What is killing the unions?

There is a good reason for this, it is economic related, but there is another problem as well.

But first, the story:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Union membership plummeted last year to the lowest level since the 1930s as cash-strapped state and local governments shed workers and unions had difficulty organizing new members in the private sector despite signs of an improving economy.

Government figures released Wednesday showed union membership declined from 11.8 percent to 11.3 percent of the workforce, another blow to a labor movement already stretched thin by battles in Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan and other states to curb bargaining rights and weaken union clout.

Overall membership fell by about 400,000 workers to 14.4 million, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. More than half the loss, about 234,000, came from government workers, including teachers, firefighters and public administrators.

via News from The Associated Press.

The fatal flaw of the protectionist racket is this right here. When you close the shop to outsiders and do not allow employers to hire new people; such is the case with the big three — eventually, your membership roll begin to decline as your members begin to die off. Right now in the agreement which the UAW has with the big three in their contracts and that is that they cannot hire anyone from outside any of GM’s plants, unless they bring back someone who is laid off first. This stems the tide of new employees, and thus decreases membership rolls.

On the other hand, another thing that is happening too, is that the big three, when someone retires from one of the plants; does not hire anyone to replace that person. They simply pull someone from another plant or someone else from within that plant to fill that job. This too, causes membership rolls to dwindle. The reason the auto companies do this, is because they do not want to have to contend with the Unions about who they can or cannot hire and so forth. Not only that, if they do actually hire someone in, they want to hire that person in for half the wages that the other union folk are actually making. This, in this writers opinion, is totally unfair. If you are going to hire someone in, hire them in accordance the contract agreed to by the union membership.

Another thing that is killing the union is these so-called “free trade” agreements. Which were passed by globalist Republicans and Democrats and signed by an internationalist Democratic Party President, Bill Clinton. These agreements are starving the American worker out of a job. Furthermore, the unions suffer as well. Patrick Buchanan, who is about the only Conservative writer, that I happen to think is worth two cents anymore; has been writing the same thing for years and he is right about it too.

America’s soul is being robbed, by the ones who claim to represent the people that make up it’s very soul — and it is not Republicans either. Until the Democrat Party becomes a pro-America party again and not this internationalist mess that it has become now. America’s standing in the World will be what it is now — minimal.

 

 

Did Steven Crowder sucker punch a union protester?

Now this is very interesting:

The Photo:

The story:

The washed up child actor is apparently to stupid to realize just what he was admitting in that interview. He is apparently too stupid to understand that the video they showed last night includes proof that he sucker punched the demonstrator before he himself was hit in retaliation. This is why you don’t let ignorant washed-up child actors serve as correspondents on your fake news show. It never turns out well for you or your neoliberal agenda.

So brainiac Crowder inadvertently admitted yesterday that he went to the demonstration to provoke a response; to “prove the left for who they really are”. This mindset of Crowder holds true to his current alignment with the  Andrew Breitbart  “war against the institutional left.”   philosophy and it makes what happened and it puts the subsequent misleading editing of the first video he released in the proper perspective.

And apparently after he was unable to garner something he could use on Fox “news” that night after being belligerent all day long to people who are literally out there fighting for their jobs, their pensions and their futures, he decided to step it up a notch.

As the Fox cameraman was focused on one confrontation, Crowder ducks under the view of the camera and sucker punches  the demonstrator who was then filmed getting up off the ground and going right at Steven in retaliation.

Above is a still taken from the extended video Fox ran on the Sean Hannity show last night. Notice the extended crawler they ran over the bottom 3rd of the screen in an effort to hide Steven’s hand. It ran so fast you can barely make out what happened, but I took it frame by frame and as I pointed out last night when I first saw the edited video, Steven clearly hits the man, I think he sucker punched him, in order to provoke a response.

The still above is a screen capture taken from that video. You can see Steven’s arm is outstretched and he pulls it back quickly. It’s outstretched in the direction and approximate height of the demonstrator’s head. He’s also got his right hand up covering the right side of his face in what appears to be a defensive posture taught in fight training and probably a conditioned action by Steven when he throws a punch.

via Steven Crowder Sucker Punched Demonstrator in Crowd Before he was Hit « American Everyman.

