Crisis in Colorado's AFL-CIO Leads to Cleaning House and Cutting Heads

The big labor union news in Colorado this week seems to be not about the solidarity of the labor movement, but about how divided the state AFL-CIO is.

This has prompted John Sweeney (top union boss and president of the AFL-CIO in Washington) to go to Colorado and "restructure" the state federation, as well as "eliminate" the top two positions.

Ordinarily, the terms "restructuring" and "job elimination" are reserved for the corporate world. However, in this case, Sweeney says he has "the power" to remove Colorado AFL-CIO President Steve Adams and Secretary-Treasurer Paul Mendrick from their elected posts.

Never mind the fact that these two were elected, right?

For his part, like some corporate executive being oustered, Steve Adams has chosen to resign with a settlment and a consulting package.

Meanwhile, Paul Mendrick is fighting his elimination, and other members of the state AFL-CIO aren't too pleased with the trusteeship either.

Members of the state AFL-CIO executive board, which included representatives from about three dozen unions in the state, also have expressed displeasure with the
changes imposed at their organization.

And why shouldn't they be upset? They're being replaced by a smaller committee, hand-picked by Sweeney....All part of the "restructuring."

So, what's the real reason behind this "hostile takeover"? Politics.

Yep, that's right. The AFL-CIO, according to Boss Sweeney, is cleaning house in Colorado for one simple reason: "We figured it had to be done before our next political campaign started."

Yet another example of union hypocrisy at its finest!

Two Years Later: The Labor Movement's Zombie Walk...

These days, as we observe the skulduggery of today's American Labor Movement, it seems as though we're watching that cult-classic Dawn of the Dead, the sequel to George Romero's Night of the Living Dead. As much as it's grotesque watching the flesh-eating zombies feast on their human prey, our fascination keeps our butts glued to the seats.

More than two years ago, we wrote an essay entitled "The Labor Movement is Brain Dead (and it's time to pull the plug)."

While this was in the months preceding the AFL-CIO implosion/break up in July 2005, it apparently struck a nerve in the halls of the House of Labor, as Anna Berger (SEIU's #2 person and now the boss of bosses in the Change to Whine federation) went around the country misquoting the intent of and the actual statement, as follows: "The American labor movement is clinically brain dead. Labor leaders within the AFL-CIO are living in a perpetual state of denial."

In fact, not only did Ms. Berger use us in her speeches around the country, she put her (mis)quote of us up on a big PowerPoint presentation to use as partial justification for Andy Stern's coup d'union.

Well, it's been more than two years since the Nupsters officially became the Whiners and not much has changed for the zombies of the labor movement (except that they just bought the United States Congress for the handsome sum of a cool $100 million), but we felt it apropos to revisit the premise behind the 2005 essay.

Here is the actual quote just to put it into some perspective for you:

This spring and summer(2005), as America’s union bosses prepare to gather to debate their current malaise, there is one single, undeniable conclusion that no one seems to want to admit: the American labor movement is clinically brain dead. Labor leaders within the AFL-CIO and their political and academic allies are living in a state of perpetual denial about their true fate, repeating the mantra “organize or die” that has been chanted for years. The problem is, it’s too late for that. The chant now rings hollow. It’s fallen on deaf ears for too long. Someone just needs to have the courage and decency to let the union bosses and the rest of the world know the truth…That the time has come to declare the American union movement dead—let’s move on.

So, what's the point? you ask...

Well, here we are two years after the Great Schism in the House of Labor and, so far, the only thing that the labor movement has succeeded in is getting a Socialist Congress elected.

[Editor's note: We're sorry if the above offends anyone who voted for Democrats last November in order to end the War in Iraq but the reality is, you were duped by Big Labor's Red Herring!]

To be sure, the union bosses are pulling all of the strings needed to manipulate their Congressional puppets, but the reality is, they will still have to wait another two years and spend hundreds of millions of dollars more of their members' money to see if they can get Le Grande Puppet in the Oval Office.

So, let's assume that happens and Hillary Obama Edwards wins the White House, then what?

Well, Washington will become a big orgy of "left-wing labor love" and unions will literally rely on an Act of Congress to attempt to revitalize itself...

Alas, the Employee Free Choice Act.

Let us also assume for a moment that EFCA eventually passes and get signed into law in late Spring 2009.

Then what?

Workers will get targeted and succumb to union trickery and/or thuggery. Companies large and small will become unionized. Contracts will get imposed by government bureaucrats through binding arbitration. Where does that leave us?

Well, the US economy will go into the crapper as large companies off shore even more jobs to third and fourth world countries and small companies close under the administrative burden of unionization.

