Category Archives: Organized Labor

Media, Organized Labor, Politics

Organized Labor Declines

The Dept of Labor released their report on Union Membership last week. Not surprisingly, the AP had a cow and came way far from reporting what the report means and what the report shows.

The only national number the AP used was comparing Wisconsin’s union membership, 8 percent, to be below the national average of 10.7 percent. There’s not a word about the serious overall national decline in union membership. Let alone the performance during the last eight years of the Obama administration. Those are facts the AP, whose journalists are mostly if not entirely members of the News Media Guild, doesn’t like. So it didn’t report them.

The AP then blamed right to work legislation as the reason for that shortfall without offering any “proof” that right to work legislation caused any part of Wisconsin’s union membership decline in 2016. Overall, Wisconsin’s union membership dropped by only 4,000 in 2016 to 219,000.

The situation for organized labor goes way beyond Wisconsin. Florida dropped 90,000 members since 2015, representing 5.6 percent of workers compared to 6.8 percent the previous year.

And this is what the labor union membership looks like after eight years of the Obama administration.

What else happened last week? The XL Pipeline and Dakota Access Pipeline projects got the go-ahead from President Trump. All union  jobs. And, Labor Union leaders met with President Trump in The White House to talk jobs. Reminds me of a question often raised in the 2016 presidential campaign. What have you got to lose?

Links: Union Membership (Annual) News Release  |  AP Ignores Falling Obama-Era U.S. Union Membership, Takes Aim at Wisconsin

2016 Election, Organized Labor, Politics

Two Faces Of Hillary Clinton

Critics are saying that this video of Hillary is the equivalent of the Michael Dukakis or Howard Dean campaign moment. I’m not so sure about that, sounds like wishful thinking to me. But it does expose Hillary in other ways.

She is in a studio, with no audience. Her audience is labor union members a thousand miles away in Las Vegas. Compare her demeanor in this video to the other studio video below. Her animation is outstanding. Like how she changes her voice and cadence when speaking to a Black audience to sound “Black,”  Hillary raises her shrill voice as though she’s in a stadium on inauguration day.

It’s also clear she feels she is entitled to the throne, or rather, Oval Office. Not because she has a positive record, but because it’s her turn. So she acts angry, yelling about why this race isn’t in the bag for her.  (no pun intended) Angry at them for her poor position. Of course, it couldn’t be because of her.

Comparing her record to Trump’s record when it comes to jobs would be great. He has created thousands of them. She hasn’t created one. What she has done is cater to special interests and private enterprise donors like the labor union she is addressing here.   Using government (aka taxpayers) to pick winners and losers in the marketplace (in this case labor) is one reason Trump resonates with the folks.

Hillary’s focus is on “working people.” Those are the ones labor unions depend on because they can’t get dues from the 92 million people who are out of work. Big Labor is more than just pay for play where Democrats are concerned. That symbiosis is a well-oiled money laundering scheme.

https://youtu.be/0EyoKB3ZHSc

And here is the other face of Hillary Clinton.

I’ve never heard of this guy, but that’s not saying much. He’s pretty funny though, at least in this interview. I thought it was one of those videos that were patched from two or more appearances from other people, but since Hillary’s campaign put this out, it seems to be a legit one-on-one exchange.

Economy, Organized Labor, Politics

$15/hr Quid Pro Quo

Consider what the political Left, beholden to Big Labor, tell you about raising the minimum wage, then piling on ‘living wage’ on top of that. Then look at this video.

All you need to know from me is, it’s Big Labor who wants the minimum wage to go up. And for their own selfish reasons.

For labor contracts tied to the minimum wage, those workers will get an automatic raise. On top of their already over $45/hr in wages and benefits they are getting. (Non-union is just over $32/hr)

Democrats advocate it to complete the money laundering scheme. That would be the campaign contributions, the ground support, and the Astroturf protestors that supporting Big Labor affords them for supporting Big Labor. And for advocating to increase labor union membership. The latter of which is no business of the federal or state government.

Obama and Hillary like to talk about the wage gap. They aren’t looking at the wage gap, that is getting wider, between union employees and non-union employees. 

