EFCA, Union Call Centers & the Con Job of Today’s Command & Control Unions

As 2009 comes to an end and union bosses prepare for an early 2010 push for the job-destroying and hallucinogenically-named Employee Free FORCED Choice Act (EFCA), unions are getting a near-free pass as media types and union bought-off politicans portray today’s unions as democratic, worker-run organizations. 

A case in point is the union talking point that EFCA is intended for workers who want to “form” unions.  This is particularly prevalent through the union-paid EFCA astro-turfing group American Rights at Work, which describes itself as an “educational and outreach organization dedicated to promoting the freedom of workers to form unions and bargain collectively.”

The reality is, unions have not spent hundreds of millions of dollars buying politicians,setting up an astro-turf organization like ARAW, and pursuing a misleading campaign to deceive America only to allow workers to former their own unions.  After helping to push industry out of the U.S., today’s command and control union bosses want workers in their unions in order to collect dues.

Unfortunately, many of today’s unions are top-down autocracies which, in many cases leave “rank and file” union members out in the cold.

Take, for example, this ad for a “Service Center Organizer” for the now-infamous Service Employees International Union:

JOB DESCRIPTION

Title: Grievance/Contract Enforcement Representative (also known as a Service Center Organizer)

Purpose: To assist the leadership of Local 615 in building a powerful rank and file union, through organizing and representing workers within the Union’s jurisdiction. Specifically, the role of the Service Center is to enforce the terms of the collective bargaining agreement on behalf of members. Equally important, the Service Center’s role is to increase the capacity of the internal organizing staff to identify, recruit and train member leaders by assuming a larger share of member representation. [Emphasis added.]

By posting this ad, the SEIU apparently failed to see the irony of talking about a “rank and file union” while attempting to hire from outside the union.  Nor does the union apparently see the irony of having a so-called “service center,” which is nothing more than a non-rank-and-file-run call center run by union bosses to deal with union members’ problems (no face-to-face member contact is necessary).

Another example of a union that apparently feels that grooming rank-and-file union members to build their own union would be this ad for Organizers-in-Training, Organizers, and Journey Organizers from the American Federation of State County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME):

Organizers-in Training, the ad states, “learn the nuts and bolts of an organizing campaign from home calling unorganized workers, to organizing direct actions, to preparing for a first contract campaign.”  For this, OiTs are offered a starting salary of $36,648 with free single or family health coverage, car allowance, paid travel, 12 paid holidays, 401k, pension plan and more.  Journey Organizers (organizers with at least 3 years of organizing experience) start at $52,670 but often, according to AFSCME’s reports with the US Department of Labor, take in more than $100k.

As 2010 begins and politicians return to Washington to put the final nails in the health care reform coffin, union bosses are salivating to see EFCA return to the spotlight.  It is important to know as EFCA returns that the job-destroying bill has nothing to do with workers forming their own unions and everything to do with union bosses raking in more money.

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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

URGENT: Unions Using Health Care Bill to Kill Small Non-Union Construction Firms

According to the Nashville Business Journal, Senate Democrats are trying to do their union handlers a favor by excluding small construction companies from the small-business exemption to the employer mandate in the health care bill.

The Senate is about to put coal in the stocking of home builders and other small construction firms.

The amended version of the health care reform bill, which cleared another procedural hurdle Wednesday morning, includes a provision that penalizes small construction firms if they don’t offer insurance to their employees. Under the bill, businesses with more than 50 employees would have to pay a $750-per-worker penalty to the federal government if any of their employees purchases subsidized insurance on their own. The new version of the bill lowers that threshold to five employees for construction firms.

The National Association of Home Builders contends the provision, reportedly suggested by the AFL-CIO, could put many small home builders out of business and derail the housing recovery.

“This narrow provision is an unprecedented assault on the construction industry and unjustly targets an industry trying to keep its doors open during the worst housing downturn since the Great Depression,” said NAHB Chairman Joe Robson, a home builder from Tulsa, Okla.

“This is a true jobs killer,” he said. “Thousands of small builder firms struggling to stay afloat could go under. We strongly urge the Senate to reconsider and pull this onerous provision.”

The amendment is clearly targeting the non-union construction industry, which comprises approximately 85% of the enitre construction industry.  Unionized construction firms, on the other hand, typically obtain their workers from unions (usually though union hiring halls, which are like a temp agencies) and, as part of the ‘package,’ unionized companies must pay into the unions’ health and welfare mutli-employer funds.
 
