How can there be a spending freeze when the President himself keeps proposing spending more and more and more money? The headline I read this morning said,
"President Obama's push to create jobs may carry a price tag in the $100 billion range, his top spokesman said Sunday."
Doesn't seem like he wants to freeze anything that fits his beliefs and agenda.
Who honestly thinks unions are still a good thing in todays work place? Don't get me wrong, when they first started they served a very important purpose and did a lot of good for a lot of people. However today they have morphed into power hungry organizations hell bent on running the political world and have more political power than just about any group in existance.
Just take a look at the amount of money being spent by unions to influence elections every year. Unions made up 12 of the top 20 donors to political campaigns from 1989 to 2008. Of the unions on the list the Carpenters & Joiners Union topped the list in donations to Republicans with a whopping 9% of their total donations. The most corrupt and politically influencial union around today would have to be the Service Employees International Union. This group has major influence into our federal government that have been strengthened in the past year by a President who claimed he was going to fight to keep special interest groups out of the government. Don't believe me? Take a look at a few key positions in President Obama's administration.
Obama's President of his Economic Recovery Adisory board: Anna Burger- Secretary Treasurer of the SEIU
Member of the Federal Election Commission: John J. Sullivan- SEIU's Associate General Counsel.
Member of the National Labor Relations Board and former member of the Obama Transition Team: Craig Becker- Associate General Counsel of the SEIU
White House Political Diector (Same position Karl Rove served as under Bush): Patrick Gaspard- former Executive Vice President of Polotics and Legislation of local 1199 SEIU who led the federal lobbying efforts for the SCHIP program.
Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management in the Dept. Of Labor: T. Michael Kerr- Assistant to Secretary Treasurer Anna Burger at the SEIU.
Member of the Health Inforation Technology Policy Commitee (a new health-care advisory board created by the Stimulus Bill) :Scott White-Technology Project Director for local 1199 of the SEIU.
Now why should we even be surprised by this from an administration who has done nothing but break campaign promises since taking office about a year ago... You always here the left ranting about keeping big business out of government, but at this point they have to be their to protect their own interests against the allmighty power of Big Labor.
I agree. My dad retired from GM, and always loved the UAW. I think they definitely outlived their usefulness. Don't tell him I said that. He's still mad cause I voted for a Republican.
I am a union member and let me tell you how greedy and worthless they are. Back in the day they might have been a good thing but we don't need them anymore. The only thing my union is good for is collecting my union dues every month.
AMEN! You hit the nail on the head with that one! Just look at the Los Angeles School ditrict. They have 43,000 tenured teachers and for the 10 year span from 1995-2005 only 112 of them were terminated, and the school has a graduation rate well below 50%. A rep from their union was asked about it and his responce was "If I'm representing them, it's impossible to get them out. It's impossible."
Now how is that in the best interest of children and education? Teachers unions breed mediocrity in our school system.
I haven't read most of this thread but I did see that Unions are a certain topic...
I have been part of a union, and then part of company that was trying to STEM unions from entering in. The company trying to keep Unions OUT is doing a HELL-uva better job than the Union that I was a part of before.
I had no idea about my "Union Rep" while in business, I only knew that I paid dues and my promotion structure was no different than now, I was good, I got promoted... Same as now.
I'm not a fan of UNIONS but I'm also not a fan of WALMART... I'm a fan of a company that ACTUALLY takes care of their people and does it with some liquidity... My current job is BETTER than a union and gives me and actual monetary discount if I lose weight or quite smoking!!!
I can call them, have them give me a certain weight loss goal and health goal and if I hit it, they give me $250 back in CASH!!!! All Unions due for me is take my money and then make me conform...
And most people don't realize this, but the only dues they are required to pay to the unions are the amount required to cover the costs of colective bargaining. The unions however are banking on this and typically charge much more than is required. They want nothing but more power and more control...
I'm a member of the International Association of Machinist and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) and I'm quite pleased with my Union. I work for one hell of a f'ed up company and they are constantly there to make sure that we are treated well and that we have fair representation in all cases!