No wonder the dude slugged him. Like I said, this was all done intentionally and they got what they wanted. It is too bad, that one poor man got caught in the middle of it all.

 

I got two words for AllahPundit of HotAir.com

Fuck You.

The entire damned thing was staged for the cameras, they pulled down the tent themselves.

So, there, Jeremy — Why don’t you try reporting the facts, instead of the stupid bullshit that the corporatist pigs and crony capitalists tell you to report?

…and by the way, how’s life treating you in queens these days? Heh.   You obviously are living large, seeing you are getting paid to spout corporatist bullshit.

I’m just asking… and let me tell you something else; there will be blood and lots of it. The first time one of them free-loading motherfuckers steps into a union shop and tries to get hired. The union guys will stomp fucking piss out of them; and people like me, will cheer. You don’t cross union lines, when you do, you get your ass beat or worse. That is how it is. It has been that way for years and it is not about to change anytime soon. Least of all because some paid corporate shill got his ass beat or when some pussy motherfucking anonymous blogger writes false bullshit about a story either.  He is lucky, he didn’t get shot or stabbed to death. Which really should have happened.

In the name of my Father…..

 

The best darned thing written so far about Detroit, The Labor Movement, and “Right to Work”

This is very good:

To understand why the impending transformation of Michigan into a right-to-work state is so mortifying to labor and its supporters—far worse, even, than what happened in Wisconsin and Ohio—one must consider the totemic status of the United Auto Workers (UAW). Although there are, despite all you have heard, many good reasons for public-sector workers to have the right to unionize, nobody ever made a movie or wrote a song about a public-sector worker; public-sector organizing campaigns are pretty tame affairs. But if someone were to write a book titled (with apologies to Vivian Gornick), The Romance of 20th Century American Unionism, it would likely be a dual case study. One story would be about the United Farm Workers of the 1960s and 1970s, courageously built from the grape and lettuce fields by migrant Latino laborers in California.

The other would span from the mid-1930s until about 1970 and tell the story of the United Auto Workers, the union that the Prospect’s Harold Meyerson correctly called the other day the “best” American union. Mass industrial workers, whom many believed were impossible to organize, spawned the UAW. These workers, the immigrant laborers of their time, shocked the nation with the imaginative militancy of their factory-floor sit-downs and “flying picket” lines at the legendary Flint, Michigan, strike in 1937. The union’s brilliant, incorruptible president, Walter Reuther—himself beaten and bloodied in organizing campaigns—sought, with the power of his union and his ideas, to leverage the United States into something resembling the social democracies of Western Europe. He had to settle for millions of working-class people ascending into the middle class in the 25 years following World War II, benefiting directly from UAW collective-bargaining agreements, or seeing their own wages and benefits tied to those of the UAW (and Steelworker’s union) standard.

Reuther, furthermore, supported both the nascent civil-rights movement (and fought hard to cleanse his own union of racism), the New Left, and even supported the beginning of modern environmentalism. The Port Huron statement—the founding, now canonical, document of Students for a Democratic Society—was written in 1962 at a UAW-owned campground for use by its members. You can see Reuther standing behind Dr. Martin Luther King during the “I Have a Dream” speech on the Mall in 1963, while George Meany’s AFL-CIO, from a mixture of racism and red baiting, shied away.

The UAW had enormous political clout, too. It couldn’t change the political economy of the country, but it was a powerful member of the Democratic Party coalition. Reuther had the ear, and vice versa, of every Democratic president and candidate of the postwar era. During this era, the presidential election campaign would begin for the Democratic candidate in—where else?—Cadillac Square in Detroit before a throng of union, mostly UAW, members. One can measure the changes in the Democratic Party, Michigan, and the country from, for example, reading the text of JFK’s 1960 Cadillac Square speech.

