Archive for the ‘Unions’ Category

Milton Friedman on Labor…

Posted: 6 Sep 2011 in Axis of Idiots, Democrats, Economics, Failure, Government, Neo-Marxists, Politics, Socialism, Unions
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This is a pretty good video. It’s from the 70s, but it truly applies today even more.

Unions still suck.

Big Labor vs. Taxpayers…

Posted: 1 Sep 2011 in Democrats, Economics, Failure, Government, Politics, Socialism, Unions
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For anyone like me that thinks big labor is a drain on society as a whole and should be disbanded, then this is a good story for you to read.

Big Labor vs. Taxpayers

By F. Vincent Vernuccio, William Kovacs
For the first time ever, government union members outnumbered those in the private sector in 2009. Until recently, union bosses—not elected representatives—have been in control of the government employee compensation process. Using taxpayer dollars they obtain through mandatory dues, they elect the management they later negotiate with. However, across the country in states such as Wisconsin, Ohio, and Michigan, taxpayers are fighting back and the tide of Big Labor control is starting to change.

Now there is a new online tool to give taxpayers and policy makers critical information on which states favor Big Labor. The Competitive Enterprise Institute and Crossroads GPS recently launched a “Big Labor versus Taxpayer Index” that analyzes 1,150 labor laws and regulations throughout the country and exposes states that make coddling Big Labor a top priority.These unions are at the forefront of the movement for more expansive and expensive government. They use collected forced dues to lobby for greater pay, lavish benefits and more members. They also have a legal monopoly over public services and, if they strike, can deprive citizens of essential services such as education and safety.

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Republicans introduce bill to give workers a choice on joining unions… AKA Unions Suck!

Posted: 9 Mar 2011 in Congress, Democrats, Government, Politics, Unions

This is a step in the right direction. Stop forcing people to join unions if they don’t desire to do so. This is a fundamental freedom that fits with America.
Unions suck.

Republicans introduce bill to give workers a choice on joining unions

By Vicki Needham – 03/08/11 01:17 PM ET

Eight Republican Senators introduced a bill Tuesday giving workers a choice as to whether to join labor unions, which they argue will boost the nation’s economy and provide an increase in wages. 

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), introduced the National Right to Work Act to “reduce workplace discrimination by protecting the free choice of individuals to form, join, or assist labor organizations, or to refrain from such activities,” according to a statement. 

Seven other Republicans signed onto the effort: Sens. Tom Coburn (Okla.), Orrin Hatch (Utah), Mike Lee (Utah), Rand Paul (Ky.), James Risch (Idaho), Pat Toomey (Pa.) and David Vitter (La.).

“Facing a steady decline in membership, unions have turned to strong-arm political tactics to make forced unionization the default position of every American worker, even if they don’t want it,” Hatch said. “This is simply unacceptable. At the very least, it should be the policy of the U.S. government to ensure that no employee will be forced to join a union in order to get or keep their job.

“Republicans cited a recent poll they said shows that 80 percent of union members support having their policy and that “Right to Work” states outperform “forced-union” states in factors that affect worker well being.

Keep up the pressure! When unions are no longer relevant, then the Democrat party is done.

Wisconsin Governor Reveals Budget…AKA Unions SUCK!

Posted: 2 Mar 2011 in Axis of Idiots, Democrats, Education, Neo-Marxists, Politics, Socialism, Unions
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I’ve been avoiding this one, just because there is so much coverage of it that my .02 probably wouldn’t add much, if anything to it.

I am against all public sector unions. Private company unions aren’t my problem. If a company wants to put up with that shit, that’s their problem. I can always take my business elsewhere if they are priced too high. Public sector unions on the other hand, give me little to no choice in dealing with them. There are no alternatives to dealing with the government, whether it is state, of federal. I don’t think that I should have to pay ridiculous sums of money for public sector employee’s health and retirement benefits, when they contribute next to nothing, if anything at all.