Some of you may recall me posting a thread called "Finally, some good news..." where I spoke about me actually getting to keep my job! If you didn't read it, read it now, then read the rest of this post!
The primary reason why I and many other mechanics at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland got to keep our jobs is because our Union got involved! Now keep in mind that our CBA is between the IAMAW and DynCorp International. The only entity that they are responsible for defending us against is DynCorp. Yet our Union went toe to toe with NAVAIR Security to defend our rights. Those of you who don't know who NAVAIR is, they are the governing body over Naval Aviation in the United States! The IAMAW had no obligation to defend us at all, and they worked day and night, relentlessly to help save the careers of dozens of workers, including myself.
Before the Union stepped in, contacted congressmen, state delegates, helped organize the fight, met with military officials governing over NAVAIR: 68 workers fired and deemed "Untrustworthy" by the governement (this affects their employment options for a minimum of 3 years!); several employees fired daily without notice, without explanation, stripped of their ID card and base stickers and escorted off base; no appeal process granted; employees working in total fear of not being able to support their families, wondering if they were next; the company doing nothing to help defend their employees and bowing down to their customer, the Navy, like they always do!
After the Union stepped in: almost all the workers restored to work (except those who had serious criminal offenses they had not disclosed), State Delegate John Bohanan who was contacted by our Union's president spent two whole weeks meeting with the US Navy, NAVAIR, our local lodge, and DynCorp fighting for the fair treatment of over 1,000 employees in this community. NAVAIR ultimately rewrote their policy on "suitability" for Position of Public Trust, and fired the idiot who was dismissing workers for things as small as being late on a credit card payment and had the rest of us living in fear on a daily basis!
You guys can think what you want, and I can't speak for the other Unions that have been mentioned, but I love my Union. This is just one of the major victories for us this year.
Other good things we do with our unity in numbers, not for ourselves but for our community: our local lodge is constantly donating funds to local organizations and charities (we can do this, we have about $30,000 a month to work with), we have a scholarship committee (of which I'm a committe member) and we organize annual scholarships for local youth to go to college, we organize human rights committees in our community to help fight for basic human rights for workers both in our Union and in our community, we organize large numbers of workers to support organizations like Habitat For Humanity, Angel Tree (Christmas), Food Drives, etc...., we support each other with financial collections when Brothers and Sisters of our lodge are diagnosed with cancer, lose the life of a son our daughter or spouse or any other type of tragic event. And these things are just the tip of the iceburg.
Whoever said unions are pointless in today's society, you are sadly mistaken. Perhaps some have become currupt, but a properly run Union is always a good thing!
Ah yes! The IAMAW, another on the list of top 20 political contributors for the last decade and exactly 0% of their donations went to Republican candidates. One good deed does not mean the entire union is run properly. They also supported the Employee Free Choice Act aka (card check) which is a very shady and dishonest business practice to get unions into non-union facilities without a secret ballot election from the workers. Also part of this act was for the govermnent to step in to settle disputes between unions and businesses if they were not settled within 90 days. This is insane! If a union and a company can't settle on a contract, the government can just step in and impose whatever salary they want... And who would have guessed that many people in our current administration are heads of a major union. 3 companies that have resisted unions, Starbucks, Whole Foods, and Costco tried to propose a compromise that would have left most of the EFCA intact if the 2 points mentioned above were removed, and the unions refused to compromise. That is pure greed and hunger for power. Jimmy Hoffa could have learned a thing or two from the corupt unions leaders of today...
Yeah suspect!!!! Back to the coal mines for you without the mask,lol. Squirrel, Laker, and the rest of us here who are not skewed or mentally ill have an idea-----give up, you cant fix stupid.
Yeah suspect!!!! Back to the coal mines for you without the mask,lol. Squirrel, Laker, and the rest of us here who are not skewed or mentally ill have an idea-----give up, you cant fix stupid.
Seriously? Grow the f*uck up. You have got to be the most offensive and disruptive person on the forum. There were a few of us a while back seriously wondering if you were the same person as JWB and I'm starting to think he is a better person than you. Seriously there is no need for you to come on and personally attack people in a discussion that had nothing to fucking do with you.
