Big Labor Is Bankrupting Our Country

meme

New member
By CONN CARROLL, For The Bulletin
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Last month, when the White House released its visitor log for the first six months of the Obama presidency, one name appeared far more often than any other: Service Employee International Union (SEIU) President Andrew Stern. Stern has every right to expect to be welcome in the Obama White House.

He has repeatedly bragged about the fact that under his leadership, the SEIU spent $60.7 million to elect Barack Obama president. And what is Stern buying with his $60.7 million besides White House tours? Ever expanding federal government programs and state government bailouts, which are rapidly bankrupting our country.

Unlike his predecessor, John Sweeney, who came up the ranks after starting with the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, Stern entered the labor movement when the SEIU organized his shop when he was working as a welfare case worker for the State of Pennsylvania. Mr. Stern’s public sector entrance into labor is by no means an anomaly.

In fact, for the first time ever in American history, preliminary estimates of union membership for this year show that most union members now work for either the local, state, or federal government.

Heritage scholar James Sherk has the numbers: “The overall unionization rate between January and September stood at 12.4 percent, unchanged from last year. However, this difference masks a large difference between unions in the private and public sectors. Union membership has fallen to 7.3 percent of private sector workers – the lowest rate since Roosevelt signed the National Labor Relations Act into law. But it is a completely different story in the public sector: 37.6 percent of government employees belong to unions, up almost a percentage point since last year. Those 7.9 million unionized government employees are 51 percent of all union members nationwide.”

The days when “union member” meant an American working in a steel plant, or coal mine or auto factory are gone.

Today, unions are dependent on government, not the private sector, for their livelihood. Therefore, unions like the SEIU have little interest in private sector job growth. Private sector jobs don’t help fund $60.7 million political campaigns. But government jobs do. The change in incentives has been devastating to American taxpayers. Manhattan Institute senior fellow Steven Malanga explains why:

“In the private sector … employers who are too generous with pay and benefits will be punished. In the public sector, however, more union members means more voters. And more voters means more dollars for political campaigns to elect sympathetic politicians who will enact higher taxes to foot the bill for the upward arc of government spending on workers.”

Heritage’s Mr. Sherk details just some of the ways we have already witnessed this:

“In Oregon, the labor movement is donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund two ballot initiatives to raise personal income and business taxes. The unions want tax hikes instead of cuts in the gold-plated medical benefits for state workers. In California, the SEIU spent $1 million on a television ad campaign pressing for higher oil, gas, and liquor taxes instead of spending reductions. However, in Washington, state Democrats have so far resisted the labor movement’s call for higher taxes. In response labor unions are threatening to fund primary campaigns against the Democrats who oppose the tax hikes.”

The United Auto Workers already made General Motors and Chrysler so uncompetitive they had to be bailed out by President Obama. But who will Obama turn to when Mr. Stern’s SEIU has bankrupted us?

Conn Carroll is an assistant director of strategic communications at The Heritage Foundation.

http://www.thebulletin.us/articles/2009/11/17/commentary/op-eds/doc4b025de53d9a3423530423.txt
 
I didn't realize Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and Morgan Stanley were union shops. Thanks for the info.
 
Unions represent individual Americans.

Where is your concern for the power Corporations have over our government?
 
now they are back to "invading" peoples homes..could you be next?
welcome to the SEIU Obamanation..
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Interfaith Vigil for Healthcare Reform at Joe Lieberman's House
November 15, 2009, 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Meet at Stamford High School, 55 Strawberry Hill Ct, Stamford, CT (right across the street from Sen. Lieberman's residence)
Community & Labor Partners Advocacy

Purpose: To demonstrate to Joe Lieberman that we need health care reform and we do not want him joining any filibuster of health care legislation. The Interfaith Fellowship for Universal Health Care, a faith-based organization that includes religious leaders from all major faiths, is organizing this event.

Agenda: The event will start with a brief prayer service and be followed by a short march to Joe Lieberman’s home where we will hold a candlelight vigil.

Action: Members are urged to participate and demonstrate our opposition to Sen. Lieberman's obstruction of efforts to pass meaningful reform. The event will be solemn and highly dignified, and attendees will be asked to dress appropriately and NOT to bring protest signs.

Transportation: The CT Citizen Action Group (CCAG) is organizing carpools from their Hartford office, which is across the street from our Union Hall at 30 Arbor Street. Register for the event and click on the carpool drop down menu at their website below to sign-up.

http://www.seiu2001.org/ourlocal/In...thcare_Reform_at_Joe_Lieb erman_s_House.aspx
 
Man am I tired of these insane, hatefilled idiots who cheered while Bush made this mess and now all of the sudden expect anyone to believe any word of "warning" they have about the future.


You guys were wrong about everything so dont cry too hard when you spew this crap and no one takes you seriously.
 
Unions represent individual Americans.

Where is your concern for the power Corporations have over our government?

as if unions don't....:pke:

you hate corportions that provide jobs to MILLIONS of american workers for absolutely no reason other than its your talking points....you ignore the bullying and sometimes illegal tactics of unions while constantly spouting hate for corporations....

unions are probably, if not equal, as powerful lobby force as corporations...look how many times a candidate refers to a union endorsement and how much power that endorsement gets....to ignore union power is to ignore reality
 
It's people like Meme that make me shake my head in exasperation that I was once a Republican.

Look, I have no love loss for unions. Part of their present predicament is their own damned fault. Many unions over reached their grasp and many of them became corrupt.

But the overwhelming majority of middle class Americans owe their high standard of living to the legacy of labor unions. So when I see stuff like what Meme posted I can only think "Gee she's a real dumb moron."

