Updated: Union Thug Who Attacked Steven Crowder Was Looking For a Fight, Stalked Him In Crowd

Dec. 11, 2012 - VIDEOS BELOW - Violent union members in Lansing, Michigan attacked Right-To-Work advocates on the grounds of Michigan's state capitol today after the state legislature passed a right-to-work bill. (Videos below.) 

A large mob of union members and sympathizers were in a violent frenzy as they surrounded a large tent set up and occupied by Americans For Prosperity (AFP), along with conservative humorist and pundit Steven Crowder. Leftist louts forced their way into the tent, dismantling it and threatening those inside.

With no regard for AFP's free speech rights or personal safety, the union gangsters shouted obscenities and, ultimately, physically attacked. Some milled around in a zombie-like daze, passively watching their union brethren violate the civil rights of fellow Americans. Not satisfied with simply bringing the tent down, union thugs destroyed the tent by cutting it to shreds with what appeared to be large box cutters.

The first video below is "AFP MI Tent comes down at Right To Work Rally," and it shows the zombie-like crowd of union thugs attacking the tent, spewing obscenities and just itching for a fight. Some lunge at the AFP members, while others attack the tent.

The second video, "Steven Crowder's attacker VERBALLY attacks him a hour earlier," shows Crowder being verbally assaulted by union punk Tony Cummings, without provocation, who physically attacked Crowder about an hour later (see the third video below). It is obvious from watching the second video that Cummings was looking for a fight. It was so obvious, in fact, that a union-appointed security "marshall" (in an orange vest) intervened and told Cummings to back off. That just seemed to further upset Cummings. At 3:03 in the video, Cummings lowered  his IBEW sign so that it would interfere with a photo opportunity of some guy posing with a smiling Crowder. When Crowder turned to ask Cummings to stop doing that, Cummings grinned weirdly and said, "Don't f-ck with me."

The third video below, "Unions Assault On Camera," clearly shows the assault on Crowder by a union goon that we think is named Tony Cummings. At least, that's what his jacket said. Also on his jacket was an IBEW union patch. Gateway Pundit wrote that Local 876 is located in Grand Rapids, MI but Chicago News Bench took a moment to look it up and found that the 1,480-member IBEW Local 876 is actually located in Edmore, MI, about an hour from Grand Rapids [see map].

"The protesters shouted 'scab' and 'Walmart tent' as they advanced," Lee Stranahan wrote at Breitbart.com. "The tent had been used by AFP to house members who were reportedly threatened at last week’s demonstration," he added.

“This is what democracy looks like,” they chanted as they destroyed the tent.

Union thugs and the progressives who support them think "democracy" is the act of violent suppression of  the opposition and destroying their property, even going so far as to physically assault people.

You can see Crowder being punched in the second video. "Crowder," reports Breitbart.com, "peacefully confronted union protesters today in Lansing, Michigan when the mob turned violent. Crowder was punched multiple times and, at one point, when his back was turned to the crowd as he was leaving a confrontation, he was pulled by the collar of his coat back into the mob to be assaulted again." That can also be seen in the video. "Union appointed 'Marshals' (not actual law enforcement) would break up the assaults but never asked the union members to leave the protest for their behavior."

It is not known where the "real" law enforcement was taking their union-mandated coffee break, but none are visible in these videos. Crowder's assailant, Tony Cummings, was apparently not apprehended and remains at large. It was truly a sad day for America, as Obama-supported violent thugs had a violent hissy fit because, suddenly, their fellow Michiganders can no longer be forced to join a union in order to have a job.

Right-To-Work Law Passes In Michigan, Violence Simmers

"Hey hey, ho ho! Your right to work has got to go!"

Dec. 11, 2011 - The Republican-led Michigan House chamber today approved the first of two right-to-work bills that address public-sector unions by a vote of 58-51. As many as 10,000 pro-union, anti-choice activists protested outside the capitol building in Lansing by waving signs, shouting vulgar slogans, and using violence against those who support the right-to-work legislation.

There was some violence-tinged rhetoric from Democrat legislators inside the House chamber. Just before the vote was taken, “There will be blood,” said Representative Douglas Geiss, a Democrat from Taylor, reports Bloomberg News. Geiss made that disturbing remark during the pre-vote debate. After the vote, a 55-year-old UAW member protesting outside said that the right-to-work law will "create civil war."

Police had to control angry union thugs who became violent, Bloomberg News says. "Supporters and opponents clashed, with protesters tearing down a tent set up by Americans for Prosperity, overturning tables and stamping on signs. Police on foot and horseback charged through the crowd pushing them back with batons."

A second bill that deals with private sector unions still needs to be acted upon. The Senate approved both last week. "If enacted," says The Washington Post, "Gov. Rick Snyder says he will sign them into law as early as Wednesday."

Read Michigan's Right-To-Work Bills: •  Senate Bill 116   •  House Bill 4003 •  House Bill 4054  •  Recent Bill Activity

Former community organizer Barack Obama visited Detroit on Monday and made some predictable pro-union remarks.

“What they’re really talking about is giving you the right to work for less money,” Obama told unionized workers at the Detroit Diesel plant. But of course, as usual, Obama got that backwards. What the right-to-work laws do make it possible is for someone seeking work to get it without being required to join a union. That means workplaces will no longer be, in effect, a members-only environment. People wanting to work at Detroit Diesel, for example, will no longer be forced to shell out a chunk of their paycheck as union dues to maintain the union bosses' six-figure salaries. It means, contrary to what Obama said, that people who would otherwise not be allowed to work will be able to, thereby acquiring to the right to work for money - rather than remain unemployed.

The stupidity of Obama's remarks were nailed by an op-ed in The Detroit Free Press :

Where Obama faltered on Tuesday was with his too-cute applause line, “What they’re really talking about is giving you the right to work for less money.” That’s a reference to data, oft-cited by unions, showing that most right-to-work states have lower incomes than the U.S. average.

Unfortunately, the personal income and employment trends for Michigan are more troublesome for those who argue that states with more union members do a better job of protecting workers’ jobs and incomes.

In the year 2000, Michigan ranked 16th among U.S. states in personal income per capita. Now it’s in 36th place. During many of the past dozen years, Michigan had the nation’s highest jobless rate. We’ve improved a bit the past couple years, but only to 6th worst with a 9.1% rate.

Michigan, therefore, is hardly a poster child lately for correlating higher unionization levels — 17.5% here vs. 11.8% nationwide — with high incomes or job security.

The Left and their union allies believe that individual freedom to work without being forced to join a union is bad. Your right to not have a chunk of your paycheck stolen by a union of which you are not a member is bad. The mainstream media today is trumpeting the 'outrage over right-to-work.' Think about that. Outrage. Over people's right to work without a union forcing them to join or pay dues."  If you favor the right of people to work without  being coerced into joining a union, the union thugs and their supporters on the Left will threaten you. Post continues below the video....

James Hoffa, Teamsters union president said, "We've got a war on workers, and we've been talking about this a long time. It was in Wisconsin, it was in Ohio and now it came here. They want a fight? We'll give them a fight. We're going to kick their ass, and we'll win this battle here. Rick Snyder campaigned as the nerd, now we know he's a weak nerd, and you know what, he's for sale. I got news for you, Governor: Michigan is not for sale. You can't buy Michigan."