Not trying to fix anything. Puro expressed the reasons why he didn't like unions (which is a fairly popular opinion) and I expressed why I like mine. IMHO, I personally think my opinion of the union that I'm in and deal with on a daily basis counts a little more than his opinion of my union since I have a first hand opinion and his is based on things he read. My attempt is not to persuade Puro, but to present my counter argument to his targeted audience that NOT ALL unions are these evil empires set out to ruin american capitalism. To expand upon this, most unions are actually set up as a pure democracy (which sometimes act like a republic) and they are absolutely nothing short of what the people, the workers who comprise the union want it to be. At least in the IAM, EVERYTHING is brought to a vote and majority wins. There is nothing that cannot be changed by taking the correct avenues. I believe that a lot of people out there, including a lot of people who I work with and are in my union, who think that the "union" is some board of directors or some organization in some other state, somewhere, that takes monthly money from them and offers little in return. The fact of the matter is that the "union" is the people! While we do have executive boards and presidents and committee members, the have 0 authority without the consent of the people through majority vote of the members, or majority vote of delegates (representatives voted for by the members of each local lodge) at the grand lodge convention. Paying dues does not purchase a team of individuals to take care of your every problem. Paying dues allows you to participate. Nothing can be done without first obtaining concent through majority by the body of the union. This means a meeting must held, a quorum assembled, a motion, a second, and a vote. The problem with a lot of unions out there is that the membership does not understand this concept, they don't get involved, motions are made at meetings and passed because they didn't bother to show up and vote the motion down and later they claim immunity from blame, that they are in some way not responsible. But evil prevails when good men do nothing.
Very well put Suspect, I am not trying to "fix" you either, we just disagree. I see how you would like your union since they help you. My view is that the things they do nationally to control the political powers do far more harm for the nation as a whole, than they do good for a small handfull of people. Nothing personal against you, just different views.
Very well put Suspect, I am not trying to "fix" you either, we just disagree. I see how you would like your union since they help you. My view is that the things they do nationally to control the political powers do far more harm for the nation as a whole, than they do good for a small handfull of people. Nothing personal against you, just different views.
I get what you're saying, but I don't exactly understand how you feel that this is a bad thing. In the IAM, each year a Grand Lodge Convention is held in Orlando, FL. Each local lodge gets to elect and send no less than one delegate to represent them at this convention or one delegate per 200 members. How many people does your congressman represent? Do you feel he accurately represents the views of everyone in his district? Where this system is better than our current US congress is that we as a union discuss the issues to be discussed and voted upon at the Grand Lodge Convention with our elected delegates and we each vote on how we want him to vote. If he does not cast his vote in the direction he is instructed to, we can impeach him, bring him to tribunal, and remove him from office.
So here's where my point begins. These delegates very accurately represent the interests of those who appointed them. Not only are these union members who are represented but American Citizens. At the Grand Lodge Convention everything the union will do for the next year is decided by majority vote. If they will donate money to a political candidate, it is voted upon. If they will seek alliance with any political figures, it is voted upon. If they seek to publicly or secretly push any agenda whatsoever, it is voted upon. The Grand Lodge then does the bidding of the people, a people who lawfully organized to pursue their best interests. I guess my primary question is, "How is this any different than any other organization with a cause lobbying their agenda to the political figures who represent them?"
Again, this is getting long, but one last point. Nearly 99% of my Local Lodge are Republicans, yet they unanimously voted to instruct our delegate to support the motion at the Grand Lodge to contribute funds to the Obama presidential campaign instead of the McCain? I know why they did this. My second question is, "Why do you believe they did this?"
Very well put Suspect, I am not trying to "fix" you either, we just disagree. I see how you would like your union since they help you. My view is that the things they do nationally to control the political powers do far more harm for the nation as a whole, than they do good for a small handfull of people. Nothing personal against you, just different views.