When Reuther died in a private plane crash in 1970, every auto plant in the country stopped its assembly lines for one minute in silent tribute—thus the “Big Three” car companies honored their remarkable adversary and the formidable institution he and his members built.

via This Is Not Wisconsin. It’s Worse – RICH YESELSON  – American Prospect

I could not have worded it better myself. This isn’t about “right to work”, this piece of legislation is simply about destroying the labor movement in Detroit. Which is what the Republicans in Michigan and in Washington DC have wanted to do for ages.  If the labor movement is smart, they will stand up to the weasel Snyder and not let this stand. Hopefully, they have the guts to do it.

Governor Rick Snyder starts to feel the heat for his idiocy

I find this to be very encouraging, perhaps Governor Snyder did not realize what he was getting into, or maybe he did.

The Story via Greg Sargent at Washington Post:

The “right to work” battle in Michigan may not be over quite yet.

Top Democrats in the Michigan Congressional delegation just wrapped up their meeting with Governor Rick Snyder, during which they urged him in no uncertain terms: If you go forward with “right to work” legislation, you’ll be consigning the state to years of discord and division. They urged him to consider vetoing the legislation or postponing it until the next session — or even agreeing to subject it to referendum.

According to Dems who were on the call, Snyder told them he would “seriously” take into account their objections — which they took as a genuine indication of possible willingness, for now, to reconsider.

“The Governor listened, and he told us he would seriously consider our concerns,” Senator Carl Levin said on a conference call with reporters.

The tenor of the meeting, which participants described as urgent and intense, underscores the gravity of the situation — not just for Democrats, but for the state itself. Dems told Snyder that forging ahead with “right to work” legislation risked undermining the progress in labor-management relations in the state and could create a situation similar to Wisconsin, where an ongoing battle over collective bargaining tore the state apart for over a year.

I do not trust the weasel myself, and here is why; This comes via Deadline Detroit, which I had some choice words for once, and which I retract those words too — granted, I have not always liked what I have seen there, but I was a bit harsh on them, they have the right to publish what they wish, just like I do…:

Signing right-to-work legislation will have serious, even dire consequences on the state, congressional Democrats told Gov. Rick Snyder this morning, according to Kathleen Gray in the Free Press.

In a private meeting in Detroit between seven members of Congress and Snyder, Sen. Carl Levin told reporters afterward they asked Snyder to either veto the legislation or remove the appropriation attached to the bill, which would allow a statewide vote on the issue.

“The labor environment has dramatically improved in the state,” Levin said. But with right to work, “instead of having a Michigan united, we’re going to have a Michigan divided.”

A couple of hours after meeting with the delegation, Snyder signaled his continuing support of the right-to-work bills when he tweeted, “Freedom to work is all about creating more and better jobs in Michigan.”

So, basically, this guy is nothing more than a lying snake. If I were the labor movement, I would not trust him at all. if anything at all; I would begin to mount a recall effort against this man and get him out of office as soon as they possibly could. Like others have noted, Governor Snyder has proven that he is nothing more than a lying stack of crap and will say and do anything to stay in power — including straight up lie to get elected, like he did to me and every other person who trusted him.

There is two things in this world that I have little or no use for — and that is thieves and liars; and this idiot Snyder is a lying piece of crap, if there ever was one to be behold.  As the Detroit Free Press rightly noted, Governor Rick Snyder knowingly lied to the people of Michigan, including disillusioned Democrats like myself, who come from Democratic Party voting families and who happen to care about this State and this Country and do not agree with the far socialist left agenda of President Barack Obama. This does not mean, however, that we think that unions ought be outlawed and busted up.

Again, as I wrote before on here, this was nothing more than a pander to the extremist wing of the Republican Party and by doing this; Governor Snyder will pay a terrible price.

 

 

 

Sorry, but this strikes me as incredibly dumb

Look, I am all for unions fighting for their right to organize; but this, is just plain stupid:

They looked jolly in red scarves and reindeer antler headbands, but the carolers outside of Troy’s Oakland Mall today were actually protestors conveying a serious message: No to right-to-work legislation in Michigan.

And they delivered their feelings about proposed bills and Gov. Rick Snyder through pointed, modified Christmas carols. Think “Frosty the Snowman.”

“Rick-y Snyder knew he couldn’t get his way — so he took the votes from the working folks so the wealthy get our pay,” they sang.