The Associated Builders & Contractors, a trade association of roughly 23,000 mostly small (and union-free) construction companies is urging its members to call their senators to remove this discriminatory language from any final bill.

“At a time when our industry is facing the worst construction economy in decades, the last thing contractors need are vast new mandates from the federal government dictating to them how they will run their business,” said Kirk Pickerel, president and CEO of Associated Builders and Contractors.

Here is the text of an e-mail sent out earlier to its membership:

Construction Industry Targeted in Senate Health Care Bill

New Last Minute Mandate Added

The Senate health care bill mandates that all companies must provide their employees with health coverage. The one exemption to that mandate is that small businesses, companies with 50 employees or less, are not subject to that health care requirement. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) proposed an amendment which excludes construction firms (and only construction firms) from the small business exemption. The Merkley Amendment ‘s language was never voted on, but was added to the health care bill at the last minute. The Senate will vote on the entire health care package on Christmas Eve.

In other words, construction firms with five employees or more will now be required, by federal law, to provide their employees with health coverage.

Call your Senators TODAY. Tell them that this bill unfairly singles out small construction firms for vast federal government mandates at a time when our industry can least afford it.

Like so many other things in Washington today, this is another example of big payback to big union bosses…at the expense of the rest of America.

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Driving Down Detroit: Thanks, UAW!

This humorous, but pointed video on the City of Detroit merits a look. 
[Watch for the falling enviro-polar bear at around 7m 30s.]

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98% of Workers Vote to Give SEIU an ‘Old School A** Whooping’ …

When given a choice, ninety-eight percent of workers chose to give the Union of Purple People Eaters (formally known as the SEIU) give the union a good ‘old school a** whooping.’

National Union of Healthcare Workers soundly defeated the SEIU, but the margin of workers wanting no union was close. Results are not yet final.

An upstart union challenging the giant Service Employees International Union won a plurality Friday in a disputed and closely watched union vote at a Sonoma County Hospital.

But the National Labor Relations Board, which oversaw the vote at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, said it could not declare a winner because the final margin was close and 17 ballots were challenged.

“At this point, we don’t have a determinative result,” said Tim Peck, assistant to the regional director of the National Labor Relations Board.

During the two-day voting, the breakaway National Union of Healthcare Workers garnered 283 votes, compared to 13 for the rival Service Employees International Union.

However, 263 voters cast ballots for no union in the tightly contested race.

So out of 576 voters, the Union of Purple People Eaters (more commonly called the SEIU) only received 2% of the vote.

The message these workers have sent to the SEIU’s command-and-control style of unionism was that of an ‘old school a** whooping,’ which should send shivers down Andy Stern, Anna Burger, and Dave Regan’s spines backsides.

[For background on SEIU’s ‘Civil War’, go here.]
 
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Starbucks’ Union Problems: Marxist Unionists Come to the Lone Star State

The working class and the employing class have nothing in common.

Preamble to the constitution of the IWW

For about five years, a radical communist Marxist union known as the “Wobblies” (formally known as the Industrial Workers of the World) has been targeting coffee giant Starbucks.

The union has done rallies and demonstrations in traditionally liberal cities as Madison, New York and San Francisco…until this week.

The Wobblies have made their way down to the Lone Star state this week, claiming to have unionized Starbucks’ baristas in Fort Worth.

Fort Worth, TX- Baristas and community supporters at the 8th and Rosedale Starbucks shut down the store’s drive-thru this morning and delivered a list of demands including affordable health care options and sick days for those displaying H1N1 or other cold and flu symptoms.
….

The protesting baristas are members of the Starbucks Workers Union, which is an international campaign of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) labor union. The store action makes the 8th and Rosedale location the first Starbucks in Texas to have a public union presence.

Hmmm.  Communists Marxists in Texas?  That sounds rather oxy-moronic.

Mr. President, Your Recovery Has a Problem…

No amount of caulk will fix the cracks in the fantasy that the economy is getting better.  The numbers are bad and they’re really not improving.

The number of Americans claiming jobless benefits has risen for the second week running, as the US economy continues to wrestle with persistent unemployment.

First-time jobless claims rose by 7,000 to 480,000, according to labour department figures on Thursday, defying expectations of Wall Street economists that they would sink. The less volatile four-week average of new claims, however, fell by 5,250 to 467,500, maintaining a healthier trajectory.

“Jobless claims join many other indicators in suggesting that the official government payroll data have been overstating the degree of improvement in the labour market,” said Joshua Shapiro, chief US economist at MFR.