I get what you're saying, but I don't exactly understand how you feel that this is a bad thing. In the IAM, each year a Grand Lodge Convention is held in Orlando, FL. Each local lodge gets to elect and send no less than one delegate to represent them at this convention or one delegate per 200 members. How many people does your congressman represent? Do you feel he accurately represents the views of everyone in his district? Where this system is better than our current US congress is that we as a union discuss the issues to be discussed and voted upon at the Grand Lodge Convention with our elected delegates and we each vote on how we want him to vote. If he does not cast his vote in the direction he is instructed to, we can impeach him, bring him to tribunal, and remove him from office.
So here's where my point begins. These delegates very accurately represent the interests of those who appointed them. Not only are these union members who are represented but American Citizens. At the Grand Lodge Convention everything the union will do for the next year is decided by majority vote. If they will donate money to a political candidate, it is voted upon. If they will seek alliance with any political figures, it is voted upon. If they seek to publicly or secretly push any agenda whatsoever, it is voted upon. The Grand Lodge then does the bidding of the people, a people who lawfully organized to pursue their best interests. I guess my primary question is, "How is this any different than any other organization with a cause lobbying their agenda to the political figures who represent them?"
Again, this is getting long, but one last point. Nearly 99% of my Local Lodge are Republicans, yet they unanimously voted to instruct our delegate to support the motion at the Grand Lodge to contribute funds to the Obama presidential campaign instead of the McCain? I know why they did this. My second question is, "Why do you believe they did this?"
I believe they did this because they know President Obama is very pro union and they will be able to gain more political influence through him being in office. Unions typically put, what they consider, fair treatment of the employee ahead of the business staying afloat. This is bad for the company, all of their employees, and the economy as a whole. If you spend so much time and money helping build political figures and giving them more power, they are going to, and do on a daily basis, expect more input into your business practices. Just like the Act I spoke of earlier would have given the government to power to settle contracts after 90 days. Do you really want the government setting your salary and benefits? Look at the fact that everyone else in the country could have their Cadillac health plans taxed, but unions won't... That is corupt deal making 100%
Actually, funny you should mention the government deciding how much I get paid. You see, I'm a DoD contractor in the military aviation field. The world of DoD contracts is kinda my field of expertise, the world I live in daily on the base that contains the most DoD contractors that anywhere else in the world, NAS Patuxent River. There are a ton of contractors out there because contractors can always get the job done for far less than the government. They have proven this many times over. Currently, the Unites States Governement is considering decreasing the number of contractors out there significantly and making those positions Civil Service positions, government positions, allowing the government to determine how much I make. Fifteen years ago, considering the benefits package that USED to come with a Civil Service position, this would have been a pretty good deal, even with a significant pay reduction. These days, the benefits are horrible, unless you're a white collar (GS-13 and above) and the pay reduction is still pretty significant. Last weekend, the Vice President of the IAM was at our local lodge speaking about this very topic and discussing the avenues they're taking to prevent this from happening.
As for Union Health plans, no idea what you're talking about. We don't have a union health plan. We bargain collectively to negotiate with our employer to provide a competitive healthcare package for the 1,000+ employees they have in our district.
Very intuitive you are about the Obama question. Spot on. They did this for self-preservation of the union. Most republicans oppose unions and many, including McCain, would see them completely abolished. While there are unions out there who operate on very unfair grounds, this groups unions who operate fairly with those and punish them for doing nothing wrong. The IAM fights for their members to make the national average for their expertise. No more, no less. They do not look for special treatment, nor do they try to keep a guilty employee from getting fired as was previously mentioned regarding one of the teachers unions. If you commit and act that required punishment, they simply ensure that the punishment meets the crime. I see on a daily basis union members telling someone who got punished, "No, you were wrong! Your punishment matches your crime. Now man up and take your medicine." I also see our company handing our punishment without even performing an investigation to find out what happened. I've represented individuals when I served as a Steward who were facing termination who had done nothing wrong. It was completely someone else who had committed the act, yet our company blamed him and were going to fire this guy until I represented him and proved that he was innocent. The company ended up offering him an apology, but we had to go to arbitration to retrieve the money they didn't pay him while he was suspended for a crime he didn't commit. These things happen every day, and who is there to defend these individuals?
