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Labor Notes: September 2011(Targeted News Service Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) WASHINGTON, Sept. 1 -- The Capital Research Center issued the following news release: Spend a couple hundred million to elect a president, and what does it get you? Unions are increasingly concluding about Barack Obama - not much. They didn't get card-check. And on August 3rd, it was reported that Obama was hiring a non-union crew to work his enormous 50th birthday party. Jim Hoft reported on Gateway Pundit: "A confidential and trusted union source contacted me today to report that the crews called in to work Obama's birthday bash are non-union. Union members are OUTRAGED that Obama would turn his back on them. Curiously, my source added that the day rate is actually higher for the non-union members to do the work." Oh, the indignity! Well, they huffed and puffed, but unions have failed to blow the House of Walker down. Ever since the introduction of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's collective bargaining reform bill six months ago, unions have vowed vengeance. First, they challenged the law (which they correctly see as an existential threat) in the courts. They failed. They then vowed to take the Wisconsin State Senate in a special election by defeating six Republicans who voted for the bill. On August 10th, they failed at that, too. Republicans held four of the six seats targeted for recall, leaving the GOP in the majority. Walker's reforms are safe, for now. The unions, meanwhile, poured upwards of$28 million and who-knows how many hours into the fight. As the Wall Street Journal put it, "For the bucketloads of cash, the political impact is negligible." To say the least - Labor Notes cannot recall a more crushing defeat for organized labor in many years. Just when you think union protesters have reached rock bottom, you read this in New Jersey's Star-Ledger on a labor dispute between Verizon Communications, Inc. and about 45,000 of its unionized employees: "A video posted online appears to show a Verizon picketer placing his young daughter in front of an oncoming truck -- presumably carrying non-union employees -- and then taunting the passengers with profanity-laced statements. 'That's who you're hurting,' the man says, pointing to the girl. 'You're taking it from our family. Good job. Go back where you came from. Look at her face.'" Negotiations between Verizon and two unions, the Communications Workers of America and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, broke down on August 7th, and Labor Notes understands everyone is a little upset. But putting your child in front of an oncoming truck? Wow. You can view the video yourself at http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2011/08/verizon_strike_picketing.html. Speaking of the Verizon dispute, the communications giant has "reported a dozen cases of sabotaged cable lines and warned of delays in repairs and customer service on the second day," of the strike, according to the Boston Globe. Customers in Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York have seen their service lines, including cable TV and Internet, sabotaged since the strike began. "This could be a dangerous situation if people need to reach fire, police, or emergency responders and can't use their phone,'' said a Verizon spokesman. No kidding. Naturally, the unions are denying any involvement. "We don't do that, and nobody in the union leadership supports any of that,'' proclaimed Myles Calvey, business manager for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. In the wake of successful charter school experiments throughout the country, parents and even some Democratic politicians have turned against powerful teachers unions and their tooth-and-nails fight against any and all meaningful education reform. Now even some unionized teachers are joining the chorus: Jordan Henry, a 12-year teaching veteran, has organized the New Teachers of Los Angeles (NewTLA) as a dissident faction within the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA), dedicated to changing the union from within. According to TIME, "After the last union election, NewTLA holds 90 of the 350 seats in the union's house of representatives NewTLA is already taking on tough issues like seniority and urging UTLA to move from its narrow focus on the teachers' contract to a broader one about how to improve schools." TNS gv51gv 110905-3567080 61GemaViana (c) 2011 Targeted News Service |