To mark Labor Day 2010, President Obama will join hands with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka in Milwaukee and pose as champions of the working class. Bad move. Trumka’s organizing record is a shameful reminder of the union movement’s violent and corrupt foundations.
The new Obama/AFL-CIO power alliance — underwritten with $40 million in hard-earned worker dues — is a midterm shotgun marriage of Beltway brass knuckles and Big Labor brawn. Trumka warmed up his rhetorical muscles this past week with full-frontal attacks on former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. He indignantly accused her of “getting close to calling for violence” and suggested that her criticism of Tea Party-bashing labor bosses amounted to “terrorizing” workers.
Trumka and Obama will cast Big Labor as an unassailable force for good in American history. But when it comes to terrorizing workers, Trumka knows whereof he speaks.
Meet Eddie York. He was a workingman whose story will never scroll across Obama’s teleprompter. A nonunion contractor who operated heavy equipment, York was shot to death during a strike called by the United Mine Workers 17 years ago. Workmates who tried to come to his rescue were beaten in an ensuing melee. The head of the UMW spearheading the wave of strikes at that time? Richard Trumka. Responding to concerns about violence, he shrugged to the Virginian-Pilot in September 1993: “I’m saying if you strike a match and you put your finger in it, you’re likely to get burned.” Incendiary rhetoric, anyone?
A federal jury convicted one of Trumka’s UMW captains on conspiracy and weapons charges in York’s death. According to the Washington, D.C.-based National Legal and Policy Center, which tracks Big Labor abuse, Trumka’s legal team quickly settled a $27 million wrongful death suit filed by York’s widow just days after a judge admitted evidence in the criminal trial.
An investigative report by Reader’s Digest disclosed that Trumka “did not publicly discipline or reprimand a single striker present when York was killed. In fact, all eight were helped out financially by the local.”
In Illinois, Trumka told UMW members to “kick the s**t out of every last” worker who crossed his picket lines, according to the Nashville (Ill.) News. And as the National Right to Work Foundation, the leading anti-forced unionism organization in the country, pointed out, other UMW coalfield strikes resulted in what one judge determined were “violent activities … organized, orchestrated and encouraged by the leadership of this union.”
My pal on youtube is coming out with a book that will debunk organized labor.
http://www.youtube.com/user/FletchforFreedom
Tom DiLorenzo has already written one. I'm writing one on the myths of organized labor (that they prevented capitalism from harming workers, that they are necessary to offset employer bargaining power, that they ended child labor, that they benefit the economy and/or workers as a whole, that they helped win WWII, that they are responsible for improved working conditions, that they are responsible for the 8-hour day and/or the weekend, that the things they advocate – minimum wages, protectionism – are anything but economically disastrous, etc.
He is one of the smartest guys on youtube when it comes to the free market.
This pig Trumka and his fellow Communazi buddy Andy Stern should end up wearing cement boots in the East River like Jimmy Hoffa.
Guaranteed – they won't be missed. Hoffa was – but they won't be.
The bribes and bid rigging will be missed, for a moment until another politico-thug slimes into the vacant position. They'll be a good number of disgruntled racketeers shoe gazing over their loss of income.
This "labor" movement has very little if anything to do with the older labor movement. It is more of a political pressure group. When was the last time that the teachers went on strike, for example. Since when did the labor movement support unlimited immigration.? IN case you don't know the answer is "NEVER'.
It was better in the old days when workers did what they were told, or we sent Pinkerton in to break some arms or squeeze off a few shots into their ranks. Well, at least now we Chinese workers, and we know they are being kept in line. All hail the People's Army and Walmart – making our lifestyles possible!
Well, what's different now? "Workers" are still getting told (ordered) what to do, and getting abused when they don't comply with their masters. Except now the orders are coming from Trumka, etc. Plus ca change…..
why do you put workers in quotation marks? i don't understand what that is supposed to mean.
And corruption, etc in unions is something i know all to well about, but to compare it to the violence of the era before unions is just stupid. Lots of grassroots union movements have formed in the last few years to challenge corporate friendly big unions as well as corporate friendly govt. Your anti-worker attitude masked as cynicism is both tiresome and ahistorical.
II'd bet Johngee put 'workers' in quotation marks because it assumes a functional management isn't working, or at some time in his life he was told to slow down to a ridiculous pace by someone speaking with the authority a union.