Even though hundreds of thousands of more American workers will lose their jobs, union bosses have a solution--for themselves, that is: Unionize illegal aliens. Of course, with their new puppets in Washington, they will have likely already passed amnesty for illegals, making our non-English speaking counterparts all-too-easy-to-manipulate targets.

And, of course, by then we will likely have socialized health care (or what the left now calls "Universal Health Care"), which will ensure an even larger stream of dues to the likes of the SEIU. [To read Tom Wigand's excellent analysis of labor's left-wing health care scheme, click here.]

As one who does not share the left's disastrous vision for America, it does seem a rather bleak outlook for the moment. However, times change, political winds shift and, at the end of the movie, the zombies don't eat all of the humans anyway.

For the moment, though, all we can do is provide fair warning:

"When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth."

Marx clearly didn't understand the lure of sports and blood...

When Karl Marx said that religion is the opiate of the masses, he obviously had no idea the powerful influence of sports on our society, nor of the hunter's bloodlust.

Down ol 'Bamy way, it seems the International Association of Machinists got frustrated recently that workers at Mercedez-Benz plant haven't jumped on the union's bandwagon.

Don Barker, lead organizer for the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers said the Machinists probably erred by starting its campaign in March, when many potential members were distracted by the NCAA basketball tournament and the start of hunting season.

Rather than realizing that the product the union is selling is as outdated as its ideological forefather, Barker and his cronies have placed their blame on the workers' distracted attention.

How quaint...

The UFCW & Illegal Aliens

As the debate over illegal aliens continues, it appears that the United Food & Commercial Workers' practice of taking dues from those who are working in this country illegally has not gone unnoticed.

One Old Vet states:

A person authorized to work in America wouldn’t need the “rights” package prepared and provided by the United Food and Commercial Workers union; only a criminal illegal alien invader would. Notice I don’t use the politically correct euphemism “undocumented”. Calling an ILLEGAL ALIEN an “undocumented” worker is like calling a drug dealer an “undocumented pharmacist!

We've written about the Blatant Hypocrisy and Mere Opportunism of unions vying to represent illegal aliens in the past, as well as the pathetic nature of the UFCW.

It is heartening to see that others share our view.

UAW: The Union of Ailing Workplaces

The United Auto Workers, once known for its powerful presence in the American auto industry, is fast becoming a union known for its impotence and oversight of workers' having their jobs eliminated.

Last Thursday, the media reported that the UAW lost another 18,000 members in the past year, as top UAW officers gave themselves an increase in pay. The pay increase, however small it may seem, comes at a time when UAW membership has dwindled to a mere third of its once formidable size.

The next day, Friday the 13th, came another announcement of misfortune for UAW members, as auto supplier American Axle announced the closing of its Buffalo, New York plant, putting yet another 700 UAW workers out on the streets.

For his part, the UAW's top guy, Ron Gettlefinger, stated that the union is "in negotiations in an attempt to have new work brought into the plant," adding that they "recognize this is a difficult challenge..." Impossible, may be more appropriate for the UAW.

In Arkansas, the UAW has had members on strike at sink-maker Kohler since December 9th. The strike has apparently become violent when a picketer lunged at a motorcycle driven by replacement worker John David Hicks. Hicks, trying to avoid the lunging striker swerved his motorcycle into the lane of another vehicle and was injured.

Striking worker and UAW picket line captain Carroll Burleson claims that picket line incidents are not his union's fault. And, although he's heard heard nails and screws had been thrown into the company driveway and parking lot, he says he hadn’t witnessed any of that, and didn’t know who did it.

“If I did, I wouldn’t tell you,” Burleson said. Further, Burleson claims that vandalism to workers’ cars was the drivers’ fault.

In Indiana, troubled supplier Tower Automotive is shuttering is Kendallville plant, laying off another 102 UAW workers.

Recently, the UAW held a town hall meeting for Toyota's union-free workers in Lexington, KY.

UAW bosses said Thursday the union would be strengthened if it were able to add Toyota Motor Corp. employees. Who didn't know that???

"Our union is based on the principle of bringing workers together to create a level playing field with employers, and the more workers who join, the stronger we are," UAW bosses said in their online chat with members.

It seems rather than raising the living standard of workers, the UAW is driven to lower all to their level of 'playing field.' It's a shame that workers still fall for this line of union rhetoric, as the evidence grows that unions like the UAW are killing the very jobs they claim to be trying to help.

As Whole Foods CEO John Mackey once said about the UFCW: "The union is like having herpes. It doesn't kill you, but it's unpleasant and inconvenient and it stops a lot of people from becoming your lover" (Business and Society Review, 6/22/92).

