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Union Militants Storm New Haven City Hall

By: LaborUnionReport (Diary)  |  October 6th, 2010 at 03:30 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

New Haven, Connecticut, like so many other cities, is contending with public union contracts in the face of declining tax revenues. As a result, as is happening throughout the country, the mayor of New Haven is trying to re-negotiate those contracts. The public employee unions don’t like that.

On Tuesday, members of the AFSCME and UNITE-HERE stormed New Haven’s City Hall to protest. Here is the video (story below):

[Emphasis added.]

“We want a fair contract!” city workers called up to Mayor John DeStefano’s window.

The mayor’s reply: Maintaining workers’ current benefits will “bankrupt taxpayers.”

That argument became public Tuesday, as at least 250 union workers stormed City Hall for a face-to-face confrontation with the mayor. The workers marched to the Green from the High School in the Community, shouted chants outside DeStefano’s window, then met him for a chaotic conversation from the banister overlooking the main staircase from the first to second floors of City Hall.

At issue is the city’s quest for cutbacks in health and pension benefits in new labor contracts. Declaring that a “ruthless” City Hall has a awakened a “sleeping giant,” union leaders decried what they called bad faith in negotiations and vowed not to force working families to give back in tough times. The mayor said the city can no longer afford to offer some benefits far superior to those in the private sector, at least not without raising taxes.

[snip]

In the past five years, rising health care and pension costs amounted to a $36 million increase in the city budget, which was about 40 percent of the budget increase during those years, according to the mayor’s office.

The costs keep going up, the mayor said, and are leaving the city hurtling toward an $82 million budget hole in five years, according to one draft report.

The mayor said the city’s health care and pension plans are “far more generous” than the private sector.

It is curious to think that union bosses are actually puzzled about why they no longer have public support.

Read more @ New Haven Independent.

__________________

“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.”  Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

Cross-posted.

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COMMENTS

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  • http://theminorityreportblog.com Repair_Man_Jack

    Here’s why Dick Blumenthal can never create any jobs. These are the people he intends to represent.

    • izoneguy

      Body slams and head blows – no new contracts period….
      Get lost you scumbags.

    • karatetraining

      I’m no fan of unions but this story is a little one sided. As a conservative I am against big government. You mentioned the pensions, etc accounted for 40% of the budget increases being attributed to the union labor, in all fairness, you should report what the other 60% was spent on. There should also be coverage on the union versus non-union salaries/benefits. The union workers may actually have a legitimate gripe if they are being asked to make inequitable cuts compared to non-union workers.

      Education is a perfect example. We always talk about cutting teachers but never administrators…the people who make the budget… When was the last time you heard a liberal or conservative say our budget it in a deficit and we realized we are top heavy, since that is where the highest salaries are we can maximize the savings and minimize the impact on our students…? You haven’t because to a politician or administrator that would be tantamount to cutting off their own hand in an admission of guilt. The politicians and administrators also know the easiest way to get tax payers to pay up is to make the cuts painful for the tax payers. A little diversion from the truth doesn’t hurt either.

      As a conservative it is important that we cover the entire topic, not just the part we agree with or the party line we like. That is a Liberal mode of operation and a dangerous path to choose.

      So I don’t get flamed let me be clear, I am pro-labor. Unions are not inherently bad unlike the people who run them. Be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

      • http://www.scragged.com petrarch

        There’s nothing wrong with paying people lavishly, IF they are productive enough to be worth it. Competition provides the only answer to that question.

        The trouble with unions and the civil service is not that they want more money; everyone does. I certainly do! It’s that they want it without having to fairly compete for it in an open market.

      • edwlstr

        In the past five years, rising health care and pension costs amounted to a $36 million increase in the city budget, which was about 40 percent of the budget increase during those years, according to the mayor

  • Adjoran

    and they would starve to death. Some places require you actually do something productive to earn a paycheck.

    • mirac777

      Do you see how svelte and in marathon shape those hard-working Union people are? Take a look. This says it all. A bunch of lazy, obese Union workers trying to shake down the city for trying to get it’s budget under control.
      This is the liberal entitlement class of Socialism. They just think that after they bankrupt the city the fed taxpayer will bail them out. Outrageous salaries and perks for people whom it takes 7 of them to do the work one one REAL WORKER in the private sector.
      And the Socialist liberals parading around as the champion of the working class know that this type of action will collapse the economy. Look at Greece. I would call an emergency meeting and re-do every city contract.Do it under the rules of an emergency spending bill like the Socialists in the Whitehouse do. Put the jobs online. Ok, you have the qualifications and will do it for half of what the UNIONS are charging us? YOU ARE HIRED>

  • tngal

    Why do union workers, public and private, constantaly complain? They know good and da- well they would have it a lot worse outside of their little utopia. If they’re so unhappy why odn’t they just quit? Millions of unemployed would love to have their jobs at lesser wages and bennies. If conditions and pay and retirement and healthcare and days off are so abysmal – quit complaining and quit already.

    (Fine, maybe I’m not cut out to work in an HR office. Still working on subtlety)

  • Raven

    Because they’re more deserving than you of your money.

  • Jack_Savage

    The Democrat enablers are trying to cut back and the addicts are flipping out. Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain are breathing a sigh of relief because California, New York, Illinois and Michigan are making them look like paragons of frugality.

    This is like a boxing match between two jerks that you detest where you know the result is going to be two bloody pulps and a draw.

    Popcorn please.

    • mirac777

      What if it is your city that is being bankrupted? Everyone loves a good fight between evil and good.When evil has the POTUS on its side, the people have to band together to beat it down. Otherwise eveyone will suffer the consequences of sitting on the couch eating popcorn while the counrty goes down in flames. bring in the TeaParty, vote the socialists and Unions out of power, period.