Leave it to a union boss like Hoffa to use a crude reference to physical violence. The governor is "a weak nerd," he said, but Hoffa just got his own ass kicked hard and handed to him by Gov. Snyder and the Republicans in the legislature.

Right-to-work will allow new employees, such as teachers for example, to be employed without being coerced into paying union dues to fat cat union bosses. If you believe the idiot-oriented propaganda from the Left, that's a bad thing for the children. The Left's greed is always so conveniently about the children. But even the children know that the unions are not fighting for them; the unions are fighting to preserve their own political power and finances.

In Michigan, the Right-To-Work legislation was brought about largely by the excesses of the unions themselves, notes Breitbart.com. "The use of members' dues proved that the feelings of many former labor union loyalists were correct; Big Labor had become largely about fighting contentious political battles and less about the welfare of the rank and file. Money that could have gone to training or even just back in the pockets of labor union members was wasted; the initiative lost in a landslide. Even more embarrassing, the 58% - 42% loss came amid Democratic gains at every level in the 2012 elections in Michigan."

"Expect the Unions this week to make a mighty noise and expect the silent majority to stay home," Breitbart.com continued. "Make no mistake, though; in November, the people of Michigan spoke loudly and clearly; they want the right to work without the union middlemen taking their cut."

Related:

• How Union Greed Caused Michigan's Right-To-Work Bill Breitbart.com
• Video gallery of union thuggery in Michigan; Updated Michelle Malkin
• When Union Thugs Attack, Savagery in Lansing, Michigan Chicago News Bench
• Dem Minority Leader: ‘If Michigan Workers Don’t Want to Join Union they can Just Quit Their Job’ MoreMiJobs.com

Updated: Inspector Says Apple's iPad Factories in China are 'First-Class' (Liberals Can STFU Now)

February 16, 2012 - Is Apple using slave labor in its Chinese Foxconn plants to manufacture iPads in harsh work conditions?

You might think so if you believe the liberal media. Many lefty media outlets have recently been accusing Apple of crimes against humanity, including a work environment so bad that it allegedly drives workers to despair and even suicide. But are the accusations true? No, it turns out, they are false.

In fact, the head of the Fair Labor Association (FLA), an independent, non-profit labor group, says things at Foxconn are hunky-dorey. Auret van Heerden, president of the FLA, says that  the stress that led some workers to kill themselves was probably caused by "boredom and alienation," according to Reuters.

"Working conditions at Chinese manufacturing plants where Apple Inc's iPads and iPhones are made are far better than those at garment factories or other facilities elsewhere in the country, according to the head of a non-profit agency investigating the plants," Reuters reported yesterday. "The Fair Labor Association (FLA) is beginning a study of the working conditions of Apple's top eight suppliers in China, following reports of worker suicides, a plant explosion and slave-like conditions at one of those suppliers, Foxconn Technology Group." You can see a Foxconn press release about that here.  Each Foxconn plant has about 100,000 workers. The Shenzhen plant employs some 230,000 people. Foxconn, in total, employs approximately one million people. You could say they're big.

There has been a lot made of the 17 Foxconn employee suicides. But let's put that into perspective: 17 suicides in a population of one million is a rate of 1.7 per 100,000. Compare that to New Jersey. In 2009 data reporting, NJ had a suicide rate of 6.4 per 100,000 people. That's nearly four times higher than the Foxconn employee suicide rate, and NJ has one of the lowest rate of suicide of any state in the U.S. One of the highest state suicide rates is found in Montana, at 22.5 per 100,000 people, over 13 times higher than the Foxconn rate. (Data from the Centers for Disease Control for the year 2009, found at the website of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.) In this light, the low suicide rate at Foxconn is enviable.

Although the inspections have not yet resulted in a formal report, van Heerden spent several days personally visiting Foxconn facilities. He was pleasantly surprised by what he found and said that the production floor at Foxconn was "tranquil" compared to a garment factory.

Van Heerden concludes that the workers are not suffering from "the intensity and burnout and pressure-cooker environment you have in a garment factory. . It's more a function of monotony, of boredom, of alienation perhaps."  He added that, "You have lot of young people, coming from rural areas, away from families for the first time," he said. "They're taken from a rural into an industrial lifestyle, often quite an intense one, and that's quite a shock to these young workers. And we find that they often need some kind of emotional support, and they can't get it," he added.

Foxconn workers: Do you see any whips?

Would somebody please explain to me how a kid from rural China who winds up working in a factory is more traumatized or distressed than a farm kid in Iowa going to work in a factory in Des Moines. Sure, there are people who stress out easily, but it's not as though there aren't boring, repetitive jobs the world over.  I wish someone would explain to me how handful of people who have killed themselves couldn't find emotional support from people of similar backgrounds in a group of 230,000? How is that the fault of the Apple or Foxconn?

The issue of wage exploitation won't go away with this FLA's findings, even if it manages to squelch the liberals' charges of bad working conditions. Once the left starts a libelous myth, it likes to perpetuate it even after it's been shown to be false. Myths aside, the $17.00 per day that Foxconn workers are paid are, by local standards, not bad at all.

"It does rather knock the whole exploitation story on the head, doesn’t it?" asks The Anorak. "Just a couple of facts for those who doubt this. The suicide rate in Foxconn factories is below the suicide rate for China as a whole. Wages at Foxconn are much higher than the average Chinese wages and they’re also higher than average Chinese manufacturing wages. Oh, and Chinese manufacturing wages in general have gone up by four times (yes, really, four times, after inflation) in the past decade as people build huge girt factories and start employing people."

An interesting perspective can be found in a May, 2010 article in the Shenzhen Post. Simply titled "Foxconn Suicides," writer "Jon T" gave his unique perspective:

"I happen to know personally few of the past and current management as well as line employees that had shared freely on this topic," Jon wrote. "What I’ve come to learn is a far different story than that of what is found on publication for the general public. You see employees will say one thing to reporters and to investigators under treat of the company’s pendulum and a whole another thing to a friend of a friend over Johnny Walker. However, since this company preaches themselves, that they’ve single handedly saved this region out of depression and paved the way of progress and government through projects, scholarships, taxes, civil infrastructure, etc. You can guess that whatever I report will be limited to commentary of my own opinions and what he said, she said. But you will get an idea that your iPhones and the like comes at the expense of not animal testing but of human suffering."

"The Military does a great job addressing these issues; I should know I served in the US armed forces in time of war," said Jon. "But none of the military members I knew tried to commit suicide even under the heaviest stress of them all, the possibility of death or dismemberment."

Finally, let's put the 17 suicides in perspective. A nicley written but whiny article by Joel Johnson at Wired notes that 17 suicides out of the one million Foxconn employees "isn’t much—indeed, American college students kill themselves at four times that rate." Still, Johnson falls apart like a little girl, getting all weepy-wimpy-lefty at the end of his article when he wonders whether American consumers - he says we are "soaked in materialism" - share some of the blame for those suicides.