You're right, it's stupid to compare all the people blown up, shot, and beaten comatose or to death by the pinkertons and other company goons, with all the people blown up, shot, and beaten comatose or to death by the union goons since. It's violence, coercion, and injustice either way.
Anti union isn't anti worker. Negotiating companies into the ground and workers out of a job is anti-worker. Unions have been anti-worker for at least the last 40 years. The attitude you show of your 'grassroots' union movement perpetuates the same basic fault, the idea that your employer is your enemy.
The only reason to put workers in quotations is to imply they are workers in name only, not real workers, which is why it doesn't make sense they way Johngee uses it. Your explanation doesn't make sense either since you make a criticism of the union, not "workers".
Really? Unions have blown up and shot people? I'd like to see you at least provide some evidence of that. And if it's once or twice in 80 years that doesn't really count as standard operating procedure, which is what you imply, wrong as those isolated incidents may have been. But it was SOP with the Pinkertons, etc.
I agree. Anti union is not necessarily anti worker. But on this site, and on the right generally, it is. Anti unionism is the trojan horse of the anti-worker movement. And even at their worst unions never negotiated companies into the ground. Corporate profits in the US have always been the envy of the global corporate class, esp. over the last 40 years. And corporations left the US, and dumped the white working class in particular, to exploit non-unionized labor in the Third World, where modern day Pinkertons shoot and blow up workers with impunity.
Whether the employer is the enemy or not is beside the point. Workers have every right to form organizations to fight for their safety and interests. Employers, government and big unions have fought workers on this together since the 1940s. Union corruption took off when union bosses cut deals with corporations and sold out workers.
This article is an attack on Trumko, not Big Labor's past work generally.
This is about the unsavory character of another Obama insider / association, not labor generally.
The system is so corrupt under Obama and Holder that the only way to confront the evil of organized labor is for the rank and file to decertify the national organization. Otherwise, it's force angainst force. I've no doubt that is why Organized Labor always supports politicians who push gun control (confiscation). Then they'll be the only tough-guys in town.
"Evil of organized labor " ? Lol….most of you kids [Ms.Malkin included ] know nothing of goon squads , nor do you care to remember Americans workers shot in bthe streets of San Francisco by city police in the 40's .
Nor does anyone studsy history in earnest , like the battle between the Pinkertons and coal miners in Matwan W . Va.
Nor do you realize that your 40 hr work week , weekends , vacations , and 8 hr work day were ALL won by organized labor . Guess it was none of your grandma's locked in sweat shops in the big cities , and burned to death in fires , as the ladies of the ILGWU , they'll give you an education . Yea there's corruption in Unions , because there's people involved , ya know just like your own city state and federal governments . And , no , organized labor supports politicians in the same way big buisines does ….your parrot-like rhetoric about "guns " is absurd and childish .
Nope, we remember, but see one bunch of goons like any other bunch of goons.
Big business creates wealth, organized labor can't even run a pension of other people's money. No thanks, I'll do my own labor negotiating.
True enough badaboo. Organized labor did all the good things you listed. We are in their debt.
What good things has organized labor accomplished since 1960? Robbing their members pension funds? Demanding salaries and hours that made the United States uncompetitive? Bankrolling left wing political campaigns?
Time to quit living in the past.
What are you talking about? That Tysen(?)Chicken processing plant burnt down with the doors locked and the workers inside in the not so distant past. They had to lock the place to keep the workers from robbing the place blind of the chickens. Union scumbags.
There'd be no need for unions if there was no abuse of workers by big buisiness . If you people haven't figured that out by now , then you are truly clueless , especiall;y inj the light of recent mining explosions , BP's Refinery explosion , and the Oil Platform that blew up and sunk , and countless other incidents were workers paid the price with life and limb due to company greed , avarice and malfeasance .
No wonder I've heard ,since I was a kid , that the republican party a.k.a. conservatives are always on the side of big buisiness. You people are proof , but your particular generation are simply rhetoric parrots for your idealogues .As far as denigrating organized labor , people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones , especially those uneducatred in the history of the labor movewment in this country …,.,ahhhh but you enjoy the benefits you have , ….won by their blood and sweat …..dontcha ….you betcha .