Their sales pitch to you sounds so compassionate. But, to say that by forcing employers to pay an artificially high wage will act as an economic stimulus is just not based in economic experience. The laws of economics, like the laws of gravity, can not be changed. They are what they are.

MinWagePayneThe consequence of a $15/hr minimum wage will increase unemployment and, put those entering the workforce at a disadvantage. Neither of these consequences will  help the demographic (the voters) that these politicians say will be helped. Black youths are hit the hardest. The only demographic that will be helped is Big Labor, and the DNC.

Economy, Immigration, Organized Labor, Politics, Venezuela

Socialism Fails

Socialism requires walls to keep people from leaving. Like in Venezuela.

Venezuelans seeking a visa to leave to the United States for the first time will no longer be able to apply for one, the U.S. embassy in Caracas announced, due to the socialist government’s forced reduction of the number of American staff working there.

While Obama is bad-mouthing America in the Far East, he should be touting our success in capitalism and freedom. He is the first president to hate this country, rejects its founding principles.

There’s a reason people from all over the world want to come here. No one is trying to leave. Not yet anyway. Some Hollywood types keep promising to leave but they lie

If the direction of this country does not get turned around 180 degrees, we will look like Greece, like Cuba, like Venezuela. Then there will be no place to go.

America really is the last place on earth where freedom and liberty reign It is the reason people want to come here. To achieve the American Dream. That’s fine, but not unless you also want to assimilate to become American. Not to live here to use America and not assimilate.

Link: Venezuela Forces U.S. Embassy to Downsize, Stop Accepting First-Time Visa Requests

2016 Election, Economy, Organized Labor, Politics

Capitalism Good, Socialism Bad

The more that the federal government interferes with free-market economics, it cripples capitalism. It gives us the current situation of unsustainable debt, long-term unemployment, decreasing family income, and skyrocketing costs.

So what is the Democratic Party’s solution? Keep on crippling capitalism so they can claim that capitalism doesn’t work.

The Democratic Party offers us two choices. One is a Socialist, the other is a Big Government Tax and Spender. Actually, they’re both Big Government Tax and Spenders. And on top of that, they’re both competing for the top spot in a fascist economic regime.

Not only are they going to increase taxes on the very people they expect to start a business and create jobs, but they are going to tell companies what they can make, sell, and how much they have to pay their employees.  And they remain clueless as to  why companies, and whole industries, are fleeing the country.

The answer to our problems is not more of what caused them and, more government The answer to our problems is more free-market capitalism and, less government.

2016 Election, Economy, Immigration, Media, Middle East, Obamacare, Organized Labor, Politics, Religion, War On Terror

CBS Democrat Debate, 11/14/2015

Realizing that not many people will take time out of their weekend to watch the CBS sponsored Democratic Debate, and, realizing that the DNC really doesn’t want these three to be seen or heard by a wide audience, and, realizing that CBS won’t be replaying the debate like the cable news networks do, I took the time to watch it on YouTube. It boils down to this. Continue reading CBS Democrat Debate, 11/14/2015 →

Economy, Florida, Media, Organized Labor, Pensacola, Politics, Whiners

Rally? What Rally?

There was supposed to be a ‘raise the minimum wage’ rally downtown last evening. Organized by a local labor union.

I couldn’t be there. Had to work. But I wanted to see a fat protester holding up a sign whining about having to work for a ‘starving wage.’ (found a pic on google)

So it was with eager anticipation to check the local newspaper this morning to see what happened. Nothing there. Zip, zero, nada. Nothing in the local alternative media either. Feeling a mild case of Schadenfreude here.

UPDATE: 11/11/2015 Thanks to one of the participant’s feedback, the “rally” wasn’t really a rally. I was mistaken. Instead of a rally, it was a “forum” held somewhere in town. Probably a union hall somewhere. Regardless, there was no rally. And no news coverage of the forum either. I mean really, who thinks labor unions would want the folks to know why they are supporting raising the minimum wage, for non-union workers?

Related Link: Labor Union Self Interest: Facts Behind Organized Labor’s Push to Raise the Federal Minimum Wage

 

Organized Labor

Who Needs Labor Unions?