"When 17 people take their lives," Johnson asks himself, "did I in my desire hurt them? Even just a little? And of course the answer, inevitable and immeasurable as the fluttering silence of our sun, is yes. Just a little."

Ye gods, Johnson, man up. If not for the materialism of the West, the newfound materialism in China would not be producing the miracle there that has eliminated mass starvation. It's our materialism soaked way of life that the Chinese themselves are working so hard to emulate. Suppose, Joel Johnson, that our materialistic cravings had bypassed China altogether and those 17 Foxconn suicides were, instead, 1.7 million victims of starvation. Would your lack of materialism, Joel, be to blame, even just a little? And of course the answer is yes.

Related articles

• Head of FLA says that Apple's iPad plants in China are 'way above average' and 'tranquil' (thenextweb.com)
• 1 Million Workers. 90 Million iPhones. 17 Suicides. Who’s to Blame? (wired.com)
• Chinese workers earn a shared $8 for every iPad 2 they make: report (csmonitor.com)
• Apple iPad plant is 'way, way above average' says inspector (tech.fortune.cnn.com)
• FLA head describes Foxconn plants as 'way above average' (electronista.com)
• The Bigger Picture Behind Apple's China Problem (greenbiz.com)

Bastard Obama Won't Apologize For Bastard Hoffa's Offensive Labor Day Speech

The SOBs at the White House are refusing to distance themselves from the remarks by Jimmy Hoffa, Jr., the top Bastard of the International Bastardhood of Teamster Bastards. Watch a video here, in which ABC News reporter Jake Tapper tries to get a straight answer from Barack Obastard's press secretary, little son of a bitch Jay Carney. The Washington Times has a great piece about Carney's non-sensical, hypocritical response to Tapper's good questioning. The double standards in the White House is stunning. Hat tip to Pat Dollard.

Video: Jimmy Hoffa Jr. Declares Class Warfare Against Tea Party "Sons of Bitches"

September 5, 2011 - Detroit -Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa, Jr. called Tea Party people "son of a bitches" in a Detroit rally today. He made the remark as he stirred up the crowd prior to Barack Obama's Labor Day speech. "President Obama," he said, "this is your army. We are ready to march. Let's take these son of a bitches out and give America back to an America where we belong," Hoffa added. (Watch the video below.) UPDATE 9/6/2011: Bastard Obama Won't Apologize For Bastard Hoffa's Offensive Labor Day Speech Perhaps Hoffa doesn't understand that, with his words today, he has effectively declared war on many Teamsters rank and file members. Those are the ones whose paychecks are regarded as open cookie jars by union leaders, and not just the Teamsters. A call for violence: As I've written before, I am hearing calls for violence on the streets of Madison, Wisconsin. Several self-described "progressive liberals," who did not know they were speaking to a Tea Party conservative, told me that union leaders in Milwaukee have said privately that "violence would be justified" in their fight against Gov. Scott Walker. Other folks have said that they themselves would be "okay with violence" in "the struggle for collective bargaining rights." Liberals have been violent on a massive scale in the past. Why should we believe that they would not be so again? The folks I have spoken with are itching to rumble. One must wonder about the hints of violence in Hoffa's remarks today. When he said "Let's take these son of a bitches out," did some lunatic take that the wrong way? After all, in the wake of the Giffords shooting earlier this year, Democrats went balistic (no pun intended) over "vitriolic rhetoric" of conservatives. They rushed to link such "vitriol" to a motivation for the attack on Giffords. So, today, we hear the leader of the Teamsters offer his union members up as conscripts in Obama's "army," for the purpose of "taking out" the opposition. "Alright, alright, Jimmy Hoffa Jr. was not calling for blood in the streets," wrote John Romano at the Yes But Whatever! blog, " but his rhetoric will surely be worrisome to many. It hasn’t been a year since Gabrielle Giffords was shot and the media attacked Sarah Palin for using a target graphic in a campaign ad for Congressional candidates her PAC backed in 2010. Where is the new era of civility that the Democrats called for?" Good question. Where is the civility, Mr. Hoffa? You can bet that no Democrats, and certainly not Comrade Obama, will call Hoffa's words "vitriolic." In fact, Obama let it slide. "Naturally," wrote Warner Todd Huston today, "the Constitutional Professor in Chief said nothing about Hoffa’s disgusting display. But that shouldn’t be surprising. Obama himself has been known to employ all manner of violent tinged campaign rhetoric. He likely saw nothing wrong with Hoffa’s words nor those of the race-baiters in Congress from earlier." In fact, after Hoffa made his vitriolic speech, Obama told the crowd that he was proud of Hoffa. Civility, anyone? Hoffa's words are a tinny echo of a call to "get a little bloody" made by Rep. Michael Capuano (D-MA) in February, 2011. "I'm proud to be here with people who understand that it's more than just sending an email to get you going," he said. "Every once and awhile you need to get out on the streets and get a little bloody when necessary." (Watch a video here, and see a couple of videos about union violence below.) So here's to the Little Guys, the unions members who are abused by their own union leaders for the sake of enriching themselves and bastards like Hoffa. More and more union members are fed up with those corrupt union leaders, and it should be no surprise to anyone that union membership is down. Nationally, less than 7% of private sector employees are union members. While unions were beneficial and necessary in the past to help fight workplace abuse, the tables have turned. Long gone are the days of sweat shops, and we have a five-day work week. Thanks are owed to unions of the past for those advances. Today, however, it is the unions themselves that are the abusers. RELATED: Hoffa Threatens GOP: "Take These Son Of Bitches Out" - Real Clear Politics Jimmy Hoffa Declares War on Non-Union America - Yes But However Union membership goes down in Wisconsin - Stevens Point Journal John F. Kennedy and Madness of the American Left - American Spectator The Numbers Behind the Union Decline - Indiana Chamber

Union Rally Crowd Smaller Than Reported

February 26, 2011 - Chicago - CNB - Between 400 and 500 people attended a rally organized by unions and socialist groups at Noon today. The event took place at the James Thompson Center downtown. The well-attended event was peaceful but boisterous, with enthusiastic supporters of public sector unions chanting and cheering speakers. See our slideshow below. 

An attendance of 500 is good, especially considering the damp, cold weather that included some snow. Nevertheless, some feel it necessary to exaggerate the number. 

Bob Roman, writing for the DSA Labor Network's "Talking Union" blog, wrote that there were 2,000 people in attendance. My own count, as indicated above, was between 400 and 500. My photo here was taken just before Noon. Roman wrote, "By the time the rally began, the plaza was nearly full, and organizers announced about 2,000 people were present." 

It's not clear from Roman's post whether he was actually at the event. If he was, he's mistaken about the numbers. If he was not there, then he's accepting the false crowd estimate of "the organizers," and equally mistaken. Granted, more people poured into the plaza after I took this photo, but nowhere near 2,000. Roman is "editor of New Ground, the newsletter of Chicago Democratic Socialists of America."