At any rate, the battle ground for the people vs. the unions has been set. If Gov. Walker holds out and smacks the union in the mouth, then it will be like dominoes in the rest of the country.

Here’s a few people that are covering this:

Walker Unveils Budget Containing Deep Cuts

This happened in New Jersey, under Christie. The teachers were told they could either pay for health insurance and pensions but keep their current workers in their jobs, or stay at their current overpaid rates but face a lot of layoffs.

Big cuts: Scott Walker reveals budget proposal to Wisconsin legislature

1,200 jobs eliminated, funding to public schools reduced, collective bargaining on benefits for public-employee unions nuked, and total spending slashed by 6.7 percent. Is there any governor in America, Daniels and Christie included, more willing than this guy to risk political death in the interests of solvency?

It’s all about the deficit to [David] Brooks. But the damage done by public sector unionism isn’t mainly the producing of deficits. It’s the crippling of government, so that bad teachers can’t be fired and productivity stagnates and virtually everything the government does it does crappier than private industry does it. That’s a big, ongoing problem for Democrats, which is why maybe it doesn’t trouble Brooks. But it should trouble even non-neo liberals. Democrats are the party that needs the government to be good at something other than mailing out checks.

Gov. Walker Delivers Budget Address

Those who thought Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s agenda would be tempered by two weeks of nonstop protests outside his Captiol office couldn’t have been more wrong.

State spending would be reduced, taxes would not increase and the University of Wisconsin’s flagship campus would be granted independence from the UW System under the biennial budget introduced by Gov. Walker on Tuesday.

Wisconsin Governor Releases ‘Reform’ Budget as Stalemate Continues

MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker unveiled Tuesday the rest of his two-year spending plan that has already gripped the nation’s attention with its explosive proposal to take nearly all collective bargaining rights away from most public workers.

With the union rights proposal stuck in a legislative stalemate thanks to the state Senate’s runaway Democrats, the Republican governor forged ahead with the release of his spending plan that includes major cuts to schools and local governments to help close a projected $3.6 billion budget shortfall.

Video: Wisconsin Dem intervenes to protect GOP senator threatened by mob

You have to see it to believe it. The clip is long and the key moment doesn’t come until 2:50 in, but you won’t be able to look away. The savior here, in the orange union t-shirt and sportsjacket, is Democratic Rep. Brett Hulsey; behind him, with white hair and glasses, is Republican Sen. Glenn Grothman. Watch and try to imagine what might have happened had Hulsey not been there. Even some of the protesters are sufficiently alarmed to start a chant of “peace-ful” to calm the more unruly ones down.
There’s plenty more out there.
Unions suck!

Unions Still Suck!

Posted: 18 Feb 2011 in Axis of Idiots, Comarade Obama, Democrats, Failure, Government, Lies, Neo-Marxists, Obama, Politics, Socialism, Unions
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It’s about time America wakes up to the union bullshit that has been plaguing this country for far too long.

I’ve posted on this before here and here.

Government unions should be outlawed. They work for the people, are paid by the people, and any and all monetary issues should be decided by the people.

The shit has finally hit the fan with this bullshit. I for one am ecstatic over the idea that teacher’s unions are finally going to get the crap kicked out of them by the American tax payer.

Unions are about power. Anything else they say they are about is a lie. Plain and simple.

Here’s a piece from Hot Air:

If anyone thought that unions were paragons of democracy, the display in Madison this week has been instructive.  Their protests have given their Democratic allies in the Wisconsin state senate an excuse to abandon representative democracy rather than abide by the results of an election less than four months earlier, and protesters hold signs comparing newly-elected Republican Scott Walker to dictators such as Hosni Mubarak and Adolf Hitler for the crime of proposing changes in the law which he promised during the election campaign.  The Wall Street Journal argues today that the spectacle in Wisconsin shows that unions are interested in only one thing — power:

The reality is that the unions are trying to trump the will of the voters as overwhelmingly rendered in November when they elected Mr. Walker and a new legislature. As with the strikes against pension or labor reforms that routinely shut down Paris or Athens, the goal is to create enough mayhem that Republicans and voters will give up.