      • http://www.scragged.com petrarch

        That sort of city has probably been a Dem monopoly for decades. Any Rs that live there are used to being ignored and irrelevant. D.C., case in point, but many/most big cities have been Dem monopolies since the 60s if not earlier.

      • Jack_Savage

        …they get what they deserve, wherever they are. I would hope that blue staters get some sense beaten into them by a C rating from Moody’s, but I am not betting on it, particularly since Obama has spent trillions bailing them out.

        I strongly encourage voters in blue areas to band together to kick Dems out, but if they don’t I will enjoy my popcorn and watch.

  • johnt

    Face it, these creatures are the new royalty, minor class.
    The real gangsters are in Washington.
    But did you get a load of the size, the bulk, of some of these elephants, a couple in the 400lb range? They didn’t get that way from overwork. Selfish, mindless pigs. and the tacit support they receive from the media only encourages their bestial urges.

  • earlgrey

    Linda could use a boost!

  • veritaseequitas

    and disbanded immediately. They have outlived their usefulness. Unions are like parasites – they do nothing more than suck the life and sustenance out of the poor slobs they claim to represent, the country who is their host and the consumers who have to pay higher prices because of the overinflated wages and benefits the unions force on businesses.

    • davesinsanantonio

      Ever hear of freedom of assembly???
      I am not supporting these leaches, but the Constitution has had enough reckless abuse, and piling more abuse on it is not one of the basic principles we should be basing our platform on.
      If you don’t like what the unions are doing, then educate them as to why free market economics works and that it is the answer to our current problem. Just banning them will not really help in the long run. Truth might, but violating what should be our own principles cannot.
      You cannot force people to be free, even though the Libs keep claiming that is their goal. Why would you want to emulate any of their tactics???

      • napensnake

        The comment about the right to peaceably assemble is true. But there are two points here. First is the definition of “peaceable assembly” and whether this fits that definition. That could go either way. They interfered with the function of the city, apparently during city time, why weren’t they at their jobs?

        Second, don’t violate the Constitution with at “Department of Labor” at the national level giving credence to the union boss parasites. The Constitution does not permit the national government to have any authority in labor relations. (Reference: Amendment X)

    • http://www.scragged.com petrarch

      Americans have the RIGHT to assemble, in unions if they so wish.

      What’s unconstitutional is forcing companies to negotiate with unions if they don’t want to. The workers have every right to join together, and every right to walk off the job if they wish; the company should have every right to instantly fire them all and replace them if it so desires. If the workers’ skills are unique or valuable, then the company won’t do that and will negotiate with them; if they’re easily replaceable, why shouldn’t they be replaced?

      Violence is another story, whether it be by union thugs or company enforcers. That should result in serious jail time.

    • http://www.laborunionreport.com LaborUnionReport

      The issue is not ‘disbanding unions’ as that would violate Freedom of Association. The real issue is getting the government out of unions and vice versa. Unions have been hijacked by socialists which have, in turn, pushed toward bigger government involvement in everything.

      The way to restore unions to normalcy is to get the government out of the union business. Let the free market dictate which union survives and which doesn’t by the integrity of their leaders and the ability to make themselves more competitive.

  • bobbymike

    like this, unions continue to show they are the fat bloat that must be exercised out of the government if we are ever going to get back to prosperity.

    I like many of the other comments on this thread mostly the “well if you don’t like it and you’re such a valuable employee then quit and go into the private sector”.

    • http://www.laborunionreport.com LaborUnionReport

      ;)

      • bobbymike

        n/t

      • MF

        Definition: excise(2): (a) to expunge, as a passage or sentence, from a text.
        (b) to cut out or off, as a tumor.

        I think (b) is a perfect application.

  • slammer

    Do you have to be fat to join this union?

  • powertothepeople

    or the states that have pandered to the union crooks for years. Let them get a little of their own medicine and if and when they wake up, they can tell the unions to shove it and have freedom again. Until then, I hope they keep on biting each others heads off.

  • staunchconservative

    The city should declare all union contracts null and void effective immediately. I’m sick of the socialist union parasites and leeches that think they are entitled to my tax dollars because some idiot politician made promises that they can’t keep and then leave it to others to clean up their mess.

    Sorry unions, welcome to the “real” world. If you don’t want your job at a wage that won’t bankrupt the city and the taxpayers, then please, by all means, quit and go find something in the private sector that pays you what you want. Since it’s been in the news over the last few months that the average government worker makes twice what the private sector counterpart makes, it’s no wonder this nation is broke.

    Union workers are not Americans in my book, they are spoiled little socialist crybabies who can go to H_LL! Would anyone like to buy a vowel to solve the puzzle??

  • bus2dc

    ACORN got him in, UNIONS are keeping his agenda going. which is: DEMAND entitlements or violently protest. Why do you think the MSM is constantly showing the same scenes going on worldwide of union workers freaking because someone wants to remove even a penny’s worth of their benefit packages? That only encourages the union-workers here, and Obama KNOWS it. We see a smaller example of this with the NJ teacher’s union, etc.

    It’s only going to get worse until / unless we change the balance of power. This country is being told by Obama that we want to take the goodies away which he is trying to give them. Most of the people who voted this monster in would LOVEus to be the United States of Welfare, for however long it lasts.

  • southcoast

    Just south of Boston Mass. on the throughway to the city are two big union buildings. One for the IBEW and another further up the road for union carpenters. There is a billboard in front of the ministry of union carpenters which had a sign posted from the halttheassault.com organization. The sign urged resistance against the union only participation in taxpayer funded projects. As of yesterday, that same sign has been completely covered over with a white tarp. This is yet another sign of the oppressive thugs in this anachronistic organization and its ilk.