The period when unions 'helped' workers withh things like safety and a living wage are long gone.
Now Unions are about political power and money and they represent their own bureaucracy/institution not any workers.
This is supposed to be a land governed by the people, for the people, and of the people. Instead we're being run into the ground by communist organization thugs. Yes, we needed to rein in abuses by the industrialists, but now they need to be reined in. They have gone way too far and the only people that benefit from unions now, are the unions themselves. They take a huge chunk of money from the workers, so much so that they can donate 40 million to campaigns? How much better use this money would be in the pockets of the people earning the money. They are the reason that companies like GM fail. They wring all the profit out of the company and promise things that the company cannot deliver and then the taxpayers have to save their butts. All the while these union thugs are rolling in the dough and wielding power that was never meant to be theirs.
Anyone who could write what you have written is surely a bottom feeder since you think only to the end of your nose. What happened to GM is going to happen to the entire country, if the unions get their way. If you open your eyes and look beyond the tip of your own self interests you'll see that eventually there won't be anyone around capable of saving even their own butt.
In your flailing attacks on Obama , you folks simply dont care who you denigrate in the process ….and that seems to be acutely typical of the ideological sycophants of the republican and conservative parties . And you certainly have EARNED that description and title .
Well, it seem to be working. While certainly everyone takes a side, to some extent, what makes the side of labor more worthy than the side of management? They both have agendas. Of course, labor played a part in improvement of wages, working hours and conditions. They have become a victim of their own success like other movements. Once you achieve that success and get what you were asking for, where do you go from there, as a "movement." ? Union membership has been declining for decades. Some of the reasons are the achievements that they were seeking have become standards, even in nonunion environments. Now, you see unions attempting to recruit in industries that are not even related to industries the unions represented in the past, or now represent. When membership was a substantial percentage of the workforce, these unions could have cared less about these industries which were traditionally nonunion. They are merely trying to sustain their power. They are not in pursuit of anything any more "nobel" than a company pursuing a bottom line. I am not saying that is "wrong". I am merely saying recognize it for what it is.
This article is an attack on Trunco, not Big Labor's past work generally.
This is about the unsavory character of another Obama insider / association, not labor generally.
Ideological sycophants? I have read more books on these subjects than I could even count. I came to my own conclusions. i read about the history of the Soviet Union and all of the inhuman events that took place there. Look at China. Now that they have taken the leash off the economy it is soaring while we're resorting to Marxism, which grew out of the Industrial Revolution. Capitalism, with all its faults, is still the best system there is. We just have to keep making it better and better rather than throwing in the towel and letting the thugs from unions take over.
You need to ask yourself why these union bosses live like kings with their multi million dollar salaries and they still have enough money left over to throw tens of millions at candidates who are favorable to the unions. You really think they are working for you?''
Talk about sychophants. Someone else must be doing your thinking for you, because you are not.
As typical of liberals, all "badaboo" is able to do is name calling. What's missing in your post is a real response, a defense, a rebuttal outlining your reasons for disagreeing. In the face of facts, all you can do is throw out some insults. Why don't you disprove what Michelle Malkin says by providing facts supporting your side? Don't answer, I already know. Malkin is right, facts are facts, and you're on the wrong side.
Coyote , maintaining the standards gained is the goal , because those achievements are constantly chipped away as a matter of "buisiness as usual ' with corporations . When a contract agreement is reached, BOTH parties agree to abide it . Trouble is , that agreement is constantly breached , by management without penalty , whereas if a worker does the same over and over in the same manner , dismissal of that employee is the result [and rightly so ] however with management , that is never the case . And btw , there is nothing wrong with a company pursuing "a bottom line " , as long as it is within the contract , and in the spirit of the contract , …as anyone who has been a union member knows , articles of work agreements fall victim to either sides interpretation .
Well, it is all about self interest, union, just like companies, are a business, nothing worse nothing better. However, it is not in the companies' interest to compromise things to the point where they risk destroying their own property. Likewise, it is not in the workers interest to demand a contract that results in affecting the bottom line to the point where the company starts looking elsewhere, or maybe thinks about getting out the respective business entirely. That said, my question was, why is one group's "self interest" more nobel than the other? You could say that a company that pays its workers as little as possible, fights improvements in working conditions, and resists union organization is "exploiting" workers, and you might be right. However, you can also say that workers who "demand" things from their employer, the owners of the property, are interferring with the propery rights of the owners and restricting their ability to do business and make a living, and yo might be right.