Have you seen one of those SEIU graphics that read “If unions aren’t needed anymore, why are corporations spending billions to destroy them?”

unions not needed anymore

Shoe on the other foot. If a group of union thugs wanted to make your business (assuming you have one) less profitable, what would you do? Let them?

Here’s a thought. Why don’t unions just cut out the middleman and create their own product, instead of becoming parasites on business and industry? Like any good parasite, you don’t want to kill the host, just suck from it as much as you can. Truth is, businesses don’t need a labor union to exist. But labor unions need government and/or business to exist.

BIG LABOR advocates say “Without America’s labor unions, we wouldn’t have many of the protections and benefits that we have today.” That’s a true statement. It was true 30 years ago too! Thanks to the ‘wake-up call’ delivered to employers by organized labor decades ago, which was “treat your people right or lose,” the labor movement has successfully put itself out of business so to speak. Their usefulness has diminished due to their earlier success as shown by their decreasing member rolls.

  • Total percentage private sector and public sector labor union workers: 1983; 20.1%, 2014; 11.1%
  • Percent of private sector labor union workers: 2004 7.9%, 2014 6.6%
  • Percent of public sector, government, labor union workers: 2004 36.4%, 2014 35.7%
  • Total number of union workers, public and private sector: 1983 17.7 million,  2012 14.6 million.

Now the BIG LABOR advocates lament “Every American worker benefits from the hard-fought battles of our labor unions, but they are becoming extinct under our watch.” That’s also a true statement. Sucks to be them. Now they are the ones that need to learn a lesson. To get their own ‘wake-up call.’ Which is, be competitive in the marketplace, or lose. And union labor is far from competitive. And, they are losing. They are overpriced, and clinging to the last vestige of survival they have, the public sector. IE. government unions, where they are in bed with politicians who have no problems taking your tax dollars to pay for them and their unsustainable benefits and pension plans, so they (unions) can continue to give to their (Democrats) campaigns. In reality, it’s a huge money laundering scheme.

2014 Election, Economy, Energy, Media, Organized Labor, Politics

Keystone XL Show In Louisiana

In the news, and not in the news, comes the media’s version of Senator Mary Landrieu’s (D-LA) push in Washington to advance the Keystone XL pipeline project. A project that has met all the required tests and gone through all the hoops put before it by the Obama administration. Except for getting the president to sign off on it.

Legislation to approve the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline began racing through the U.S. Congress on Wednesday as Democrats and Republicans appeared to be coming together in a challenge of President Barack Obama’s oversight of the project.

What is NOT in the news about this move is why now? “Why now” is, Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) is facing a runoff election for her seat on Dec. 6, and is in danger of losing it to Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-LA). In response to Landrieu’s action, Cassidy proposed an almost identical bill in the House. The media’s sleight-of-hand is their interpretation, that the two houses of congress are now “working together,” in the aftermath of the mid-terms where Democrats took another pounding.

The timing has nothing to do with congress working together on this subject. There is, and has always been, bi-partisan support for the XL-pipeline. The people want energy independence. Big Labor wants the jobs that it would create. But all that support is not enough for the president to face down the environmentalist lobby that is against it. Landrieu’s move now is just to try and save her job. Her motivation is just too transparent for the media to notice. They wouldn’t be providing the needed cover for Landrieu if they did.

Link: Keystone pipeline approval bills advance in Congress | Reuters.

Economy, Organized Labor, Politics

Executive Order 13658, Reducing Costs By Raising Them

How do you get “increase efficiency and cost savings?” According to our community organizer president, you do it by increasing labor cost on contractors. You heard it right. You save costs, by raising them. By Executive Order 13568. But only to contractors doing business with the federal government. According to Labor Secretary Thomas Perez, the executive order, which will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2015, will benefit “hundreds of thousands of workers.” A little over two of them. The president says 2,000,000 but, you have to consider the source.

What this amounts to is political fluff, throwing a bone to the low-information crowd, giving the appearance that he’s helping the “working people.” There’s no point in trying to improve the economy now. There never was. There’s an election coming.

Link: Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Executive Order 13658, Establishing a Minimum Wage for Contractors – Wage and Hour Division (WHD) – U.S. Department of Labor.