Unions right or wrong for the U.S.

I have written about the unions before.  I will say once again, that I am sure there are some things good about belonging to a union.  I have also stated that I believe the union leaders are out to put more money in their pockets than in the pockets of the union members.

Here, I will put some articles to understand better who the unions really look out for.  In this article:

All it took to give nearly two dozen labor leaders from Chicago a windfall worth millions was a few tweaks to a handful of sentences in the state's lengthy pension code.

Twenty years later, 23 retired union officials from Chicago stand to collect about $56 million from two ailing city pension funds thanks to the changes, a Tribune/WGN-TV investigation found.

Because the law bases the city pensions on the labor leaders' union salaries, they are reaping retirement benefits that far outstrip the modest salaries they made as city employees. On average, their pensions are nearly three times higher than what the typical retired city worker receives.

Remember the Boeing Plant being attacked by the National Labor Relations Board?  According to Wikipedia:

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is an independent agency of the United States government charged with conducting elections for labor union representation and with investigating and remedying unfair labor practices. Unfair labor practices may involve union-related situations or instances of protected concerted activity. The NLRB is governed by a five-person board and a General Counsel, all of whom are appointed by the President with the consent of the Senate.

Now reports have come out about the NLRB and their decision to fight the Boeing plant. According to this article,  on April 22, 2011:

Acting NLRB General Counsel Lafe Solomon sent an email to Wilma Liebman, outgoing Chairwoman of the NLRB, “The article gave me a new idea. You go to geneva [Switzerland] and I get a job with airbus [French company]. We screwed up the us economy and now we can tackle europe.”

Last year, President Obama bypassed the U.S. Senate and recess-appointed Craig Becker to head the NLRB’s five-member board. The Becker appointment was made after the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate refused to move forward on his confirmation. An ally of ACORN, Becker had previously worked for the SEIU and the AFL-CIO, major financial backers of Obama and the Democratic Party. Controversially, Becker has refused to recuse himself from certain NLRB decisions affecting his former union clients.

According to this article:

The new Obama DOL Union Officer and Employee Conflicts-of-Interest Disclosure Reports will no longer require disclosure of:

• Salary payments by employers to union officials who do absolutely no work for the employer except grease the skids in “grievance adjustments”;
• Bonuses and raises paid by employers to union officials who do absolutely no work for the employer;
• Promotions by employers to union officials who do absolutely no work for the employer;
• Director stipends of $20,000 or more to union officials for attending annual or quarterly labor-management conferences often held at a lush resorts;
• Labor union presidents’ spouses who receive payments of $250,000 a year from a HERE union pension trust will no longer be required to disclose it because Obama’s DOL believes that congress was uninterested in these types of conflicts.

Have you ever heard of the National Mediation Board?  Well, according to this article:

This board is specifically focused on labor relations between the railroad and airline industries. And just like the NLRB, the NMB is aggressively pushing Big Labor’s agenda. Last July, the NMB overturned nearly a century of precedent and issued a new pro-union rule regarding union elections. Instead of requiring the traditional democratic practice of a simple majority of members to unionize, now the rules only require a majority of votes cast for unionization.

So, what is next?  Do we want the Unions taking control of all the jobs in this country?  Do we want to be forced into joining a union in order to get a job?  Do we want to be like this family who is forced to pay Union Dues to take care of their disabled children?  Here is the story.

Obama on Labor Day

Today is Labor Day.  How is Barack Obama spending his day?  Well, "President Barack Obama is celebrating Labor Day in Detroit, previewing his ideas for job creation and economic growth at a rally with thousands of supportive labor union members."

"In Detroit on Monday, Obama was also expected to tout his efforts to save the auto industry and millions of jobs by providing federal bailouts in 2009 for General Motors Corp. and Chrysler Group LLC. The AFL-CIO rally was being held in a GM parking lot."  Read the story here.

Let's take a look at the unions.  Obama is a big supporter of SEIU.  He has stated in this video his support for SEIU.  Comments he made: "Helping you organize to build more and more power." "Paint the nation purple."

According to Wikipedia, "Andrew L. "Andy" Stern (born November 22, 1950), is the former president ^{[7] [8]} of the 2.2 million-member Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the fastest-growing union in the Americas. SEIU is the second largest union in the United States and Canada after the National Education Association.^[9][10] Stern was elected in 1996 to succeed John Sweeney. Stern is intent upon influencing federal legislation that helps revitalize the labor movement through universal health care, expanding union ranks via the Employee Free Choice Act,^[11] stronger regulations on business, profit sharing for employees, higher taxes, and efforts consistent with the improvement of the lives of workers.^[12]" 

Andy Stern is also known for his comment "If we can't use the power of persuasion, we will use the persuasion of power."  See the video here.  Andy Stern is a frequent visitor to Obama.  You can read more on Andy Stern here.

Let's take a look at some other Unions.  The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) filed a complaint against the Boeing Co. for OPENING a new plant in South Carolina., which is a "right to work state".  

According to this article,  "The Obama National Labor Relations Board moved to eliminate secret ballot election protections this week. The NLRB removed barriers that enabled workers to protect themselves from union bosses’ bullying and coercive tactics."
Also in this article, "What union bosses often neglect to tell workers is that if enough workers sign cards, there’s no need for an election. They’d already be unionized."

In this article, "The same week the Obama Administration announced it was making an effort to scale back burdensome rules on small businesses, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the federal government’s labor union advocate, demonstrated an unprecedented overreach of its authority today by issuing a punitive new rule requiring all private-sector employers to post a notice in their business informing employees of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act."

Now, I'm sure there are some good unions out there and there are some good people in those unions.  Rob Chanin, who is the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), General Council makes comments like, "It's not about kids, it's about power" that is a problem for me.  Watch the video here.  Our children need correct education and teachers who care.  Have you watched Jay Leno's "Jaywalking" lately?  It is such an embarrasement to see young adults who have no idea about our history, but, yet they know about the current fads and musicians.

When I see and hear about how the unions protest, it makes me wonder why people wonder how our kids learned to be bullies.  Adults should act with diginity and respect for others.  Adults should not bully other adults.  America is known to be a "kind and gentle nation".