Happy Labor Day, Made Possible in Part by Capitalist Employers

A ridiculous little column by Cynthia Tucker at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Sept. 4, 2009) bears the headline "Remember the socialist origins of Labor Day!" Sure, okay, but also remember that many of our current economic ills can be directly attributed to socialist policies and the unions that support them. (Do I need to cite anything more than General Motors as proof? And don't even get me started on SEIU corruption and thuggery.) While unions once provided a needed voice for abused workers (that's undeniable), it cannot be denied that unions have overstepped their original purpose. The piggish greed of too many unions' leaders harms the union rank and file. (I acknowledge that this is not the case for all unions.) Too often today, union leadership works against the membership's best interests. The people know this. That's why, in 2008, union members accounted for only 12.4 percent of employed wage and salary workers in the United States. Those figures are even lower if you take government employees out of the picture. (In the 1950's, over 30 percent of the US workforce was unionized.) According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, between 2005 and 2006 unions lost 326,000 members - 274,000 on private payrolls and 52,000 in government employment. As a result, the percent of the total workforce that belonged to unions fell from 12.5 in 2005 to 12.0 in 2006. On private payrolls it fell from 7.8 to 7.4 percent and in government employment it fell from 36.5 to 36.2 percent. (Source) Although union membership "grew" in 2008, it was only by a tiny amount, and due in part to the expansion of government payrolls at all levels. The Washington Post noted this fact in January, 2009: "According to the new federal information, 7.6 percent of private-sector employees belong to a union, while about 37 percent of government employees do." In other words, government employees (from your hometown to Washington) are unionized today at a rate nearly five times that of non-government employees. Government employees are unionized, in 2009, at a rate similar to the general public's unionization rates of 55 years ago. The federal government continues to grow, paying high union wages to one in three of its millions of employees. Too often, people like Cynthia Tucker look the other way, preferring instead to stare hypnotized and slack-jawed at the idealized history of labor in America, not seeing that some major unions are more burden than boon. Tucker starts her socialist propaganda piece with this: For those of you heading off to celebrate the three-day weekend — and for those of you just heading to the backyard barbecue grill –— here’s a little reminder of the origins of Labor Day and the labor movement that it represents. Tucker rightly reminds us that the hard working men and women of America organized for better working conditions. That's not to be dismissed, certainly, and we've all seen the bumper stickers that remind us that "Your weekend is brought to you by unions." Tucker wrote, "So, as you’re enjoying your barbecue....and your Labor Day sales, just remember that the labor movement brought you the eight-hour day, the five-day work week and institutionalized vacations. And remember the socialist whose actions helped bring about Labor Day!" "The socialist" that Tucker refers to is Eugene V. Debs, a socialist from Indiana who ran for president five times. Debs was also an influential labor and strike leader. Tucker reminds us about the ill-fated Pullman Strike, in which Debs played a major role over 100 years ago. In 1894, Pullman porters called a wildcat strike against the railroads to protest a pay cut — a strike which eventually involved about 250,000 workers in 27 states. (Among the leaders of the strike was Eugene V. Debs, an actual, card-carrying socialist.) Several workers were killed by soldiers, and Cleveland put reconciling with trades unions at the top of his agenda. He rushed through Congress a bill making Labor Day a national holiday. What Tucker, and so many others omit from the story (intentionally, I believe) are the reasons behind the Pullman pay cut. This is neatly explained by writer Michael Streich in a piece titled "The Pullman Strike of 1894: Anarchism and Labor Violence Confront Capitalism." An excerpt, with emphasis added: The Panic of 1893 was severe. Hundreds of banks failed and businesses closed. Unemployment soared even as some immigrants prepared to leave America and return to Europe. Businesses like the Pullman Palace Car Company were forced to lay off workers, cut production and wages, and sell existing inventories at a loss. George Pullman, viewed by Chicago society as enlightened, built a company town outside the city for his employees. Although he reduced wages by 25% percent and laid off half of his workforce, he refused any rent reductions and continued to overcharge his employees for city water. Times were tough in 1894, tougher even than today. 1893 saw a full-blown depression, not just a recession. Businesses large and small were forced to lay off employees or shut down. Although it might seem, in retrospect, that the Pullman Palace Car Company was heartless to reduce wages while "overcharging" employees for rent and services in its company town near Chicago, it should be kept in perspective. Pullman was on the verge of ruin. The nation was in a depression. Was the Pullman Company supposed to ignore reality and just continue to do business as though everything was fine? Would it have served the labor force better, somehow, for Pullman to just quit, lay off its entire work force - or lay off a quarter of it in order to continue to employ 75 percent? The American Railway Union voted to strike against Pullman, and soon railway switchmen in many states refused to switch any train that had pulled a Pullman car. According to the Robinson Library, "The General Managers Association, which represented the railroad industry, responded by firing all switchmen who refused to do their job. Before long most of the 24 rail lines in Chicago were paralyzed and the nation's rail traffic was at a virtual stand still, as ARU members across the country joined in sympathy with the Pullman workers." It should be remembered that we see similar overcharging today - without the violent reactions. For example, despite lower real wages and rising unemployment, the State of Illinois, the City of Chicago and Cook County continue to overcharge us by ever-rising taxes and fees. How is that any crueler than what Pullman did by maintaining its rent and service price levels? (Why is are the unions and liberals of today not balistic about that?) Consider the similarities and differences between the air traffic controllers of 1981 and the railroad workers of 1984. On August 5, 1981, President Ronald Reagan fired over 11,000 air traffic controllers for ignoring return-to-work orders. When 13,000 air traffic controllers walked off their jobs to strike, it nearly crippled air travel nationwide, with worldwide ripples. Reagan called their strike illegal and gave them 48 hours to return to work or they would be fired. "In 1955, Congress made such strikes punishable by fines or a one-year jail term — a law the Supreme Court upheld in 1971," wrote Andrew Glass for Politico. "To the chagrin of the strikers, the FAA’s contingency plans worked. Some 3,000 supervisors joined 2,000 nonstriking controllers and 900 military controllers in manning airport towers. Before long, about 80 percent of flights were operating normally. Air freight remained virtually unaffected." Unlike their 1894 counterparts, the air traffic controllers did not go on violent, drunken rampages across the country. The railroad workers were not federal employees, whereas the air traffic controllers were, but both had direct influence on the nation's safety, convenience and economic health. Like their railroad worker brethren of 1894, the air traffic controllers of 1981 were perfectly content to put their own interests ahead of the common good. The irony there, apparently missed by Tucker, is that good socialists always profess to have only the common good as their primary goal. Cynthia Tucker also omits the fact that without the capitalist employers there would not have been a workforce in the first place. Althouth Tucker mentions the violence used against the labor unions in the 1890's, she omits any mention of the violent tactics also used by union rank and file. Hundreds of people died and were injured in resulting actions. Hundreds of thousands were inconvenienced and had their safety threatened by the union mob actions. Tucker glosses over a pivotal moment in American history. Was there unjust brutality used against labor unions and their members in the 1890's? Yes, undeniably, but it pales in comparison to the violent acts committed by railroad union members. Was Eugene Debs dealt a raw deal? Probably, but that's open to debate. Would labor be employed if there were no employers? Nope. As you enjoy this Labor Day weekend, remember the employer who make employment of labor possible. When you go to that Labor Day sale, remember that it's your capitalist employer's paychecks that make it possible for you buy anything. As you eat that Labor Day picnic, recall that the food you are eating came to you by hard working, capitalist truckers, working for highly efficient capitalist-owned transportation companies, food production companies, and so on. You'll probably drive somewhere this weekend. Remember that it was a capitalist car company that designed and manufactured your vehicle, and that the workers at that car company would not have jobs there without capitalism. Oh sure, you may argue that the roads upon which you drive your car are the product of socialist programs, and you'd be correct. But you better acknowledge that the socialist programs that ordered up the roads were possible only by contracting the work to private companies owned by capitalists. This weekend was made possible, in no small part, by capitalism. Without it, we would either be subsistance farmers for slaves to a communist state. Happy Labor Day. RELATED: The Pullman Strike of 1894 - robinsonlibrary.com Public Opinion and Government Reaction to the Labor Movement - cyberlearning-world.com Cool Hats & Shirts for Cool Conservatives Leave a Comment... Chicago News Bench RSS Feed We're on Twitter...