Yea, I wasn't real clear about the healthcare deal. One of the proposed methods of paying for the monsterous healthcare bill being pushed by President Obama and the rest on the left, is to tax peoples health insurance plans if they have a very good and expensive healthcare plan. This pissed off the unions because many of them negotiated these types of plans into the contracts for their members. So they decided to cash in a favor for helping get the big O and his buddies elected, and after some back room meetings the Dems came out and said "Any union members with these types of health care plans are exempt from being taxed on them like the rest of th country." That is what I was speaking of. Not health plans provided by the unions. Hope that cleared it up a little.
Well, why not? We're pretty much already paying (union dues) to help make sure that tons of americans have affordable healthcare plans. Why should we pay for this twice? Not saying I agree with the healthcare bill or the section you're referring to. I have my own issues with it the same way you do. But if it's going to happen, and this section is in it, I wouldn't say that it's unfair. "Unfair," meaning in context to the rest of the healthcare bill. Do you get what I'm saying???? Maybe I'll try to word this better later on.
Well, why not? We're pretty much already paying (union dues) to help make sure that tons of americans have affordable healthcare plans. Why should we pay for this twice? Not saying I agree with the healthcare bill or the section you're referring to. I have my own issues with it the same way you do. But if it's going to happen, and this section is in it, I wouldn't say that it's unfair. "Unfair," meaning in context to the rest of the healthcare bill. Do you get what I'm saying???? Maybe I'll try to word this better later on.
If you pay union dues to be contributed to political campaigns that is 100% voluntary. That should not exclude you from having to fott the bill with everyone else. That is corupt cronyism at it's finest. Thats like saying everyone who donated money to the Obama campaign shouldn't have to pay for the stimulus bill, or anyone who donated to George W. Bush's campaign shouldn't have had to pay for the war in Iraq or any of a number of stupid things he put money into. I am with you though, I have MAJOR issues with the healthcare bill, but the fact that unions are exempt from paying for it just proves their agenda to grab power straight from the top.
Well, why not? We're pretty much already paying (union dues) to help make sure that tons of americans have affordable healthcare plans. Why should we pay for this twice? Not saying I agree with the healthcare bill or the section you're referring to. I have my own issues with it the same way you do. But if it's going to happen, and this section is in it, I wouldn't say that it's unfair. "Unfair," meaning in context to the rest of the healthcare bill. Do you get what I'm saying???? Maybe I'll try to word this better later on.
If you pay union dues to be contributed to political campaigns that is 100% voluntary. That should not exclude you from having to fott the bill with everyone else. That is corupt cronyism at it's finest. Thats like saying everyone who donated money to the Obama campaign shouldn't have to pay for the stimulus bill, or anyone who donated to George W. Bush's campaign shouldn't have had to pay for the war in Iraq or any of a number of stupid things he put money into. I am with you though, I have MAJOR issues with the healthcare bill, but the fact that unions are exempt from paying for it just proves their agenda to grab power straight from the top.
I think you misunderstood me. Or I probably just didn't say it right. I wasn't talking about union dues going toward political campaigns, I was talking about union dues that pay for the months and months of negotiations with companies on collective bargaining agreements that lead to american workers and their families getting quality healthcare. Each member is already paying to obtain a quality healthcare package. Why should they have to pay twice?
Well, why not? We're pretty much already paying (union dues) to help make sure that tons of americans have affordable healthcare plans. Why should we pay for this twice? Not saying I agree with the healthcare bill or the section you're referring to. I have my own issues with it the same way you do. But if it's going to happen, and this section is in it, I wouldn't say that it's unfair. "Unfair," meaning in context to the rest of the healthcare bill. Do you get what I'm saying???? Maybe I'll try to word this better later on.
If you pay union dues to be contributed to political campaigns that is 100% voluntary. That should not exclude you from having to fott the bill with everyone else. That is corupt cronyism at it's finest. Thats like saying everyone who donated money to the Obama campaign shouldn't have to pay for the stimulus bill, or anyone who donated to George W. Bush's campaign shouldn't have had to pay for the war in Iraq or any of a number of stupid things he put money into. I am with you though, I have MAJOR issues with the healthcare bill, but the fact that unions are exempt from paying for it just proves their agenda to grab power straight from the top.