While Republicans now have the votes to pass the bill, on Thursday Big Labor’s Democratic allies walked out of the state senate to block a vote. Under state rules, 20 members of the 33-member senate must be present to hold a vote on an appropriations bill, leaving the 19 Republicans one member short. By the end of the day some Democrats were reported to have fled the state. So who’s really trying to short-circuit democracy?

Unions are treating these reforms as Armageddon because they’ve owned the Wisconsin legislature for years and the changes would reduce their dominance. Under Governor Walker’s proposal, the government also would no longer collect union dues from paychecks and then send that money to the unions. Instead, unions would be responsible for their own collection regimes. The bill would also require unions to be recertified annually by a majority of all members. Imagine that: More accountability inside unions.

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Michelle Malkin also discusses this issue:

Support Wisconsin: Trumka storms Madison tomorrow; Walker supporters to rally Saturday; a disgusted teacher calls out unions

It’s the National Thug Convergence.

AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka — refresh your memories of his violent rise to power here — announced that he’ll be storming Madison, Wisconsin tomorrow to join all the Hitler/Mubarak-sign toters and teachers ditching their jobs.

The showdown is scheduled for high noon.

Check out Vicki McKenna’s photo gallery for today’s scenes from the mob.

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Also more at Memeorandum.

 


More Union BS, or Unions Suck Part Deux…

Posted: 16 Feb 2011 in Axis of Idiots, Comarade Obama, Democrats, Education, Failure, Government, Lies, Neo-Marxists, Politics, Socialism, Unions
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I hate unions. I think they create an atmosphere that is not conducive to competition within the free market system. They are expensive for the employer and they pretty much tie the employer’s hands when it comes to getting rid of the assholes that don’t do their job effectively.

Case in point; teacher’s unions.

How many times have you heard them cry “it’s for the children!” whenever they whine for more money? They use that shit every time they want more money. It’s not for the children. Don’t buy that shit. 80% of the money that states and municipalities throw at schools goes into the teacher’s pockets, either through a bloated bureaucracy, or to their pensions and health care.

How much do teachers pay for their health care? In places like Detroit, or L.A. it’s zero. When those assholes are striking, it’s not for the children, it’s for their own bottom line.
It’s high time that unions were disallowed in public service and especially in schools.

Check this out:

Make sure you look at the other videos in this series at: Kids Aren’t Cars

More on Unions…

Posted: 8 Jun 2010 in Axis of Idiots, Democrats, Failure, Government, Neo-Marxists, Politics, RINO, Socialism, Stupid People, Truth, Unions
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For those of you that are idiots, and completely clueless, unions are one of the main reasons that many states, such as California, and New York, among others that employ a huge numbers of employees that are all union members are broke.

These unions actually have the balls to ask for more perks during a financial crisis. They want raises, more for their health insurance, more for their retirement, and this while the rest of the working sector takes it on the chin.

The only way to get out from under these asshole unions is to vote for candidates that actually have the balls to stand up to them. You can pretty much forget about most Democrats, and a couple Republican RINOs, but there are plenty out there that are willing to fight these dirt bags.

Read on:

How to Fight Back against Public Unions: A Primer
By Ed Lasky

We have reached a potential turning point in the relationship of public employee unions and the electorate they ostensibly serve. Over the past year, there has been a steady drumbeat of criticism focused on public unions and the havoc they have wrought on our public finances. Governments — city, country, state, and federal — are drowning in red ink Our taxes are flowing to ever-voracious government workers (whose own ranks are growing steadily while the private payrolls shrink); they are better compensated than private workers in comparable positions.
What is to be done?