Shalaya Bryant, who works at a nursing home, said the group was trying to send the message that “right to work is not for Michigan.”

via Modified Christmas carols used to protest right-to-work legislation at Oakland Mall | Oakland County | Detroit Free Press

First of all, they are nowhere near the capital building in Lansing. Second of all, what a great way to show that Democrats and Unionists hate traditional Christian values, by butchering Christmas Carols. I mean, the left wants to be accepted by the rest of America; but yet, they pull stuff like this here. This is why the rest of America loathes the labor movement. Because they simply do not respect traditional values of America. Butchering Christmas carols makes the labor movement look selfish.

Thirdly, who told these people they could sing?!?! 😯 Egad. 🙄

 

 

Least anyone should think I was kidding

I have updated my header photo to show my feelings about Michigan Governor Snyder’s war on my Father.

In case anyone wonders:

  • The left photo is the logo for UAW local 22 in Detroit, which is my Father’s local.
  • The center is a 1950’s Cadillac which was taken in the plant at the Clark street  plant in southwest Detroit sometime in the 1950’s.
  • The left is the UAW logo.

Please, do not get me wrong; I am all for businesses and capitalism. But when Republicans begin to embrace fascism, which is what this little move by Governor Snyder was, that is when I have to sign off.

I still consider myself an Independent voter; and this Indy’s vote is up for grabs come 2014 and 2016.

When the Conservative movement and the Republican Party want to come back to reality; we’ll talk. Till then, they can go jump in the lake.

I am my Father’s son and I will not sit idly by and allow some crony capitalists and corporatist pigs screw him over. Not in this lifetime.

I might not be an Obama fan; But I am not a fool.

 

Naturally, Fox News Channel sets out to union members look crazy

This is so typical of the propaganda wing of the Republican Party:

Michigan Republicans touched off a firestorm Thursday with an abrupt push to pass right-to-work legislation, in what would be a blow to organized labor in the home of the U.S. auto industry. 

Right-to-work legislation prohibits unions from forcing workers to pay union dues. Unions and their Democratic allies adamantly oppose these laws — but with little warning, Michigan Republicans on Thursday laid the groundwork to, in a matter of days, make their state the 24th with right-to-work legislation. 

“This is all about taking care of the hard-working workers in Michigan, being pro-worker and giving them freedom to make choices,” Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said. “The goal isn’t to divide Michigan, it is to bring Michigan together.” 

The votes Thursday, though, drew hundreds of union-tied protesters to the capital, some of whom were pepper-sprayed by police when they tried to storm the Senate chamber

via Michigan Republicans draw union ire with sudden votes on right-to-work legislation | Fox News.

I did notice for a while, after the Bush Administration that Fox News Channel had gotten away from the propagandizing for the Republican Party. However it seems that they are back to doing that once again.  For the record, the Union members are sticking up for their rights, given to them by the Government to collectively bargain and organize, if they should see fit to do so.

This is war, and I just picked my side. Republican corporatist assholes, you all want a war with organized labor? You just got yourselves one and you picked the wrong city to invade and try to bust up the unions. I might not be formally in a union, and I might not agree 100% with all the political stances involved with the unions. However, when you start invading my Father’s right to collectively bargain, or in layman’s terms, to keep what he rightfully earned, after working 31 years for the same company —- you and me are going to have a serious problem.  😡

To do what Fox News Channel and Network is doing is borderline Nazi Fascist or Soviet style propaganda, it is anti-american and President Obama needs to step up and ask the FCC to inquire whether Fox News is breaking any laws about disseminating any anti-American propaganda or not.

Again, this is about family and this….is war. 😡

I voted for a Governor, who promised to bring leadership to Michigan, after a Democratic Party Governor fails and what the hell does he do? He pulls some extremist crap like this here? I do not think so; this is war and I just decided that I no longer wish to be associated with his ilk any longer. I gave the Republicans and the Conservatives a chance, but they seem to be bound and determined to push people like me away. So, screw them, let them push me away. I will fight the good fight and they can go count their money.

I did not pick this fight, the Republicans in Michigan did, and I am simply defending my family.