O.K. badaboo, if the employee was fired for doing the same thing over and over and in the same manner, then where was the union? He gave how much dues money to the corrupt union to back him but he was still fired?. Some union. Don't tell me about unions. My husband was a trucker and sat, waiting to unload, for hours while the craneman sat in the crane and drank his coffee and read his paper, then came down and strolled around talking to fellow workers. I could go on and on with stories like this one. The unions don't care whether you do your job or not, they just want your money. Wise up!
The "bottom line " was in fact EXACTLY the cause for the recent mining disaters , the BP refinery explosion , and the BP oil platform fire and sinking …ALL which took lives '
Big Corporations lobby , therefore Unions must do the same , and BALANCE is the agenda , FAIRNESS , and representation in the workplace .
If you think these are really not the issue , may I suggest , if you live in a " Right to work State " ….look up the labor laws of that particulasr state , and you will be shocked to realize just how badly workers rights have been trampled , by legislation lobbied in those states by the forces and MONEY of big buisiness …you can be FIRED for virtually no reason at all other than a whim , and your only recourse will be hiring a lawyer and filing a civil suit , which as I'm sure you are well aware is beyond the financial resources of most workers .. Unions in those states though not comprised of full m,embership , provide that representation and do in fact , in legitimate casaes , saves those jobs of those treated unfairely .
Mr. badaboo:
No one is claiming the corporations are as pure as the wind driven snow. Nor does one extreme support the making of another extreme to counter it. Both are bad a boo hoo for those of us who are forced to live with their fruits.
What is threatening us at the moment are the unions. But I suspect the unions and the corporations are forming an "unholy" alliance where they can work together to bring about a worldwide empire that will be unholy in the extreme, evil incarnate.
Yet I can't believe you are supporting Obama. Obama will be responsible for transforming America into a third world country—if he's successful, that is. A boon for those wishing to destroy America's effectiveness in countering their evil.
You're deluded Samurai , "evil incarnate " ? Oh gimme a break , But I guess you are unable to proiperly comporehend what you read . No where did I mention support for Obama , yet the subject of organized labor , as portrayed by the misinformed ideological sycophant Malkin , seems to blame Obama , who's only been President for two or so years , for her ridiculous criticism of organized labor …..and you follow your "pied piper " with the same absurdity.Most of the people commenting on this thread , don't even know what they're talking about , and are merely parroting "talking points " of the demogogues of the mixed up and confused Republican Party , which does and ALWAYS has an agenda regarding Big Buisiness .
Oh and please tell me how YOU are threatened by the unions .
You're all wet Samurai.
Evil incarnate describes the coming one world government because there will be nothing to check or balance its evil and absolute power will be absolutely corrupt.
And believe me in this — I would rather be all wet than right about what I am seeing being set up by both corporations and labor because it will be so profitable for both, you see, and their individual evil, along with other evil, will be combined into evil incarnate, badaboo hoo. It's enough to make anyone cry.
Obama is simply an instrument in helping to bring this one world government into being. That's what the lack of border control is about, among other things. The poor slug thinks he ruler of the world already — he's a world citizen, you know, and a dupe.
Well samurai , the "coming one world government " is an idiosynchrosy of particular groups of people holding a particular view , and that 's fine for all you end-timers and tri-lateral conspiracy afficianados ,
UNIONS are about people who WORK for a living and their rights in the work place , and the Constitutional Right of Collective Bargaining . But now , you are simply throwing terms around , Obama 's got nothing at all to do with the organized labor movement in this country , nor has any other president , they are all limited to simply appointing a secretary of Labor , who merely oversees what has been legislated by the lawmakers in Washington .
While no one was paying attention the majority of
Unions were taken over by leftist stooges. Unions
with high pay workers, Plumbers, Electricians etc.,
remain outside of most of the thuggish Union affiliations
but when necessary align with the AFL-CIO and any
worker groups. Some Union people are good
and see the union to improve worker pay and conditions
with benefits however there are those Union activists which
are simply there to promote political hash. Management and
labor are both in a fix at this point in History and reform needs
to take place in the working world on both sides of the equation.
