids?It's out there. Too burned out to look.

[Remali]

I tried to look some stuff up, but couldn't find anything. That's OK tho. I am a bit burnt out too. ;)

[FredRock]

I said it very early on in this thread, unions are the new mafia :mad:

Interestingly, organized crime has been involved with labor rackets since the beginning, and they love unions. Since there's a due paid every month, there's steady income. Since they can spend it pretty stealthily and/or lie to their members about how it's being spent, it's easy money. I'm sure that at some point unions were really interested in helping the worker, back when a small group of people wanted to change the working conditions and make it easier to live. I don't think it took very long for them to realize what they could do.

That said, this doesn't surprise me. I feel bad for the area and hope that people who usually support unions are starting to realize just how destructive and selfish they really are- it's obviously not about the children. :rolleyes: I also hope that this letter campaign is taken seriously and that some kind of extortion charges can be brought against the union reps, or if extortion doesn't fit then something that would be more effective.

[cowgirlup@idaho]

Interestingly, organized crime has been involved with labor rackets since the beginning, and they love unions.

You are absolutely right. Unions had a function initially, but now the rights that they protected are federally protected. Did they ever find Jimmy Hoffa by the way? :innocent:

[Remali]

LOL, that's almost funny.... the Mafia. Remember the airline pilot who landed the plane in the Hudson River, Capt. Sully (his nickname)? He was just on MSNBC talking about Unions, he had been a member of the Union for some 30 years.... I wonder what he'd have to say about that. Hey, maybe he knows where Jimmy Hoffa is?! ;)

And....where are these children? I checked the link....it didn't work. Are you referring to the high school kids who were planning a walk-out?

[natisha]

Extra Credit (http://www.thenation.com/blogs/extra-credit)

Wisconsin Students Protest Governor's Attack on Unions

February 15, 2011


Protests have engulfed the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where students are standing against a proposed bill that threatens teacher's unions. The outcries come as the state's new Republican Governor Scott Walker announced a plan to end collective bargaining for most of the state's 175,000 public employees.




Governor (http://www.thenation.com/section/Governor) Wisconsin (http://www.thenation.com/section/Wisconsin)





More than 10,000 protesters, including students, demonstrated outside the state Capitol building in Madison today, many of them carrying signs and chanting “recall Walker (http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_de45ba12-3935-11e0-9b64-001cc4c002e0.html).” This comes one day after hundreds of students flooded downtown Madison chanting, “kill this bill” and handing out valentines that read, “Have a heart, don't tear the UW apart (http://www.dailycardinal.com/news/walker-s-budget-plan-sparks-protest-1.1980908).” The governor did not make an appearance.
Even before the protests hit the state's capital, about a hundred high school students in Stoughton, Wisconsin, a city about 20 miles outside of Madison, walked out of class Monday morning to protest the governor's proposal. And today, nearly 800 Madison East High School students also walked out to join the demonstration.
"Let's show Gov. Walker that we care about learning, and the teachers are worth every cent that we pay to them," Theron Luhn, a high school junior who helped organize the protest in Stoughton Monday, told one of the local newspapers The Capital Times (http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/education/local_schools/article_544e0402-385b-11e0-a610-001cc4c002e0.html).
The Nation’s John Nichols called the governor’s move (http://www.thenation.com/blog/158522/dictator-governor-sets-out-cut-wages-slash-benefits-and-destroy-public-unions) the “most radical assault yet by the current crop of Republican governors on the rights of workers," and said that this attack "has inspired outrage in a historically progressive and pro-labor state.”
UW sophomore and campus activist Max Love told one of the university's student newspapers The Badger Herald (http://badgerherald.com/news/2011/02/14/students_taa_rally_f.php) that the proposed bill, while striking the most direct blow to the state's unions, will undoubtedly negatively impact public education in Wisconsin.
“The quality of our institutions would suffer if this bill passes,” Love said. “This is a student cause, and we’re seeing a lot of people who really care about this issue.”
Walker has notified the National Guard to be on alert for actions taken by unsatisfied state, county and municipal employees.
But as Nichols said on his appearance today on Democracy Now! (http://www.thenation.com/video/158600/wisconsins-attack-public-employees-could-lead-nationwide-campaign), "the interesting thing is that we have already heard from an awfully lot of teachers and public employees, who also serve in the National Guard and who are saying they have no idea why they would be called out to beat down or to beat back protests by their fellow workers, who are not being violent, who are simply doing what—you know, to use an analogy here—we saw on the streets of Cairo and other cities."

[Remali]

That is from February though.... where is the link about April? Just curious, that first link never worked for me. I googled it and nothing came up for April...

[Reinmaker]

LOL, that's almost funny.... the Mafia. Remember the airline pilot who landed the plane in the Hudson River, Capt. Sully (his nickname)? He was just on MSNBC talking about Unions, he had been a member of the Union for some 30 years.... I wonder what he'd have to say about that. Hey, maybe he knows where Jimmy Hoffa is?! ;)

And....where are these children? I checked the link....it didn't work. Are you referring to the high school kids who were planning a walk-out?

