They welcome their same old labor boss overlords

I see here that the Democratic National Committee has formed a "Commission on Change" to rework the process by which that party nominates its presidential candidate.

The membership of the 37-member commission includes the president of the Teamsters Union, Jimmy Hoffa Jr, as well as the president of the American Federation of Teachers and the political director of the United Auto Workers. Got to give seats at the table to the labor unions, which are the main force behind the scenes, and sometimes not behind the scenes, of Democratic Party ground operations.

Labor unions are much more central to the Democratic Party, both in terms of its electoral success and what it attempts to accomplish when in power, than the "Christian Conservatives" are to the Republican Party. A lot of what the unions do for the Democrats is hidden from view of the casual observer. For example, if you are in one of the trade unions, where you sit at the union hall waiting for an employer to come in looking for workers for a job of fixed duration -- electricians, painters, carpenters, e.g. -- and where the boss of the union hall decides who that employer gets, you WILL work as an unpaid Democratic volunteer, or you will not work at your trade. They will not send you out.

Speaking of the Democrats bowing to their labor union boss masters, let's talk about the proposed "Employee Free Choice Act" ("Paging Mr Orwell") which would take away the workers' right to a secret ballot when a labor union tries to organize a workplace, replacing it with a card thrust in the workers' face by a union organizer. Many workers are afraid of labor union organizers, did you know that? Many people would be afraid to mark "no" on such a card while the labor union organizer watched. The labor unions are pushing hard for this, and the Democrats are working hard to get it passed in Congress. And President Obama has promised he will sign it -- he knows which side his bread is buttered on. Making it easier for the union goons to gain power by intimidating workers -- that's Change We Can Believe In, isn't it?

Bruce Ramsey had a fine column about the EFCA in the Seattle Times the other day. He expands beyond the subject, and talks about how hard it is to decertify a union once it's in -- once again, workers are afraid to challenge the union goons -- and how he worked at the Post-Intelligencer for 16 years where the union representation election for his job had been held in 1936.

As a last thought on this topic, I will point out that only two organizations are exempt from the federal anti-trust laws: Major League Baseball and labor unions. Why is that?

Posted: Tue - March 24, 2009 at 04:21 PM

getBlogName(); > getCategoryName("C925187820"); >

They welcome their same old labor boss overlords

> >