We — taxpayers, tea partiers and sympathizers, independents, Republicans, and Democrats — need to come together and forge a blueprint to take back our nation. The inclusion of Democrats was deliberate, despite the fact that many Democrat politicians are in the pockets of public unions. AFSCME, the government employee union, has a political action committee that is the second-largest in the nation, and virtually all of its donations are to Democrats; ditto the teachers’ unions, or as they like to call themselves, “federations” and “associations” — teachers know how to use thesauruses for political purposes. But when liberal newspapers such as the New York Times now report on subway conductors earning hundreds of thousands of dollars a year and the  Boston Globe takes editorial swipes at public employee unions and their greedy and self-centered leadership, the timing may be ripe for Democrats to come out of the closet and transform themselves from donkeys into fiscal hawks (see Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s efforts in Los Angeles).

When that arbiter of popular culture “Saturday Night Live” makes fun of surly government workers, we may have reached a turning point. Hope springs eternal on the political front, but what can people power do to weaken the grip of public employee unions and restore fiscal sanity to our governments’ budgets?

We are in a communications war where we have a voice.

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Unions Still Suck…

Posted: 3 Jun 2010 in Axis of Idiots, Democrats, Education, Politics, Socialism, Unions
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And the Governor of New Jersey sure knows how to put it succinctly.

H/T Ace

Unions and Democrats, Again…

Posted: 25 May 2010 in Congress, Failure, Government, Politics, Socialism, Stupid People, Tax, Unions
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These assholes in Congress just don’t fucking get it. The ONLY way that they will get the message is to fire them.

If you aren’t engaged in the process, you’re the problem too.

Unions don’t help anyone  but themselves. Look what the unions and communists in Greece did for that country. You’ve been warned.

The Next Bailout: $165B for Unions
By Erik Berte

Taxpayers could be on the hook for another $165 billion if a bill to bail out private union pension funds makes it through Congress.

A Democratic senator is introducing legislation for a bailout of troubled union pension funds.  If passed, the bill could put another $165 billion in liabilities on the shoulders of American taxpayers.

The bill, which would put the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation behind struggling pensions for union workers, is being introduced by Senator Bob Casey, (D-Pa.), who says it will save jobs and help people.

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Not Gramps’ Free Market!

Posted: 13 May 2010 in Axis of Idiots, Buyers' Remorse, Congress, Economics, Failure, Government, Lies, Politics, Stupid People, Unions
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This is not your grandfather’s Free Market!

CATO Institute didn’t think that filing the complaint against the GM with the FTC was a good idea.

Here’s what they said: The FTC and Those GM Ads

I agree with CEI on this one. GM needs to get knocked on its ass for this.

Let’s look at a response from CEI.

CEI’s FTC Complaint Against GM: A Response to Walter Olson
by Fred Smith

Over at Cato@Liberty, Walter Olson criticizes CEI’s filing of an FTC complaint against General Motors regarding a recent television advertisement by the company. GM’s ad stated, “we have repaid our government loan in full with interest five years ahead of the original schedule.”

Walter and CEI agree that since GM’s alleged loan “repayment” was financed not by the company’s privately-raised (non-coercive) capital but by a separate pot of government money, the GM ad was quite disingenuous. Since the FTC has a long history of jumping on private firms for similarly misleading ads, and since exposing hypocrisy is one of the most effective methods of undermining the Leviathan, CEI decided to petition the FTC to take action against GM for its deceptive ad.

When GM was bailed out by the U.S. government a year and a half ago, the company’s reputation took a severe hit. GM sales plummeted as taxpayers reacted with fury to the bailout. Indeed, as Ed Whitacre, GM’s CEO, noted in the TV ad: “A lot of Americans disagreed with giving GM a second chance. Quite frankly, I can respect that.” GM’s ads were intended to restore the company’s tarnished reputation, presumably in hopes that GM automobile sales would increase as a result. Had GM actually repaid its government loan in full, thereby reducing its fiscal burden on American taxpayers, such an announcement would have been welcome news to us (and, presumably, to Walter as well).

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