Flashback: Joe Moore's Burning Pants

Like a psychopathic liar with no conscience, 49th Ward Alderman Joe Moore just can't help telling falsehoods. He bends the truth, he rewrites history. This is Revolutionary Truth, it is, and badly practiced at that. After lying through 17 years as a member of the Chicago City Council, you'd think that a man like Democrat Joe Moore could apply his law degree to a perfected level of non-truthfulness. Nope, not our Joe. He's a serial liar. Thank goodness he's a clumsy serial liar. Let's dissect Moore's lie-packed email blast of August 5, 2008: Gale Community Center Now Open; Boys and Girls Club Still Looking for a Rogers Park Home Dear Neighbor, The Gale Community Center at Howard and Marshfield is now open. The 18,000-sqaure-foot Chicago Park District facility comes complete with a full-size gym, a fitness center and a large club room, which can be subdivided into two smaller rooms. "Now open," Moore writes. It opened last Sunday, August 3. It is weird for Moore to write this two days after the fact, given his fetish for ribbon cutting ceremonies. Why no ribbon cutting for this one? And why did this email suddenly appear within hours of The Broken Heart and then The Bench criticizing Moore's silence on the official opening of the embattled community center. The center will be open Monday through Friday from 12 Noon to 8 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The center will be closed on Sundays. The Community Center will be staffed and operated exclusively by the Park District. Moore writes that the center "will be open…" Unconscious slip? "Will be" is future tense. The correct phrasing should be "is open." Moore writes that the center "will be staffed…" but it should really say that the "Community Center is staffed…" Present tense should be used here, not future tense. The opening is the culmination of a twelve-year effort to bring to our neighborhood a community center that began when I secured a $500,000 commitment from the original developer of the Gateway Centre. Initially, many in the neighborhood envisioned the future Community Center as a Boys and Girls Club. When it became apparent that sufficient funds were not available to build and operate the center as a Boys and Girls Club, we turned our attention to the Park District, which agreed to underwrite a portion of the construction cost and operate the building as a Park District field house. Let's concentrate only on Moore's big lies here; there are too many in this bizarre Moore email to deal with in less than 20 pages, single spaced. A well-informed and trusted friend emailed this to The Bench today: "It seems Joe thinks he can write history to come out however he wants….Eva McAnn was part of a group that has been working for this Center for years and much of that work was started without the support of the Alderman’s office. In fact, it wasn’t until the group actually started to make things happen that Moore’s office got on board." Part of the above is such a fantastic falsehood that it bears repeating: "When it became apparent that sufficient funds were not available to build and operate the center as a Boys and Girls Club, we turned our attention to the Park District, which agreed to underwrite a portion of the construction cost and operate the building as a Park District field house." Wow! According to Moore's hastily written email, there was not enough money "to build and operate" the Gale center "as a Boys and Girls Club" (even though the concept, the designs and the construction contracts were already locked up before the Boys and Girls Club entered the picture). Consider this: Ben Jarovsky wrote that The Boys and Girls Club would have been paid $100,000 to operate the Gale Community Center. How would that have helped the budget problems that Moore alleges? (Moore and the Park District, by the way, were seemingly ready to allow that even though Park District contracts over $10,000 are requred to be open for bidding. There was no bidding process in this case.) The clincher, from my friend: "If Joe had [really] secured $500,000 for a Boys and Girls Club...why didn’t he mention that during the last campaign?" Excellent question, and in fact Joe Moore himself has said that this is not so. He has written and said publicly that it was not until former aldermanic challenger Jim Ginderske lost last year's election in February that Moore considered the Boys and Girls Club. Ginderske mentioned it a number of times during his campaign, and Moore has said that Ginderske came to him - after February 2007 - and proposed the Boys and Girls Club. As my friend wrote, "With Ginderske waving the Boys and Girls banner at nearly every debate there was plenty of opportunity for Joe to accuse him of stealing ideas and tell [Rogers Park voters] that efforts were already in place to bring a Boys and Girls Club here. Had he done that, he probably could have avoided a runoff." Moore never did so, of course, because he couldn't. So, once again is trying to rewrite history like an old school Soviet propagandist. Moore's email continues: There were times when it appeared the City and Park District were about to back away from their pledge to build the community center. But thanks to the efforts of my office and a coalition of community groups, we were able to hold the City and the Park District to their commitment. Is Moore accusing the City and Park District of backing out of a commitment made long before the Boys and Girls Club entered the picture? Moore repeats the lie about the origin of his involvement: The idea of the Gale Community Center as home to a Boys and Girls Club came full circle when the Cotter Boys and Girls Club mentioned to me last April that they were looking for a new home. Given that the Community Center had yet to be fully staffed and occupied, and given earlier public support for a Boys and Girls Club in Rogers Park, I believed it was an idea worth exploring. I raised the idea with Park District Superintendent Tim Mitchell, who expressed strong interest. Moore claims that "the Cotter Boys and Girls Club mentioned to me last April" that "they were looking for a new home." That may be so, but it would have happened only after Ginderske put the idea into Moore's head. As for the phrase "last April," I believe Moore's hastily written email should have said "two Aprils ago" or "April of 2007." To say "last April" in August means four months ago. I also shared the proposal with numerous residents and the leading community organizations in the area, nearly all of whom expressed strong support for the idea, including Neighbors for a Healthy Rogers Park, Dev Corp North, Gale Academy Principal Richard Glass, Family Matters Director Kim Delong, State Senator Heather Steans, and my former aldermanic opponent Jim Ginderske. They all agreed the Boys and Girls Club would bring to our local youth expanded programming and other enrichment activities, which the Park District currently does not provide. Gale Principal Glass, a Boys and Girls Club alumnus, was so excited about the proposal he offered Gale Academy as a satellite location to the Community Center. True to form, Moore keeps lying. "I also shared the proposal with….my former aldermanic opponent Jim Ginderske." It is well established that it was the other way around. Ginderske put the idea of a Boys and Girls Club into Moore's head after February, 2007. Under the shared-use proposal, the Park District and the Boys and Girls Club would have jointly operated the Community Center Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. The Center would have also been open on both Saturdays and Sundays. Programming for adults, as well as children, would have been offered. "Jointly operated," perhaps, but as noted above, it would have cost tax payers $100,000 a year for the contract with the Boys and Girls Club. (It's interesting to note, by the way, that the "non-profit" Boys and Girls Club's top executive is paid nearly a million dollars a year. Roxanne Spillett's compensation for doing "charity work" is listed at $972,908. Source: CharityReports.bbb.org. Does that sound like a "non-profit" to you?) In addition to expanding the Gale Center hours and staffing, the Boys and Girls Club would have brought to Rogers Park some of their renowned character building and leadership programs, such as the Keystone Teen Leadership Club, which takes teens on