Airing out problems in open forums and getting to real answers
can work if there are reasonable demands and accomodations.
Leftists have screwed up much but Capital sent overseas has
ruined much of the prosperity in America, it is a big subject and
to large for this forum…………………………….William
William , because no one was "paying attention " to facts , skewed view of Unions have come to the fore as acceptable views . No , NOT "some union people are good " ,but MOST are . SOME union leaders are corrupt , especially when put in charge of large pension funds , and THAT is where the corruption comes in . It is quite simply avarice and greed ,as it is with Corporations , and politicians – crooks are non-partisan .I know of no true union activists who have dedicated themselves for improvements and fairness in trhe workplace based on "political hash " . "Leftist Stooges " ? Hardly …those corrupted are simply crooks , you know the same you encounter in politicians and corporate heads .
As far as "capital " AND JOBS going overseas , I find it rather ironic , that after attaining dirt cheap labor , and hugely reduced production costs , those products come back here with hardly a proportionate reduction in pricing , a double whammy for Americans .
The "narrative ' on Unions , has been hijacked by political hacks and agendas , and to the uninformed , negative views are imbedded in their political rhetoric . These views are thus "handed down " to the mouthpieces of such politial groups , like Malkin . whom I doubt has ever had to actually engage physical labor as a means of feeding herself , with no other alternative , like millions of GOOD , HARDWORKING AMERICANS , who are simply looking for a FAIR SHAKE . Unions have been declining for no other reasons than shipping jobs overseas for slave labor , and American Companies , offering comparitive wages andd benefits to compete for workers , but with out the Due Process in the workplace , that Unions provide .
I can argue both ways, for and against Unions. However it
is to lengthy and difficult to make in this forum a cohesive
diatribe that does justice to the workers. The money moves
off shore to make more money and jobs are lost here, I
understand this. Product X costs $50. to make in America,
product X costs $2. to make in Asia and both can be
sold in America for $100. so Capital moves their operation
elsewhere, this hurts American labor. Where government
comes into this picture is allowing the American labor and
production market to leave. In my opinion it was all to allow
for world marketing and world business growth, American
politicians were in error and should have protected the
American economy, their responsability was to America
and it's people who ultimately lost out in manufacturing etc.
Big money went global as money has no allegiance to any
nation, that action brought about unavoidable consequences.
Unions made greater demands than many businesses
could afford and sunk those busineses, it is what it is a
major problem helped along by politicians and yes corruption.
William
Don't you have a job to go to?
So you settle the portents of a one world government by sweeping it under the rug to keep your adoration of Unions pure in your discriminating mind Buga boo hoo. How nice and convenient for you.
Wish I was as simple minded and ideologically driven so I too could ignore what I'm picking up with Obama's world citizenship, the lack of border control, and other such signs of what is coming down the pike.
Of course, my reading comprehension according to your superior intellect is defective so what do I know.
It's not any "superior intellect " on my part , but narrow miinded obsession on yours . What in the heck has "woooooo" the "one world government " have to do with labor unions ????
Get over your obsession and you just might be able to comprehend what I 'm saying , and even think a bit more clearly .
" Adoration " you say ?, aren't you being a bit melo-dramatic ? It seems you speak in those terms on everything , you claim Obama is my "savior " simply because I state the ovbious , and that is , he's got nothing to do with the American labor movement , no more than Bush or Clinton or Reagan , but not vin your mind , you remind me of that group of people who blame jews for everything that happens in the world , except your particular target is Obama . And of course your fixation with the -woooooo- one world government .
Go get your tin foil hat samurai girl .
Ms Maklin, industries and corporations get the unions they deserve. The endless wars, insane spending, financial scams, banking frauds, lack of oversight ….and negligent oil spills were not caused by unionism. Much more likely it is the despicable corporatism which has ruined this economy and sent so many millions of jobs overseas. The bosses always want the laborer to work for zero. If we had saints there would be no need for unions. We have very few saints.
I agree the corporations stink and the Unions do too. Together they are bringing the country down.
Organized labor has a well-deserved reputation for violence and corruption. All through the 50s and 60s the Unions were synonymous with The Mafia.
People like Trumka are the ones who gave it that reputation.