Surely you aren't contesting the fact that the mafia has been heavily involved with unions? :huh:

[FredRock]

LOL, that's almost funny.... the Mafia. Remember the airline pilot who landed the plane in the Hudson River, Capt. Sully (his nickname)? He was just on MSNBC talking about Unions, he had been a member of the Union for some 30 years.... I wonder what he'd have to say about that.

FBI report from 1978 on the link between organized crime and labor unions:
New York City. Organized crime has a substantial foothold into the labor unions in the New York City area. Experienced investigators from the Labor Department list over 100 unions with members of organized crime or their associates in positions of power.
Full Report: http://www.americanmafia.com/Crime_And_Labor.html

FBI report documenting a connection of Italian American organized crime and labor racketeering:
■More than one-third of the 58 members arrested in 1957 at the Apalachin conference in New York listed their employment as “labor” or “labor-management relations.”
■Three major U.S. Senate investigations have documented La Cosa Nostra’s involvement in labor racketeering. One of these, the McClellan Committee, in the late-1950s, found systemic racketeering in both the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union.
■In 1986, the President’s Council on Organized Crime reported that five major unions—including the Teamsters and the Laborers International Union of North America—were dominated by organized crime.
■In the early 1980s, former Gambino Family Boss Paul Castellano was overheard saying, “Our job is to run the unions.”

Full report: http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/organizedcrime/italian_mafia

And that's just the first two results of a Google search. That's not saying that every union member is/was part of organized crime, either, just the people handling the money, making the policy, and controlling the member's actions. Chances are the normal members have no clue what's going on behind the scenes.

[Remali]

Wasn't that the stuff going on over in NY and Chicago years ago? I hardly think the Wisconsin Unions are involved in that right now.... lol.

Unless we have the German/Norweigian mob here in cheeseland.....lol.

[FredRock]

Wasn't that the stuff going on over in NY and Chicago years ago? I hardly think the Wisconsin Unions are involved in that right now.... lol.

Who knows? Maybe they aren't as involved as they were before, maybe they are but in an even more invisible way. ;) I wasn't saying they still are still involved anyways. I was just stating that organized crime has been heavily involved in unions from the beginning, to the point that it was their cash cow. Unions are not these worker loving bodies that they claim to be. They are in it for the profit, and will happily throw members under the bus if they know they will get more money than they are now.

[Tiz]

Did anyone say that unions were literally the Mafia? No. Threatening to boycott businesses if they don't support them is a Mafia tactic. I think it's called extortion, and it's one of many Mafia style behaviors that unions use.

[Arrow]

Actually, the Mafia doesn't boycott businesses. And even if they did, boycotts are perfectly legal. Boycotts were one of the things that the colonists used against the British in the late 1760s and the early 1770s. And if a merchant opposed them too strongly and wouldn't play along in refusing to import British goods, our founding fathers brought out the tar and feathers. Now the use of tar and feathers, which can scar for life or kill, isn't legal today, but the boycotts are. Some would call it voting with your pocketbook. The nonimportation movement during the American Revolution was critical because it brought in so many kinds of people who didn't normally participate in politics--men who couldn't vote, women, college students who agreed to stop drinking wine (would a modern student do that?).

It's true that some unions in some places have used tactics that go over the line, but comparing the teachers' union in Wisconsin to the Mafia is laughably absurd. But I can always count on you for a laugh, Tiz, so by all means--carry on.

For everyone else--let's stick with the facts and proper definitions.

[Tiz]

(ĭk-stôr'shən) http://content.answcdn.com/main/content/img/pron.gif
n.

The act or an instance of extorting.
Illegal use of one's official position or powers to obtain property, funds, or patronage.
An excessive or exorbitant charge.
Something extorted.


Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/extortion#ixzz1IYRdlEBC

[cowgirlup@idaho]

, unions are the new mafia

I said it. Are unions (not just Wisconsin) actually the Mafia in sheeps clothing? No. Have old Mafia style tactics been employed? yes. Have unions since they began had mafia connections? I think so. Call a bully a bully.

[Remali]

:deadhorse:

[Tiz]

I said it. Are unions (not just Wisconsin) actually the Mafia in sheeps clothing? No. Have old Mafia style tactics been employed? yes. Have unions since they began had mafia connections? I think so. Call a bully a bully.


As I understood you.

[Remali]

Quote: "Some area teachers are planning a walkout Monday & plan to take the kids to pickett outside targeted businesses"

I must have missed it, but I didn't hear about the walk-out on our local news today.... where was it at?

[magayle]

Quote: "Some area teachers are planning a walkout Monday & plan to take the kids to pickett outside targeted businesses"

I must have missed it, but I didn't hear about the walk-out on our local news today.... where was it at?

i kept looking at the news and saw nothin' too

[natisha]

i kept looking at the news and saw nothin' tooOk, I lied, there was no drive to get kids to protest outside M&I Bank in Madison on 4/4/11 the day before voting.
Maybe nothing ever came of it but they tried.

[magayle]

Ok, I lied, there was no drive to get kids to protest outside M&I Bank in Madison on 4/4/11 the day before voting.
Maybe nothing ever came of it but they tried.

damn another hyperbole:eek:

[natisha]

damn another hyperbole:eek::) You like your new word, don't you?

[magayle]

:) You like your new word, don't you?

yep and i'm not gonna be one anymore:)

[cowgirlup@idaho]

As I understood you.

:cheers: