TRUCK RAMS TEAMSTERS HALL LOOKING FOR CASH BUT THE MONEY WAS GONE!

According to the Grand Forks Herald, a red stolen pick up truck smashed into a Teamsters hall looking for loot. Unfortunately, according to Teamsters boss Dean Cypher, the cash registers had been emptied earlier.

Teamsters President Dean Cypher said whoever did it was looking for money, but didn't get any. He said cash registers inside the building were smashed, but they had been empty.

Cypher said the red pickup was sticking out of the building when he got there after being called by police.

He said, "all the registers are toast, but we do have the guy on video," because security video got a shot of the suspect.

Ok. Here's the question: Why would a union hall have cash registers?...Except, perhaps, to make change for workers when they go to the union hall to pay their union dues.

Since the union caught the perpetrator of this almost-heist on tape, perhaps we'll learn more soon. Afterall, as the saying goes: It takes a thief to catch an almost thief.

And You Paid Dues for THAT?!? Teamsters & AFSCME Cost 431 Members Their Jobs

When it comes to causing people to lose jobs, there's no singular, man-made force that does it better than today's unions.

Yesterday, Chicago's Mayor Rchard Daley laid off 431 union workers who, were it not for their unions, could have kept their jobs.

"At the close of business today, the city will be forced, under labor agreements and labor law, to take the unfortunate step of laying off 431 employees represented by these two unions," Daley said.

While 41 of the city's 43 unions agreed to reducing their work year a total of 24 days over the next two years, the Teamsters and AFSCME refused the furloughs.

Loss of the 24 days, according to WBBM Radio is a "tough pill to swallow."

But many workers say they see it as the lesser of two evils, and they wish their union would just go along with the mayor's plan to save their jobs. [Emphasis added.]

Of the 431 workers that will be laid off, 141 workers of the 2,000 Teamsters will be laid off and 290 layoffs will come from the 4,500 workers that make up the AFSCME union.

Wow!

These two unions could have saved 431 jobs. Instead, they cost the city workers their jobs.

With union representation like that, why have a union?

Card Check Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them

From the Truth About EFCA blog:

OK, that title was borrowed from the book by now-Senator Al Franken. But it’s a good title to kick off what is a sadly continuing discussion on just how far proponents of card check (in the form of the Employee Free Choice Act) will push the bounds of honesty. So far, it appears they will seek or surpass those bounds with vigor.

The latest salvo comes from the Service Employees International Union, which is demanding Nebraska television stations stop airing an anti-EFCA group’s educational advertisement. The union’s lawyers say claims that EFCA will effectively end secret ballots — which it effectively does — are ” demonstrably false.”

Hmm. That’s pretty strong language. That would require, we imagine, a pretty strong factual case and, most likely, a finding by a court. Funny thing, then, is that history shows us courts have specifically found these claims are not false.

So SEIU’s claims of “demonstrably false” claims are themselves "demonstrably false.”

Then there’s the AFL-CIO’s Stuart Acuff going on television and misleading viewers when he said EFCA’s effective destruction of the secret ballot is untrue and that “The Wall Street Journal has said that that is a lie.” Again, “demonstrably false” as the SEIU, which had again stretched the truth. In fact, the newspaper took the rather extraordinary step of writing another editorial just to correct the union and those following its misrepresentations:

These guys must really be desperate. As we’ve written many times, “card check” effectively ends secret-ballot elections because it would allow labor organizers to automatically organize a work site if more than 50% of workers sign an authorization card. Thus our words: “dead letter.”

Obviously, EFCA is crucial to a handful of top union officials, who see billions of dollars in potential revenue by denying employees a private ballot to vote on whether they want to join a union. But we’d think they’d be a little more careful when throwing around loaded terms — because like a grenade with the pin pulled, the explosion can hurt the one throwing the bomb.
We’d be happier if everyone stuck to the truth. Of course, that’s an advantage for opponents of EFCA since the truth about EFCA is pretty powerful.

No Contract, No Cookies!...and No Job!

Another example of striking union members being milked by their union bosses goes by and 132 workers are now out of work.

When they went out on strike last August, the 132 workers at cookie-maker Stella D'oro located in the Bronx, New York, may have been told they could hold out longer than their employer... that no one could make cookies like they could. Perhaps their union bosses even told them that when they suffered all union workers suffered along with them. If this was the case, what a soggy mess their union has gotten them into now.

During their 10-month strike, the striking members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers adopted the catchy chant "No Contract, No Cookies."

In fact, according to a post from the Democratic Socialists of America covering a May 30th rally in support of the strikers:

“This started out as a struggle for Stella D’Oro, but it’s a struggle for all working people,” Joyce Alston, President of the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, Local 50 said...

However, unlike her members, Ms. Alston didn't seem to struggle too much in 2008 as, according to the union's 2008 financial statement, Ms. Alston raked in $115,259 in total compensation (plus another $6,563 from the BCT's international) while the local's Vice President Joseph Svingala took in $108,345 last year. Meanwhile, the union's international president, Frank Hurt, raked in $250,441 in 2008.

Now, however, according to the New York Times, one week after the National Labor Relations Board ordered the company to reinstate the 132 strikers, the company that owns the cookie factory has decided to shutter the plant entirely.

“The decision to close the Bronx bakery operations has not been made in haste or without significant planning,” a statement from the management said. Operations will be moved elsewhere and the products would continue, the statement said.

Whether the union led the strikers into believing they could win the strike or whether the union felt the company should keep a plant open despite its unprofitability is unknown. However, what is known is the fact that, like so many other union-led strikes, it was the workers who lost while the union bosses continued milking the members.

Another Example of Union Hypocrisy: NLRB Accuses Air Line Pilots Association of Failure to Bargain in Good Faith

It's always fascinating to see how today's union bosses preach one thing but practice another when it comes to their own employees. We call it Union Hypocrisy (and rightly so) as it seems to happen all the time.

Take this latest case for example:

According to a press release issued by the Union of ALPA Professional and Administrative Employees (UALPAPAE), the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has found that the management of the Air Line Pilots Association failed to bargain in good faith with its staff union.

Or, to put it in plain English, the NLRB's chief legal dude believes that a union is breaking the law in dealing with its employees' union.

According to the union's press release:

The General Counsel agreed with the Union of ALPA Professional and Administrative Employees (UALPAPAE), Unit 1’s claim that ALPA management failed to fulfill its collective bargaining obligations in violation of Sections 8(a)(1) and (5) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) when it laid off Unit 1 employees without first offering the in-house union the opportunity to negotiate.

“We are extremely pleased that the General Counsel recognized and upheld our right to fair labor practices by taking this action,” said Jay Wells, former UALPAPAE, Unit 1 president. “In our recent contract negotiations, our Negotiating Committee fought hard to protect our members’ jobs, and this vindicates their efforts.”

Unit 1 employees’ contract expired on March 31, 2009, and they have been working under rules and conditions imposed by management two months ago. Despite their current situation, members see this victory as the impetus for coming to fair and equitable terms with management.

“In siding with Unit 1, the NLRB has made it clear that it expects our management to comply with the requirements of the National Labor Relations Act, to bargain in good faith, and to treat all employees fairly, equitably, and with respect for their hard work and contributions,” said Don McClure, Unit 1 president. “As we move forward, we hope that management will fulfill that expectation and re-engage with us in negotiating a new contract.”

The General Counsel also recommended that the affected employees be immediately reinstated to their former jobs or equivalent positions if those jobs no longer exist, and that they be made whole for any loss of earnings and benefits suffered as part of the remedy for the unfair labor practices.

This action taken by the NLRB is the first step in processing the UALPAPAE, Unit 1 unfair labor practices charge, which was filed against ALPA management last March. ALPA is legally required to respond to the NLRB’s complaint by mid July. A hearing is scheduled for September.

For more examples of union hypocrisy, go to 1-888-NO-UNION.COM's Union Hypocrisy page here.

I'm Alright Jack: A Tribute to Unions World Wide

Union bosses, through the passage of the Employee Forced Choice Act, want to return to their glory days of power, abuse and moronic, job-killing demands.

Enter Fred Kite, the consummate union man in "I'm Alright Jack". . .