Let's keep in mind that despite the obvious shortcommings of unions they have made substantial contributions to this nation. I can remember my Grandfather, a rail road conudtor, telling me stories about the bad ole pre-union days when the RR executives considered it more cost affective to replace a human being who had been killed or seriously injured then to introduce or replace needed safety equipment (like air brakes). Unions put an end to that shit.

What really bothers me is that I'm reasonably sure that Meme is to stupid to see the hypocricy of her views. It seems to me that the far right only think that everyone has a right to negotiate the price for their goods or services, except for laborors. What a collosal double standard.
 
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as if unions don't....:pke:

you hate corportions that provide jobs to MILLIONS of american workers for absolutely no reason other than its your talking points....you ignore the bullying and sometimes illegal tactics of unions while constantly spouting hate for corporations....

unions are probably, if not equal, as powerful lobby force as corporations...look how many times a candidate refers to a union endorsement and how much power that endorsement gets....to ignore union power is to ignore reality
They used to be but not anymore. They are still a powerful force but not in the same league of influence they were 30 or 40 years ago.
 
It's people like Meme that make me shake my head in exasperation that I was once a Republican.

Look, I have no love loss for unions. Part of their present predicament is their own damned fault. Many unions over reached their grasp and many of them became corrupt.

But the overwhelming majority of middle class Americans owe their high standard of living to the legacy of labor unions. So when I see stuff like what Meme posted I can only think "Gee she's a real dumb moron."

Let's keep in mind that despite the obvious shortcommings of unions all of their substantial contributions to this nation. I can remember my Grandfather, a rail road conudtor, telling me stories about the bad ole pre-union days when the RR executives considered it more cost affective to replace a human being who had been killed or seriously injured then to introduce or replace needed safety equipment (like air brakes). Unions put an end to that shit.

What really bothers me is that I'm reasonably sure that Meme is to stupid to see the hypocricy of views. It seems to me that the far right only think that everyone has a right to negotiate the price for their goods or services, except for laborors. What a collosal double standard.

:rolleyes:
 
They used to be but not anymore. They are still a powerful force but not in the same league of influence they were 30 or 40 years ago.

they may not be as powerful as 30 years ago....but they are still powerful....just look how the politicians line up to get union endorsements....

you can't be serious that they are not powerful, they probably have as many lobbyist and as much influence as corps....
 
from the latest HR bill... starting at page 65....
12 SEC. 164. REINSURANCE PROGRAM FOR RETIREES.
13 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—
14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after
15 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary
16 of Health and Human Services shall establish a tem17
porary reinsurance program (in this section referred
18 to as the ‘‘reinsurance program’’) to provide reim19
bursement to assist participating employment-based
20 plans with the cost of providing health benefits to
21 retirees and to eligible spouses, surviving spouses
22 and dependents of such retirees.
http://docs.house.gov/edlabor/AAHCA-BillText-071409.pdf
care to speculate which employer funded retirement plans will be accepted by the government for reimbursement at higher levels than those available to the rest of us?......

The Detroit Free Press has already reported that the identical text in the first HR bill was a promise to the UAW to cover the pension plans that brought GM to its knees.....
 
visited the whitehouse 22 TIMES so far..
welcome to the SEIU Obamanation..
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It's people like Meme that make me shake my head in exasperation that I was once a Republican.

Look, I have no love loss for unions. Part of their present predicament is their own damned fault. Many unions over reached their grasp and many of them became corrupt.

But the overwhelming majority of middle class Americans owe their high standard of living to the legacy of labor unions. So when I see stuff like what Meme posted I can only think "Gee she's a real dumb moron."

Let's keep in mind that despite the obvious shortcommings of unions they have made substantial contributions to this nation. I can remember my Grandfather, a rail road conudtor, telling me stories about the bad ole pre-union days when the RR executives considered it more cost affective to replace a human being who had been killed or seriously injured then to introduce or replace needed safety equipment (like air brakes). Unions put an end to that shit.

What really bothers me is that I'm reasonably sure that Meme is to stupid to see the hypocricy of her views. It seems to me that the far right only think that everyone has a right to negotiate the price for their goods or services, except for laborors. What a collosal double standard.

Unions overreached themselves? Union concessions were unheard of before Reagan, and that's all you hear unions doing these.

IMHO, if decently paid labor can't compete with slave labor overseas, then put tariffs on those companies proportional to the amount they save by dealing with slave labor and use it to subsidize decent labor wages. And ALL sectors of American working life should look into unionization, not just manufacturers.
 
as if unions don't....:pke:

you hate corportions that provide jobs to MILLIONS of american workers for absolutely no reason other than its your talking points....you ignore the bullying and sometimes illegal tactics of unions while constantly spouting hate for corporations....

unions are probably, if not equal, as powerful lobby force as corporations...look how many times a candidate refers to a union endorsement and how much power that endorsement gets....to ignore union power is to ignore reality

Equally as powerful?

Coporation control far more of the economy, and there name has become poison among the working public due to right-wing propaganda.
 
One reason that right-wingers are so succesfuly as casting unions as "the other guys" who do nothing but sop up your hard earned cash in recent years is that they've been so successful in destroying them. So, instead of that guy who provides me with decent wages, they're that guy that gives someone else something other than slave wages. Soon, everyone will make those slave wages you make, so no on one will be sopping up your cash. Good job conservatives. It's reverse communism.
 
Unions overreached themselves? Union concessions were unheard of before Reagan, and that's all you hear unions doing these.

IMHO, if decently paid labor can't compete with slave labor overseas, then put tariffs on those companies proportional to the amount they save by dealing with slave labor and use it to subsidize decent labor wages. And ALL sectors of American working life should look into unionization, not just manufacturers.

How would you propose getting workers in the high tech industry for example to want to embrace unions?
 
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