I think you misunderstood me. Or I probably just didn't say it right. I wasn't talking about union dues going toward political campaigns, I was talking about union dues that pay for the months and months of negotiations with companies on collective bargaining agreements that lead to american workers and their families getting quality healthcare. Each member is already paying to obtain a quality healthcare package. Why should they have to pay twice?
Because you are doing that on a voluntary basis. If everything you said about your union is true, then you voted for them to fight for your insurance plan and you voted them to even be a part of your job. That doesn't entitle you to any special treatment. Just like a football player who has an agent that negotiates for him. He pays the agent, yet he would still be taxed on health plans too. Just because someone is a union member doesn't make him special.
Yeah suspect!!!! Back to the coal mines for you without the mask,lol. Squirrel, Laker, and the rest of us here who are not skewed or mentally ill have an idea-----give up, you cant fix stupid.
Seriously? Grow the f*uck up. You have got to be the most offensive and disruptive person on the forum. There were a few of us a while back seriously wondering if you were the same person as JWB and I'm starting to think he is a better person than you. Seriously there is no need for you to come on and personally attack people in a discussion that had nothing to fucking do with you.
Seconded. You just had the balls to say it so I applaud you sir.
Yeah suspect!!!! Back to the coal mines for you without the mask,lol. Squirrel, Laker, and the rest of us here who are not skewed or mentally ill have an idea-----give up, you cant fix stupid.
Seriously? Grow the f*uck up. You have got to be the most offensive and disruptive person on the forum. There were a few of us a while back seriously wondering if you were the same person as JWB and I'm starting to think he is a better person than you. Seriously there is no need for you to come on and personally attack people in a discussion that had nothing to fucking do with you.
Seconded. You just had the balls to say it so I applaud you sir.
I probably shouldn't have had an outburst like that, but I have discussed with a few people on here how sick we are of his toxic attitude and low life cold hearted attacks on people who aren't as "enlightened" as he is. To call someone mentally ill or stupid because they don't agree with you or don't mind having an actual discussion with someone of opposing views is above most internet forum prowling teenage rejects even... I'm sure nothing will change and it will continue as always, but I had to toss out my two pissed off cents.
Yeah suspect!!!! Back to the coal mines for you without the mask,lol. Squirrel, Laker, and the rest of us here who are not skewed or mentally ill have an idea-----give up, you cant fix stupid.
Seriously? Grow the f*uck up. You have got to be the most offensive and disruptive person on the forum. There were a few of us a while back seriously wondering if you were the same person as JWB and I'm starting to think he is a better person than you. Seriously there is no need for you to come on and personally attack people in a discussion that had nothing to fucking do with you.
Seconded. You just had the balls to say it so I applaud you sir.
I probably shouldn't have had an outburst like that, but I have discussed with a few people on here how sick we are of his toxic attitude and low life cold hearted attacks on people who aren't as "enlightened" as he is. To call someone mentally ill or stupid because they don't agree with you or don't mind having an actual discussion with someone of opposing views is above most internet forum prowling teenage rejects even... I'm sure nothing will change and it will continue as always, but I had to toss out my two pissed off cents.
it took everything i could not to have an EXTREME outburst when i saw his Vulchor's Nest posts or whatever seeing as my nephew has asperger's. some people just dont know where to draw the line.
Sheriff Puro...I am not JWB, but thanks for talking about me...Im honored. And please refrain from such foul language and personal attacks. I was reciting a comedy routine, not attacking you personally----please try and do the same. I'll drop out as you wish and allow the continued reinforcing of the beliefs of the generally like minded here to continue. True apologies to all I offended with my free speech.
Sheriff Puro...I am not JWB, but thanks for talking about me...Im honored. And please refrain from such foul language and personal attacks. I was reciting a comedy routine, not attacking you personally----please try and do the same. I'll drop out as you wish and allow the continued reinforcing of the beliefs of the generally like minded here to continue. True apologies to all I offended with my free speech.