trips to cities as varied as Atlanta, Orlando, and Washington, D.C. The Boys and Girls Club also would have brought to Rogers Park mentoring and tutoring programs, such as their partnership with WGN-TV in which school age children and teens are paired with responsible caring adults who commit time each week to meet and work with the young people on school projects and homework assignments. As a result of these and other programs, nearly 90% of Cotter Boys and Girls Club members graduate from high school, a remarkable fete in a school system with a 50% graduation rate. Pants on fire. Ginderske, Moore's former opponent turned loyal lap dog, has been trotting out old and misleading information about the Boys and Girls Club, which Moore has been casually recycling. Ginderske has been pumping out trash information filtered through his tiny Neighbors for a Healthy Rogers Park (NHRP). NHRP presents itself as a legitimate non-profit, but it is neither. It has no official standing whatsoever, unless you consider that it was officially dissolved by the Illinois Secretary of State in May, 2008 for failure to file an annual report. NHRP, and Moore, are fond of repeating "an alumni survey conducted by Louis Harris and Associates for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America," which claims that "52 percent of respondents" said the clubs saved their lives, and several other minor miracles were cited as well. But it's fluff. Neither Ginderske nor Moore bothers to tell that the Harris survey was done in 1999, nearly a decade ago. NHRP and Moore will tell us that "an alumni survey by Lou Harris & Associates they determined that there are about 3.5 million Boys and Girls Club or Boys and Girls Club alumni in the United States" according to the Boys and Girls Club of Mount Vernon, NY. (See: "Ginderske: Sit Down, Shut Up") Okay, but of those 3.5 million alumni, Louis Harris and Associates polled only 1,592 Boys and Girls Club alumni." [Source] In other words, a miniscule 0.0455 percent (less than one half of one percent) of the 3.5 million BGCA alumni were polled! Ridiculous, especially when you consider that we are not told by Ginderske or anybody else where those alumni were living when they were polled a decade ago. Despite the benefits a Boys and Girls Club would bring to the neighborhood, a few vocal people began organizing against the Boys and Girls Club idea even before a formal proposal was presented to the neighborhood. A few of the skeptics had thoughtful concerns about the proposal, including concerns about the precedent of turning over the Community Center to a private entity. The supporters of the proposal and I attempted to address those concerns by amending the proposal to ensure the building would continue to be owned by the Park District and staffed by Park District employees. Blah blah blah. Moore is deliberately giving the false impression that the brand new Gale Community Center was the only option offered to the Boys and Girls Club. In fact, use of the Gale School was offered. They turned it down. However, as Chicago Reader reporter Ben Joravsky noted in his article, "Endless War," most of the opposition to the Boys and Girls Club appeared to be politically motivated. The opponents said they were not against a Boys and Girls Club in Rogers Park. Yet, they opposed the only plan with a funding source that made it possible for a Boys and Girls Club to locate here. In fairness to Joravsky, he also pointed out in his excellent Chicago Reader article that a lot of Moore's obfuscation and delays were politically motivated as well. As for Moore's statement that the community center was the "only plan with a funding source that made it possible for a Boys and Girls Club to locate here," well, those keeping score should now add another tally mark in the "Lies by Joe Moore" column. In the end, Park District officials simply did not have the stomach for a fight and decided instead to pursue a significantly scaled down version of the original Boys and Girls Club proposal. Rather than subsidize a permanent year-round Boys and Girls Club presence in Rogers Park, the Park District now says it may be willing to subsidize a summer program in 2009. In the end, actually, the SEIU and union types sympathetic to them pressured Moore and the Park District to back down. SEIU and other labor organizations have given Moore enormous campaign donations over the years, and the idea of Moore and the Park District bringin in non-union staff at the community center must have infuriated them. Furthermore, it would not be at all surprising if Moore got a late night phone call from Howard Dean at the DNC, during which Moore was told to back off and stop making an ass of himself if he still wants a job in Washington under the hoped-for administration of fellow Chicago Machine Democrat Barack Obama. I certainly support any kind of Boys and Girls Club presence in Rogers Park, even a limited summer program. But I'm extremely disappointed that our children will miss out on all the many benefits and opportunities that a year-round club would bring. Boo frikkin' hoo. There are several free libraries within walking distance of Rogers Park residents. The wonderful beaches nearby are free. Board games and hopscotch and television are accessible to all. To be bored in Chicago is to be totally lacking in imagination. To tell us that The Children Will Now Suffer because there will be no Boys and Girls Club in the Gale Community Center is to insult all of us with a cynical, exaggerated, callous, politically motivated lie. It's a miracle that Moore hasn't resorted yet to calling opponents to installing the Boys and Girls Club in the community center racists (as Mayor Daley has called opponents to the ongoing effort to ram the Children's Museum into Grant Park). In the coming months, I will redouble my efforts to bring a full-time Boys and Girls Club to the 49th Ward, and I invite everyone, including those who opposed the Boys and Girls Club at the Community Center, to work with me to identify a funding source and location for such a club. So, as with all the man hours Joe Moore has wasted on (a) drafting the foie gras ordinance and then (b) defending the foie gras ordinance, Moore now pledges to waste more man hours in order to "redouble" his efforts to bring in the Boys and Girls Club. He's been in office for 17 years. He was in office for 15-16 years, apparently, before he ever gave serious consideration to a Boys and Girls Club. We pay this schmuck over a hundred grand a year for this crap. Why the belated interest? Why the "redoubling" of effort? What's really in it for Joe Moore? Moore signed off with "sincerely." You think he's sincere? SEIU no longer does, nor do other attentive brothers and sisters in the labor community. Many Rogers Park residents have had their eyes opened by this experience and now regret voting Moore into another term last year. The DNC is sincerely looking at Moore with growing skepticism, wondering whether it's worth all the effort and expense to keep picking up after his messes.

BREAKING: BANK OF AMERICA GIVES IN, WILL HELP REPUBLIC WINDOWS...

Bank of America blinked and will help Republic Windows & Doors LLC in Chicago, after all. But there are catches... Bank of America Offers Loans to Republic for Workers (Update1) Workers win: Bank to give credit to Chicago plant

American Masochism

"No one working with even a minimal amount of intelligence can really believe that allowing perhaps 20 million, largely illiterate, illegal immigrants to remain in this nation is a good thing: In fact, it is so bad that it seriously threatens our political stability, endangers national security and undermines our already wobbly economy." So writes John Nash today in the Tampa Tribune. It's a brief but hard hitting column. "Although it's difficult to imagine, illegal immigrants, with the considerable help of ambitious, careless and dangerous politicians, have managed to become a powerful political force, even though they are unable to vote legally. An influential political action committee, representing what are variously, and curiously, referred to as "Latinos" or "Hispanics," has been able to thwart action to raise immigration quotas for legal arrivals, by demanding sweeping, and concurrent, benefits for the hordes of illegals swarming across our insecure southern border with Mexico." READ THE FULL COLUMN...