Ooops!  Sorry, Mr. President, we hate to break it to you but no amount of talk on caulk will fix this mess.

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Unions’ Health Care ‘End Game’ Revealed

It’s been known for quite some time that unions want to nationalize health care for their own gain (increased members = increased dues).  However, few have blatantly come out and stated just how far they want to take the nationalized health care train…until last night.

The new “super” union for nurses, National Nurses United, which is headed by former Teamster Rose Ann DeMoro sent out an e-mail blast last night calling not only for nationalized, single-payer health care, but as well as mental, dental, vision, and long-term care. [Truly a ‘womb to tomb government plan.]

URGENT! Tell Senator Reid:

“Support Amendment No. 2837”

The US Senate healthcare reform process is clearly off the rails, with proposals being thrown about willy-nilly. Meanwhile, an elegant, efficient, and politically expedient amendment awaits its vote: The Medicare-for-all, single-payer Sanders Amendment No. 2837 should have gone before the body for debate last weekend.

Funny thing, though. In spite of Sen. Harry Reid’s statement that he would get to amendments “in numeric order,” the Sanders amendment keeps getting bypassed. Senator Reid gave no explanation for this.

We’ve been through this before. We had promises from the House leadership that the Weiner Amendment for single-payer would receive a full debate and go to a vote. We know how that worked out. Senator Reid must follow through on his promise to hold the debate this Tuesday as promised!

Unless we act now, Senator Reid can easily argue that he’s skipping over this amendment due to a lack of public hue and cry. We can’t let this happen.

Tell Senator Reid in no uncertain terms that a full debate and vote on Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Amendment No. 2837 is absolutely essential.

Senator Sanders’ amendment, cosponsored by Sens. Sherrod Brown and Roland Burris, gives states the power to enact single-payer programs with federal funding. It has everything a state single-payer bill needs: one plan that covers health, mental, dental, vision, and long-term care.

Right now the Congressional Budget Office is scoring a plan to establish private, nonprofit health insurance programs run by private companies, with a trigger for a new government insurance plan if the private plans are not “acceptable.”

Let the American people decide what’s “acceptable” before everything falls to the insurance and pharmaceutical industries and their influence over the Senate. Tell Harry Reid that this amendment matters.


Make the calls to Sen. Harry Reid TONIGHT:

• Washington, D.C., office: (202) 224-3542
• Las Vegas, NV, office: (702) 388-5020
• U.S. Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121

In solidarity,
California Nurses Association
National Nurses Organizing Committee
National Nurses United

[Emphasis in original.]

There you have the unions’ end game: Not only do unions want to nationalize your health care, they also want your teeth, your eyes, as well as the ability to change your diapers when you get old. 
 
h/t RNs Against Forced Unionism
 
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Desperate Dems: White House tells Harry Reid "cut a deal"

Tension must be tight in the White House. The President and his Democratic cronies have everything riding on a government take over of the nation’s health care. However, resistance is strong against an increasingly unpopular plan, with the president’s poll numbers sagging like a two-bit free prostitute in Copenhagen.

Evidence is mounting that the Democrats are getting desperate as the White House is reportedly telling Harry Reid to “cut a deal” with Sen. Joe Lieberman.

The White House is encouraging Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to cut a deal with Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), which would mean eliminating the proposed Medicare expansion in the health reform bill, according to an official close to the negotiations.

But Reid is described as so frustrated with Lieberman that he is not ready to sacrifice a key element of the health care bill, and first wants to see the Congressional Budget Office cost analysis of the Medicare buy-in. The analysis is expected early this week.

“There is a weariness and a lot of frustration that one person is holding up the will of 59 others,” the official said. “There is still too much anger and confusion at one particular senator’s reversal.”

[Audible ‘ahh’ here.]

Now, President Obama apears to be showing his desperation as well by inviting all 60 Democrat senators to the White House tomorrow:

President Barack Obama will meet with Senate Democrats at the White House Tuesday to press for action at a make-or-break moment for his health care overhaul.

All 60 members of the Democratic caucus have been invited, according to three Democratic officials. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement was not yet public.

Sounds like poor Joe’s gonna get a Chicago-style beat down. [We wonder if the SEIU will be invited to the meeting.]

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Cross-posted.

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“In any compromise between food and poison, it is only death that can win. In any compromise between good and evil, it is only evil that can profit.” – Ayn Rand

The Smoking Gun? Former IL Gov Defense Team Wants FBI Data on Obama, His Surrogates & SEIU Bosses

Not having been in the news of late is last year’s post presidential election scandal of now-ousted Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich and his alleged attempt to sell then-Senator Barack Obama’s Senate seat in exchange for…something.