Unfortunately, for so many UAW-represented workers, the United Auto Workers seems to be more akin to having a whole STD cocktail. It may not kill you, per se, just the company that employs you...

The "End Game" of Health Care in the U.S.

We recently received an e-mail from an ally in the Fight for Freedom, Mr. Thomas Wigand, who provided an eloquent analysis of the present push for socialized medicine (aka "universal health care").

His analysis, inspired by an April 3rd article posted on The Nation (subscribers only) is an excellent synopsis of the "end game" of the current health care debate and of our present health care system. Even for those without access to the article, you will still be able to easily see the merits to Tom's analysis...
THE PLAN:

Get large corporations to support “universal health care” – the lure for them being getting some (and eventually) all of the cost of employee healthcare off of their books and onto taxpayers;

Unions/Democrats use this as the “camel’s nose under the tent” on the way to “single payer” healthcare (a/k/a socialized medicine) – see SEIU quote in the article appearing below;

With government in de facto control of healthcare (both under “universal” and “single payer” regimes) use union / Democrat officeholder clout over hospital management in order to force them not to oppose unionization of their workforces. As healthcare workers will become de facto government employees (or at least quasi-governmental employees) – unionization of these workforces will follow the trend of other public sector employees, i.e., the creation of a permanent voting-block looking to protect their jobs / increase their pay at taxpayer expense;

Create a voting-block of healthcare dependent voters who will oppose any effort to reduce the spiraling growth of taxpayer-funded increases in “healthcare” expenditures (and thus the spiraling growth of unionized payrolls), i.e., the same electoral dynamic we see with seniors and Medicare / Social Security;

Use lobbying to expand the range of “what is covered by mandate” – thereby further increasing the ranks of unionized healthcare workers;

Recycle ever-growing union dues into Democrat political campaigns;

Have the union(s) become the kingmakers within the Democrat Party via union control of the recycled-dues / purse-strings, and ability to fund obedient primary challengers against any Democrat who doesn’t 100% obey the union line;

Create a permanent and unassailable Democrat legislative (and executive) officeholder majority, which in turn is controlled by the unions;

Large corporations no longer being necessary to advance the plan, use Democrat political control to enact whatever laws the union bosses feel is in their interest (as opposed to the interests of workers, business, taxpayers or the good of the economy and country).

THE RESULT:

Health care in the U.S. will become like public education – expensive and low-quality. We’ll get to “enjoy” the same high taxes, long waits and outdated technology as the Canadians (who will no longer be able to come here to get the kind of timely and quality health care that is unavailable at home);

Our economy will come to resemble the “Democrat Socialist” model of Europe: crippling taxes; crippling union-bureaucrat regulations; stagnation and permanently high levels of unemployment.

The Asian countries – already eating our economic lunch – will come to regard the United States as a giant Disney World. Like Americans did for many years with Europe, they’ll look at us as a giant theme park that is fun to visit. Our economy will be increasingly characterized by low-skilled, low-paying jobs.

Our public schools will be teaching American children to say: “Would you like to ‘Supersize’ that?” - IN MANDARIN!

The Pimp, the Pauper & the Plant

So the story goes…

A young girl runs away from her rural home in the Midwest, catching a bus to Big City with the hopes of becoming a star and improving her life.

Upon arrival in the Big City, the young girl is befriended by a stranger who offers her food and a job. Wow, she thinks, people are nice here in the Big City.

The stranger promises to make her a star.

“But first,” he tells her, “you need to do something for me. You see that house over there? The owners of that house are really mean and abusive. They’re greedy and evil. We need to help the people who live in that house and I need you to help me.”

The stranger convinces the young girl that the only way to help the people living in the house is for her to move into the house and to befriend the inhabitants. The poor, young girl agrees to be the stranger's helper.

“I need you to tell me everything that is going on inside the house,” the stranger tells the girl. “I need you to tell me everything you can about the people living there, what time they get out of bed, what time they eat, go to the bathroom, and what time they go to bed. I need you to find out there names and their cell phone numbers. I also need you to bring me physical layouts of the house, its electrical plans, its security layout—everything.”

Something doesn’t feel right to the girl. She begins to feel like a spy of sorts, so the girl questions the stranger about his motives.

“Isn’t that stealing?” the girl asks. The stranger ignores her question.

“We’re going to go into the house soon,” the stranger explains, “and we’re going to rescue all those people from the evil owners of the house. The means are always justified in the end. We can’t do it alone, that’s why I need your help. You need to convince everyone living there that, when we come in, we’ll be saving them from those evil owners.”

With that, the young girl goes along with the stranger's plan and does his bidding. After all, she says to herself, the ends justify the means.