Disregard for Human Life

The Bench recorded these image of today's construction on the northeast corner of W. Morse and N. Greenview in Rogers Park at 9:25 a.m. The man is cutting pavement without wetting it while his partner stands close by. Wetting the pavement, according to self-proclaimed pavement cutting expert Thomas J. Westgard, "is the proper technique" - this is why a wet saw is called a wet saw.

The rest of this post is based on the expertise of Mr. Westgard, who is expert in Everything Known to Man.

According to Mr. Westgard, the absence of water causes finely divided particles to fill the air. These particles then drift into the crevices in the lungs and stay there, in a process very similar to black lung that affects coal miners. Another option, not perfect but better anyway, would be to wear an OSHA mask. In any event, this is a cloud of toxins with a human in it, taken today on a public street in Alderman Joe Moore's 49th Ward. The cloud, as you can see, engulfed passing pedestrians who are now victims of Joe Moore's callous disregard for human life.

Also notable is the lack of safety goggles on the worker standing nearby. The device this man is standing near runs at something like 4,000 rpm, and the carbide wheel is designed to flake off as it grinds. If something flew from the saw, notes Mr. Westgard, it could hit the man who has no goggles in his eye, thereby blinding him permanently and causing the next twelve generations of his family to suffer horribly.

Ideally these are only small flakes of powder size, notes Mr. Westgard, but sometimes a carbide wheel is defective, or the workpiece has an inclusion, like an unexpected metal bolt, and the wheel can shatter and send larger chunks of material flying at high speed into the surrounding area. A full facemask for both men would be a good option here, says Westgard, but what's truly essential is protecting the eyes. Granted, testicles are also important, but I've lived my whole life without one. Thank God I still have both eyeballs. It's one thing to have a scar on your cheek; it's something else entirely to lose an eye. The cutter's partner has nothing but air between the point of cutting and his corneas.

Finally, says Mr. Westgard, this is the wrong tool for the job. In this context, there's plenty of room for a much safer tool - a table wetsaw. As anyone who has used a chainsaw for wood knows, there's a serious risk of kickback or overcut with a hand tool like this one. That's one reason why sawmills use stationary saws wherever possible - the other is that you get better cuts with a stationary tool. Sometimes you have to use the more dangerous hand tool, and if that's what the job requires, then you do it. But this man is suffering the unnecessary risk that this tool will fly out of control. You might also notice the gasoline can a couple of scant feet from the hot saw blade. One spark or hot flying piece of debris could ignite the gasoline, thereby immolating both men and, possibly, any passersby.

Looks like Alderman Moore and Mayor Daley are getting their costs cut - but not without putting human beings at risk of injury or death. It should be added that Mr. Westgard did nothing to remedy this situation, nor will he offer aid or comfort to either of these men or any of the pedestrians who involuntarily inhaled this nightmare cloud of toxins.

Remember how Lorraine Swanson published a story about the supposed "toxic plume" of asbestos that was floating through the north end of Loyola Park from the North Shore School? 

Damn, that was a great job of reporting. She accurately reported what the Illinois environmental authorities said. Aside from being timely, that story had the unintended effect of making Joe Moore look like an uncaring, out of touch fool. The truth hurts, you know, and Mr. Moore was undoubtedly embarrassed by being caught with his pants down, so to speak. Here is an actual picture of a human being in a toxic plume in Rogers Park, working on a public sector job for the City of Chicago. 

Unfortunately for the likes of Joe Moore, Jim Ginderske, and all the other fakes who pretend to be champions of the People, the very Government that they suck at the teat of and look to for protection is responsible for it. If Thomas J. Westgard wants to hunts down dangerous plumes, will he hunt down this one? Will he go after the City of Chicago for its medieval labor practices?

Don't hold your breath.

Union Ankle Biters in the 49th Ward

Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood has hungered for years for a project that would revitalize the semi-blighted W. Morse Avenue. After years of unfulfilled promises of a Streetscape project from 49th Ward Alderman Joe Moore, the Morse Theatre has given new hope to the neighborhood. In 2006, local resident Andrew McGhee announced his intentions to perform a gut rehab on a building that once housed a movie theater, then a synagogue, and a number of small merchants' stalls.

McGhee and his financiers have faithfully preserved the terra cotta front of the building. The new venture will have a 300-seat theater, featuring mainly live jazz and blues, but will have the ability to show cinema and video on a large screen. There will also be a 90-seat restaurant and bar. Without government handouts, with no real assistance from Alderman Moore or DevCorp, this single project will do more to put Morse Avenue on the path to revitalization than anything the local power elite have done.

And there's the rub. The local power elite - the alderman and his cronies, DevCorp, some of the Special Service Area #24 members, and the usual ankle biters - resent this success. It reminds us all of their ineptitude, and of the superiority of the private sector.

Joe Moore would be nowhere if not for heavy union support over the past 17 years. Today, with the magnificent Morse Theatre project about to open in a matter of weeks, there are those amongst Moore's power base that are so beside themselves that they instinctively turn to old and tired methods of harassment and character assassination. Carpenters Local Union No. 58 is one example of the ankle biters, and they are currently handing out flyers in front of the Morse Theatre project during the morning rush hour. Let's examine the text of the flyer with my notes in red italics:

UNION MAID
UNION MADE?

The Morse Theatre project, 1328 W. Morse Ave.

If you're going to picket something, know the correct spelling of it. It's "Theatre," not "Theater."

Invoking the names of past Folkies doesn't make it right.

No, it doesn't, but after saying that the flyer immediately invokes the names of past folkies [folk singers]. The author assumes that everyone knows what a "folkie" is, who the "Folkies" are, and what their significance is.

Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie dedicated their lives to organizing workers to ensure that hardworking people laboring for the bosses were treated fairly and benefited from their labor. They sang and fought to make this dream a reality. Today, as in the past the bosses get fat off of the sweat of the worker and Pete and Woody's work continues.

That was true back in the days of Pete and Woody. But, according to a
Congressional Research Service paper, "Union membership in the United States has declined significantly in recent decades. The number of union members peaked in 1979 at an estimated 21.0 million. In 2003, an estimated 15.8 million workers were union members. As a percent of employed workers, union membership peaked in 1954 at 28.3%. In 2003, 11.5% of employed workers were union members." [Source, PDF]

Why is union membership down so drastically from the days of Pete and Woody? Ironically, it is because of the great things that the labor unions did. Truly, we owe the past union leaders a debt of gratitude. But today's union leaders take their members' dues and often turn that money over to political campaigns that many members do not personally support. The union leaders are themselves fat cats. The poor schlubs on the picket line are not making out; they're probably just following orders. Employees around the country (indeed, around the world) see this behavior and say, "No, I'd rather not be in a union."