First of all, I'm not the one who said you were the same, but it had crossed my mind many times. You can say you were reciting whatever, but you were talking about the people here and it's rude and uncalled for. Also how is a discussion between two people that don't agree on an issue "reinforcing of the beliefs?" You just don't like to see people have a civil discussion unless they both see things from your point of view. You continualy call views that are the same as yours the voice of reason and sanity. You are the most intollerant person I think I have ever encountered outside of a documentary on the KKK. Not saying you are racist or anything like that, just that you are as intollerant of others beliefs. I don't agree with Laker, or Phobic on most issues, and don't agree with suspect on the issue of unions, but I don't think they are mentally ill or insane. They just have different views. I still respect them as people and try to treat them with respect even if I don't believe in what they are saying. They do the same in even the most heated discussions on here, however you never do. I know I'm not the only one who has had issues with this, but I promise it will be the last I speak of the subject.
Comments
"President Obama's push to create jobs may carry a price tag in the $100 billion range, his top spokesman said Sunday."
Doesn't seem like he wants to freeze anything that fits his beliefs and agenda.
Just take a look at the amount of money being spent by unions to influence elections every year. Unions made up 12 of the top 20 donors to political campaigns from 1989 to 2008. Of the unions on the list the Carpenters & Joiners Union topped the list in donations to Republicans with a whopping 9% of their total donations. The most corrupt and politically influencial union around today would have to be the Service Employees International Union. This group has major influence into our federal government that have been strengthened in the past year by a President who claimed he was going to fight to keep special interest groups out of the government. Don't believe me? Take a look at a few key positions in President Obama's administration.
Obama's President of his Economic Recovery Adisory board: Anna Burger- Secretary Treasurer of the SEIU
Member of the Federal Election Commission: John J. Sullivan- SEIU's Associate General Counsel.
Member of the National Labor Relations Board and former member of the Obama Transition Team: Craig Becker- Associate General Counsel of the SEIU
White House Political Diector (Same position Karl Rove served as under Bush): Patrick Gaspard- former Executive Vice President of Polotics and Legislation of local 1199 SEIU who led the federal lobbying efforts for the SCHIP program.
Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management in the Dept. Of Labor: T. Michael Kerr- Assistant to Secretary Treasurer Anna Burger at the SEIU.
Member of the Health Inforation Technology Policy Commitee (a new health-care advisory board created by the Stimulus Bill) :Scott White-Technology Project Director for local 1199 of the SEIU.
Now why should we even be surprised by this from an administration who has done nothing but break campaign promises since taking office about a year ago... You always here the left ranting about keeping big business out of government, but at this point they have to be their to protect their own interests against the allmighty power of Big Labor.
Now how is that in the best interest of children and education? Teachers unions breed mediocrity in our school system.
I have been part of a union, and then part of company that was trying to STEM unions from entering in. The company trying to keep Unions OUT is doing a HELL-uva better job than the Union that I was a part of before.
I had no idea about my "Union Rep" while in business, I only knew that I paid dues and my promotion structure was no different than now, I was good, I got promoted... Same as now.
I'm not a fan of UNIONS but I'm also not a fan of WALMART... I'm a fan of a company that ACTUALLY takes care of their people and does it with some liquidity... My current job is BETTER than a union and gives me and actual monetary discount if I lose weight or quite smoking!!!
I can call them, have them give me a certain weight loss goal and health goal and if I hit it, they give me $250 back in CASH!!!! All Unions due for me is take my money and then make me conform...
Some of you may recall me posting a thread called "Finally, some good news..." where I spoke about me actually getting to keep my job! If you didn't read it, read it now, then read the rest of this post!
The primary reason why I and many other mechanics at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland got to keep our jobs is because our Union got involved! Now keep in mind that our CBA is between the IAMAW and DynCorp International. The only entity that they are responsible for defending us against is DynCorp. Yet our Union went toe to toe with NAVAIR Security to defend our rights. Those of you who don't know who NAVAIR is, they are the governing body over Naval Aviation in the United States! The IAMAW had no obligation to defend us at all, and they worked day and night, relentlessly to help save the careers of dozens of workers, including myself.