Days later, she has retrieved all of the information from the house, taken documents and floor plans, recorded the movements of all the inhabitants of the house and befriended many.

“You are great,” the stranger tells the girl over lunch, “those evil owners don’t suspect a thing and you’ve done so much for those people inside….But, I need you to do one more thing.”

The girl wonders aloud what that might be.

“The only way we can help those people inside the house,” the stranger explains, “is for you to get them to sign these cards so they give us permission to help them.”

With that, the girl begins to doubt the stranger’s motives. But he quickly dismisses that.

“Look,” he says, “you’ve been doing so well and I think you’ve got a really bright future. I know money’s been tight for you, so I tell you what….For every person you get to sign a card asking us to help them, I’ll give you money.”

The girl thinks about it for a minute, then agrees. After all, the stranger seems nice enough, his intentions are good—he does seem to want to help all those poor people from those evil owners of the house after all.

Once back inside the house, the girl tells the inhabitants in the house that the stranger is there to help them begin a better future and the only way he can help them is by signing their permission to join with him. She easily convinces more than half the people to give the stranger permission to come into their house.

A short time later, the stranger gets into the house. Soon afterwards, the girl is shocked to learn that the stranger begins taking money from people who live in the house and that, instead of making things better for the inhabitants, the stranger actually makes things worse.

The girl feels bad for the people inside the house. She tries to call the stranger but finds that he is too busy to take her calls. Before hanging up on her, he tells her that he is at some other house in some other neighborhood. He explains that the owners of this house are even more evil than the ones at the house that she infiltrated.

The girl waits and waits. Nothing gets better at the house. But the stranger continues to collect money from the people living in the house and for the few who refuse to pay the stranger, he has them evicted.

Then, one day, the owners sell the house. They tell all of the people living there that they must leave.

Horrified, the girl calls the stranger. This time he takes a minute to talk with her. She explains that the owners have sold the house, that it is marked for demolition, and that the people living in the house are in a panic.

“Those bastards,” he says.

“Who?” the young girl asks. The girl is confused because she is not sure if the stranger is referring to, the people living in the house or the owners of the house.

“Them,” the stranger responds.

“Who’s them?” the girl asks.

“All of them,” comes the stranger’s response, which further confuses the girl. “Every time we take over a house, the owners either sell it or pack it up and leave with all their stuff.”

“Hell,” the stranger says, “it's getting to the point that even the old houses we had are moving out of town. We can’t even keep up. For every house we take over, three more houses get demolished. We’re taking a loss right now at the golf course and we might even have to sell the airplane. I’ll be damned if I’m going to take a pay cut though.”

The girl is mortified. She’s never heard the stranger talk so candidly about such ugly matters.

“Look,” the stranger says, “we’ve got some of our guys in Washington who are trying to pass a law. If they succeed, it’ll make it so we can get into every house a lot easier. Then, we'll show them!”

“But, what happens if the owners keep selling the houses or moving them?” the girl asks.

"There's always another house," says the stranger. "In fact, there's a whole bunch of people moving into those apartments right over there..."

"By the way," the stranger says to the girl "do you know Spanish?"

Dr. Death wants to pay a visit to the House of Toyota

Dear Toyota worker:

So, you'd like to invite Dr. Death to Easter dinner, would you? He is in the neighborhood, after all.

We hear he's all the rage, you know. Of late, he's been schmoozing with the dealers in Atlantic City, hooking them up with politicians and the like.

It's been said that he throws one killer party. He even helps you pay for drinks while on the company's time...you can even check the video out right here.

Why, just today, we heard that over at the GM family's house, he's done so well that they lost another 4% of sales.

Same goes over at Mr. Chrysler's place.

At Mr. Ford's house, he's doing just fantastic! In fact, the Ford house lost another 9% of sales.

Now, we hear that Dr. Death is knocking at your door too. Indeed, Dr. Death even wants to help you share in your success....Or, rather, he wants you to share your success with him?

Obviously, Dr. Death would love to have you as his victim...er...patient! After all, he is so successful plying his trade that 116,000 of his patients have (shall we say) "moved on" in the last three years.

Never mind the fact that you've got a 12% boost in sales, that you have a steady job...That's all the more reason Dr Death would love to have you as his patient.

So, if you don't mind setting another seat at your Easter table, Dr. Death is knocking at your door...All you have to do is open it.

Yeah, it'll cost you some money and you may pay dearly for it in the long run, but Dr. Death has his job to do and he's running out of patience, as well as patients.

Best wishes to you, dear Toyota worker, and Happy Easter!

Yours truly,

EmployerReport.com