The Carpenters Union Local Union No. 58 labor dispute is doomed to fail. Why? Well, they're not singing! They need to get a chorus in front of the theater and serenade passersby about the horrible injustices going on inside. However, Local 58 might actually have another agenda here: They would actually like to audition to perform folk songs in the theater after it opens.

Boss Andrew McGhee, a principle at Morse Theater has stated that cuts had to be made and that it's the workers that must suffer.

It's "principal," not "principle." The poor education that the author suffered, probably from a unionized public school teacher, shows here. Furthermore, are we really expected to believe that Andy McGhee said that the workers "must suffer?"

Boss McGhee has hired Cordos Development which pay's its workers sub-standard wages and benefits to perform the carpentry labor on this project.

Dang, more fallout from that unionized public school education. There should not be an apostrophe in "pays."

It is in recognition of the spirit of these bygone folkies that the Carpenters Union informs you the public that workers at this job site are not getting paid the area standard wages and benefits.

Perhaps the union would care to inform us what the "area standard wages and benefits" are for carpenters. But they don't, of course. Additionally, when will Local 58 - and other unions - picket the Heartland Café for not paying its kitchen workers the "area standard wages and benefits?" Where are the pickets and protesters who should be in front of 1340 W. Morse Avenue, where non-union child labor was recently used for hazardous work? (See related story.)

Boss McGhee… Boss Cordos…
"Which side are you on?"

Let's turn that question around and ask Local 58 members how much they are being paid to hand out flyers. How many people are employed by - not represented by, EMPLOYED BY - Local 58?

Carpenters Local Union No. 58 is currently engaged in a labor dispute with Cordos Development over the payment of sub-standard wages and benefits. We seek only to inform the public.

This, of course, is a lie. They seek only to bully their way into the job site, which, ironically, already employs union labor.

RELATED:
The Morse Theatre
Illinois Carpenters Union Funneled More than $82,000 to Hirono During 2002 Gubernatorial Campaign
The Chicago Rebellion
Rhymes With Right - Union Membership Down
Union membership still in rapid decline - National - theage.com.au

Unions and Hypocrisy in the 49th Ward

You ever wonder why unions rarely picket pals of Alderman Moore? It's true. Oh, there has been a half-assed, token presence at the intersection of N. Greenview and W. Morse now and then, where Joe Moore's buddy and zoning committee member Rich Aronson's erection is going up.

This morning, there were carpenters handing out flyers in front of The Morse Theatre at W. Morse and N. Wayne. Seems the carpenters are pissed off that they aren't working on the theater's construction, and are falsely claiming that the project is non-union.

Why, then, are the unions not handing out flyers in front of Aronson's project, which is non-union? Answer: The Joe Moore protection.

Why are no unions picketing in front of the loathsome Heartland Cafe, which for years has employed guest workers who get very low pay? An attempt several years ago to unionize Heartland, owned by Michael James and Katy Hogan, was smashed by ownership. James and Hogan claim to be "progressives." Answer: The Joe Moore connection.

Why are no unions picketing against any number of non-union construction projects in the 49th Ward? Why no picketing in front of non-union employers?

Answer: Because The Morse Theatre is getting ready to open in two to three months, and the Wobblies will be damned if a successful business - done completely without government grants, without any real contribution of effort from the alderman, or from DevCorp, or from the SSA#24, or any of the other local socialist cabals - will make a go of it.

Note to "Boss" McGhee: Joe Moore and his Gang ain't your friends. You know damned well that Moore and his ilk are ultimately in cahoots with the guys picketing your project. You know damned well who supports Joe Moore, and those guys don't support you. Joe Moore hasn't lost track of that fact. As the union flyers ask, "Which side are you on?"

RELATED: * Union Picket @ Morse Theatre

Pelosi the Job Killer

"Screw you, Labor." That's the unspoken theme of Democrat leaders, such as Nancy Pelosi, and the fat cat union leaders they empower. They are betraying the very dues paying union members they claim to represent. Crazy Politico writes:

Nancy Pelosi has taken a big step towards killing a bunch of good paying, union jobs in the US, with the backing of the union's who's workers are going to be hurt. What she's doing is changing the rules (midstream) on trade agreements. Over the last few years Congress and the Bush administration have agreed that any trade agreement sent to Congress gets an up or down vote within 90 days. Pelosi has decided to change that rule to kill the Columbian Free Trade Agreement.
MORE at Crazy Politico...

SEIU: Violent Thugs

Cong. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Chicago Alderman Joe Moore (49th Ward) are both big fans of the SEIU. And why not? The thugs of the SEIU turn out in force to support these two long-term, entrenched Machine politicians. Bloggers in the 49th Ward pointed out a year ago that the SEIU is a band of hooligans, crooks and shady characters. We were not just whistling Dixie, comrade. A fascinating article titled "Progressives seethe at violent SEIU" is in the current online issue of The Union News, and it slams the SEIU but good. "Just this week," writes The Union News, "violence broke out at a union conference in Michigan when members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) - the nation's largest labor organization - attempted to protest a scheduled speech by the president of the California Nurses Association (CNA). The two unions have been attacking each other vociferously for months, each organization claiming that the other was at fault for one or another transgression, and in recent weeks the war has escalated out of control..." READ THE FULL ARTICLE at The Union News... ALSO SEE: AFL-CIO's "Rapid Response"

La Bitch Pelosi

Crazy Politico strikes at Nancy Pelosi's jugular. He seems to have hit the target squarely. Fortunately for Pelosi, she has never had warm blood running through her veins. The party that Pelosi is leading so ineffectively is doing its best to screw the Little Guy. Here's how, as presented by CP: Nancy Pelosi has taken a big step towards killing a bunch of good paying, union jobs in the US, with the backing of the union's who's workers are going to be hurt. Read Killing American Jobs, Pelosi Style at Crazy Politico...

Slave Laborers Shovel Chicago Sidewalks

Thirty prisoner of the Cook County penal system moved foot by foot, yard by yard down N. Sheridan Road today. They shoveled the sidewalks as sheriff's deputies watched, taking away employment opportunities from unemployed people in Rogers Park and elsewhere. Oh, and posing a very real safety and security problem. Why are these guys out taking away neighborhood jobs? Why can't a dozen high school kids, or anybody else for that matter, be employed by the county for 6.00 or 7.00 dollars an hour? Why is the county shoveling our sidewalks? Why are thirty criminals, armed with snow shovels, allowed to walk down N. Sheridan Road? These men are part of the SWAP program (Sheriff’s Work Alternative Program). In some parts of the country, this is called a chain gang. In most parts of the world, it is known as slave labor. The Cook County Sheriff describes the SWAP program: "During the first 30 days of camp, each detainee is assigned to a work detail inside the Boot Camp facility. If a detainee exhibits proper behavior, he will be given the right to participate in off–site work details. Such work details will be similar to the service provided by the Sheriff’s Work Alternative Program (SWAP), in which nonviolent offenders work on public service projects like cleaning streets, parks and vacant lots while being supervised by specially trained deputies." READ MORE... Such a deal. If a detainee behaves himself, he has earned the privilege of shoveling public sidewalks. Now there's a strong incentive for you.