The Chicago Sun Times is reporting this morning that:

Rod Blagojevich’s lawyers want the FBI to give up details of interviews conducted last year of President Obama, his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, White House adviser Valerie Jarrett and others as part of the investigation into the former governor.
….

Then-President-elect Obama, Emanuel and Jarrett sat down with the FBI about a year ago –just after Blagojevich was arrested on charges of trying to sell Obama’s recently vacated Senate seat to the highest bidder.

Obama revealed he was interviewed in a report he made public last December.

The defense request, filed in federal court, asks for “notes, transcripts and reports” of interviews with the Obamas, Emanuel, Jarrett and union chiefs Thomas Balanoff and Andy Stern.

While this may just be subterfuge by the governor, is it possible there is a smoking gun linking the SEIU bosses to the sale of Obama’s Senate seat lying somewhere in the FBI’s files?

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The UAW’s Rubble: The Ailing Union Picks a New King as UAW Staff Has Contract Driven Down Their Throats

It hasn’t been called the Union of Ailing Workplaces for nothing.

The UAW, the once-mighty auto workers union has become something of a joke, a pitiful shadow of its former self, taking government handouts and trying to unionize anyone that is breathes, from graduate students to casino dealers.

The fact is, nothing the union has tried has seemed to work to reverse its free fall into oblivion. 

UAW’s Failures Outweigh Successes

In its own industry, the UAW has tried and failed to unionize plants owned by Toyata, Nissan and BMW.

When it attempted to do an end-run around workers right to vote at Dana Corp., its tactics created a backlash from Dana’s workers.

In 2007, the UAW began a campaign to unionize casino dealers in Atlantic City, NJ and elsewhere only to fail (so far) to get contracts for any of the workers it unionized.  In fact, its weapon of choice in the auto industry–the strike–has proven to be nothing more than a pea shooter in New Jersey’s rough and tumble casino industry as the casinos readied to replace the UAW dealers if they struck over the summer.

“We take their threats seriously,” said J. Carlos Tolosa, the company’s eastern regional president. “There are 14,000 employees in Atlantic City who rely on Harrah’s for their livelihood, and we are not going to let the misguided tactics of the UAW interfere with our guests or the employees who are working hard to keep Atlantic City competitive this summer.”

Even the UAW’s one notable success could be viewed as a dismal failure by the rest of America.

Early in 2009, the UAW (along with executives at General Motors and Chrysler) succeeded in getting the Obama administration to implement a government-structured bankruptcy of the two failing automakers which resulted in the UAW becoming significant shareholders of both GM and Chrysler.  However, the UAW’s success has come with an estimated loss of $30 billion for American taxpayers who, in turn, have responded with revulsion toward the UAW.

Amid a Pile of Rubble, the UAW Gets a New King

Ron Gettlefinger, the UAW boss who has presided over much of the UAW’s failures over the last decade announced earlier this year that he would be retiring.  His retirement is, at least in part, due to the union’s own rule to give the boot to presidents when they reach the age of 65.  In Gettlefinger’s place, the UAW hierarchy will be placing Bob King and the ailing union’s helm.

King, 63, is a lawyer, the son of an industrial relations director at Ford, and has been in charge of the UAW’s Ford department. 

According to the Detroit Free Press, King “ascends with strong relationships with many management figures, especially at Ford Motor Co., and the experience of navigating the shrinking union through the most turbulent period since its founding in 1935.”

Meanwhile, in a shockingly hypocritical move, the UAW has taken what is normally considered a “management approach” to labor relations with its own unionized staff.  As the Detroit News reports, to cope with its misfortunes the UAW is laying off many of its union staff, as well as imposing cuts–even after they voted to reject the cuts.

The UAW has lost so many members that it is cutting at least 120 staff positions in an effort to balance its budget, UAW sources said.

“We’ve got to downsize,” a union source said. “It may not end there.”

In a stunning role reversal, Gettelfinger told UAW employees Thursday that he would impose the terms of a concessionary contract that they voted down last month. That means reduced benefits for the union’s own retirees and requires each UAW employee to take a two-week unpaid furlough or give up their 401(k) matching contribution next year.
….

UAW spokesman Roger Kerson said the union had no comment.

Only time will tell if the UAW, with a new King at its throne and significant government-backed ownership of two failing auto companies, will be able to stop its decades-long slide into oblivion.

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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.”
Thomas Paine December 23, 1776