Before the Union stepped in, contacted congressmen, state delegates, helped organize the fight, met with military officials governing over NAVAIR: 68 workers fired and deemed "Untrustworthy" by the governement (this affects their employment options for a minimum of 3 years!); several employees fired daily without notice, without explanation, stripped of their ID card and base stickers and escorted off base; no appeal process granted; employees working in total fear of not being able to support their families, wondering if they were next; the company doing nothing to help defend their employees and bowing down to their customer, the Navy, like they always do!
After the Union stepped in: almost all the workers restored to work (except those who had serious criminal offenses they had not disclosed), State Delegate John Bohanan who was contacted by our Union's president spent two whole weeks meeting with the US Navy, NAVAIR, our local lodge, and DynCorp fighting for the fair treatment of over 1,000 employees in this community. NAVAIR ultimately rewrote their policy on "suitability" for Position of Public Trust, and fired the idiot who was dismissing workers for things as small as being late on a credit card payment and had the rest of us living in fear on a daily basis!
You guys can think what you want, and I can't speak for the other Unions that have been mentioned, but I love my Union. This is just one of the major victories for us this year.
Other good things we do with our unity in numbers, not for ourselves but for our community: our local lodge is constantly donating funds to local organizations and charities (we can do this, we have about $30,000 a month to work with), we have a scholarship committee (of which I'm a committe member) and we organize annual scholarships for local youth to go to college, we organize human rights committees in our community to help fight for basic human rights for workers both in our Union and in our community, we organize large numbers of workers to support organizations like Habitat For Humanity, Angel Tree (Christmas), Food Drives, etc...., we support each other with financial collections when Brothers and Sisters of our lodge are diagnosed with cancer, lose the life of a son our daughter or spouse or any other type of tragic event. And these things are just the tip of the iceburg.
Whoever said unions are pointless in today's society, you are sadly mistaken. Perhaps some have become currupt, but a properly run Union is always a good thing!
So here's where my point begins. These delegates very accurately represent the interests of those who appointed them. Not only are these union members who are represented but American Citizens. At the Grand Lodge Convention everything the union will do for the next year is decided by majority vote. If they will donate money to a political candidate, it is voted upon. If they will seek alliance with any political figures, it is voted upon. If they seek to publicly or secretly push any agenda whatsoever, it is voted upon. The Grand Lodge then does the bidding of the people, a people who lawfully organized to pursue their best interests. I guess my primary question is, "How is this any different than any other organization with a cause lobbying their agenda to the political figures who represent them?"
Again, this is getting long, but one last point. Nearly 99% of my Local Lodge are Republicans, yet they unanimously voted to instruct our delegate to support the motion at the Grand Lodge to contribute funds to the Obama presidential campaign instead of the McCain? I know why they did this. My second question is, "Why do you believe they did this?"
As for Union Health plans, no idea what you're talking about. We don't have a union health plan. We bargain collectively to negotiate with our employer to provide a competitive healthcare package for the 1,000+ employees they have in our district.
Very intuitive you are about the Obama question. Spot on. They did this for self-preservation of the union. Most republicans oppose unions and many, including McCain, would see them completely abolished. While there are unions out there who operate on very unfair grounds, this groups unions who operate fairly with those and punish them for doing nothing wrong. The IAM fights for their members to make the national average for their expertise. No more, no less. They do not look for special treatment, nor do they try to keep a guilty employee from getting fired as was previously mentioned regarding one of the teachers unions. If you commit and act that required punishment, they simply ensure that the punishment meets the crime. I see on a daily basis union members telling someone who got punished, "No, you were wrong! Your punishment matches your crime. Now man up and take your medicine." I also see our company handing our punishment without even performing an investigation to find out what happened. I've represented individuals when I served as a Steward who were facing termination who had done nothing wrong. It was completely someone else who had committed the act, yet our company blamed him and were going to fire this guy until I represented him and proved that he was innocent. The company ended up offering him an apology, but we had to go to arbitration to retrieve the money they didn't pay him while he was suspended for a crime he didn't commit. These things happen every day, and who is there to defend these individuals?