Absolutely right, I'm a union member and I resent the fact that a portion of my union dues go to a "national" led by stereotypical union bosses who are willing to sell out this country in a heartbeat as long as it increases their power and influence. There is nothing democratic about the national union structure when it comes to the local rank and file. it is totally construed as to consolidate all the power at the top and shut out any and all opposing viewpoints. It and they deserve to be challenged and exposed at every step along the way. The current union movement bears no resemblence whatsoever to those who sacrificed all they had for the common working man. These people are rich and power hungry and just as ruthless as the corporations that killed people in the beginning of the labor movement.
Nick , you've been watching too many movies . yea Hoffa was crooked ,and several other union bosses , but the thousands of Teamsters , you know truckers and the like art hardworking honest and good Americans …..so too the many other Unions .But you so easily apply the broad brush , because of the crooked leaders , that's mindless generalisation, lol…almost as bad as Malkin and samurai girl .
But I guess that's just another part of the Republican /Conservative narrative on labor , and it always has .
Funny that people like Malkin wait till Labor Day to start spouting off , and just 3 years ago , while a REPUBLICAN was President , you wouldn't hear any of this CRAP .,
I don't think you remember the Teamsters strike in the early 70s where they killed a number of non-union truck drivers. They used to hang cinder blocks and gallon glass cider jugs off the over passes so the trucks would run into them and the drivers would get killed.
My friend's dad was killed by Union scumbags during that strike. He just wanted to put food on the table for his family.
It's been a long time since the greedy capitalists were faced down by Mother Jones, Joe Hill and the rest of those long gone romanticized union organizers. The face of labor is as ugly today as that of the mine bosses and textile foremen were in the days of Samuel Gompers, John Lewis and Emma Goldman.
Down on the gulf coast where the jobs that those rig workers died performing are the most higly sought after forms of employment for those of nominal skill and education, the notion of unionizing the offshore workplace is the only thing more repugnant to the workers who man those platforms and rigs than the thought of another four years of Obama.
Badaboo, take off that starched denim work shirt, burn your library of "Sing Out", scuff your workboots on something other than marches on Sproul Plaza and go talk to one of those gun lovin', hard workin' oil service workers who you mistakenly surmise to be the grist on the wheel of capitalist greed.
Samarai,
Look at the economy. Like it or not, it's now global and getting more so. Did Obama do this? No.
Those, like me, who are weary of Marxism should look for real culprits. The drive to Marxism – to a worldwide parity of wages – need only look to the corporations who have driven wages through the floor with outsourcing. Our competition for wages is not so much Joe up the street with the nice fence, it's the propertyless Thai peasant. It's the Indian engineer. It's the Korean helpdesk assistant. It's the Chinese seamstress. Marx predicted that Capitalism will be its own downfall. And with wage parity spreading globally, regretfully, it looks like he's right.
The real Marxists, therefore, are the companies that need foreign labor to survive the competition — here and overseas. They are well on the road to vindicating the man many of them claim to despise. Obama has not the power to make this change.
Of course, the height of capitalism — in terms of benefiting the everyday American — occurred during the pinnacle of union power for a reason.
Thanks for the laugh, Badaboo. There were several members of the families of the deceased Horizon rig workers who attended the jobs rally held last week in Houston. It was sponsored by the American Petroleum Institute. Unions do not create jobs. They step in once work begins and take hard earned money from the pockets of deserving workers. Once unions had a legitimate function. Now they are parasites interested only in perpetuating their uselessness and maintaining their power by keeping their siphons in the pockets of the workers. Marx was wrong. Class warfare leading to rule by the proletariat is hogwash. There are those, however, who keep hitting the pipe and just can't give it up. Thank goodness for right to work states.
Hey man , why dont all you labor and union naysayers start a movement to revoke Labor Day ….and btw ….GO TO WORK that day , and work it FOR FREE .
Oh and btw "yet wave " I suggest you educate yourself ,and LOOK UP the labor laws in those "Right to work states ……and see just how far the lawmakers in the pockets of big buisiness , have degraded the American worker .
I doubt very much that you've had the forsight nor the desire tyo do so .
p.s. get off your "marxist " kick , this ain't got nothing to do with Marx , that's just the rhetoric parrot in you speaking .
"American Petroleum Institute " ??? Man are you a sucker or what !