If they had been paying attention, criminals in East St. Louis could have had run of the streets on New Years Eve when nearly an entire shift of police officers came down with something highly contagious called a strike. However, since police aren’t legally allowed to strike, it’s not called a strike. Instead, it’s called the “blue flu” and, like other union-related illnesses, it sometimes comes on all at once.
On Friday, all but one of the officers called in one hour before their shift was due to start (and one day after the city council voted to lay off one-third of the police force in order to balance the 2011 budget).
Oddly enough, the head of the police union doesn’t seem to think it was a strike either. In fact, it would appear that whatever affliction ailed an entire shift of East St. Louis police officers was wholly approved of by their union.
The president of Fraternal Order of Police Union Lodge 126 says he believes the men who called in sick Friday were actually sick and not participating in a work stoppage as a letter hand delivered to most of the officers said.
Nearly all of the scheduled police officers on the 3 to 11 p.m. shift called off sick one hour before they were scheduled to report to work.
The officers called in sick the day after the City Council approved the layoffs of 16 police officers effective as of Saturday.
Kendall Perry, president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 126, said the men have been under a lot of stress with the mandatory furloughs and the threat of the layoffs hanging over their heads for a while. And, then he said the weather conditions have been changing, which could have caused some of the men to have flulike symptoms.
“If they were sick, they were within their rights to call off. I believe they were sick,” he said.
Perry said the men have sick days and if they are sick they can call off without fear of retaliation from members of the police department.
He said he doesn’t believe the men were participating in a work stoppage. [Emphasis added.]
No, of course it wasn’t a work stoppage. Unions are, after all, just a 24-hour bug.
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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776
Moe Lane
Dan Spencer
Dan McLaughlin
Jeff Emanuel
The 2/3 should be thankful they have jobs
izoneguy (Diary) Monday, January 3rd at 5:19PM EDT (link)With almost 10% unemployment it should be easy to find new non-union cops.
Those who had once simpered: “I don’t want to destroy the rich, I only want to seize a little of their surplus to help the poor, just a little, they’ll never miss it!” – then, later, had snapped: “The tycoons can stand being squeezed; they’ve amassed enough to last them for three generations” – then, later, had yelled: “Why should the people suffer while businessmen have reserves to last a year?” – now were screaming: “Why should we starve while some people have reserves to last a week?” – Atlas Shrugged
I had a plan for East St Louis
teridavisnewman (Diary) Tuesday, January 4th at 7:37AM EDT (link)I had a plan for East St Louis that the mayor loved, but the faction that wants to turn ESL into Vegas on the Mississippi made sure the incumbent Democrat won. They are buying ESL for pennies on the dollar by letting the conditions get so bad that people who own homes are selling them for anything they can get–just to have a few thousand bucks to leave. Essentially these people who have worked and bought homes are being robbed of them. Sad–but they are getting the government they voted for.
Teri Davis Newman
Consultant
2010 Republican Nominee for Congress
12th Congressional District of Illinois
www.terinewman.com
East St. Louis has a police force?
Kyle-MI (Diary) Monday, January 3rd at 6:54PM EDT (link)Could have fooled me.
HAHAHA
Bill S (Diary) Monday, January 3rd at 7:32PM EDT (link)I thought about posting exactly the same comment, but figured no one else would get the humor.
“It’s such a fine line between stupid, and clever.” – David St. Hubbins
Same here
Younce (Diary) Monday, January 3rd at 7:50PM EDT (link)I was thinking the same thing.
I occasionally had to drive through E. St. Louis. It always scared the crap out if me.
LOL
Black River Wolf (Diary) Tuesday, January 4th at 10:24PM EDT (link)Yes they are all owned by the drug dealers and prostitution rings.
I wonder if you can get a prostitute from City Hall still?
“In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame,
two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress.”—-John Adams
What if...
readtheredwords Monday, January 3rd at 8:38PM EDT (link)America descends into Greek-style rioting in the streets, organized by the Left, especially labor unions. What side will unionized police officers be on? And I ask this as a retired officer who was, briefly, a Teamster.
To quote
1stRichard (Diary) Monday, January 3rd at 9:57PM EDT (link)When Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor, asked Coolidge to let the suspended police officers of Boston return to their jobs, Coolidge refused, saying, “There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, anytime.”
How to nail the union president
MF (Diary) Tuesday, January 4th at 12:01PM EDT (link)Get him to testify under oath, under penalty of perjury. Then ask him a point-blank question: Yes or no – do you believe each of the police officers who called in sick were actually sick? If he answers yes, you fire him for obvious incompetence, since it’s clear to any reasonable person that it was an organized strike. If he answers No, you can fire him for lying about his previous statement where he claimed he believed they were all sick.
The only answer is going to be a TOTAL
capeconservative Tuesday, January 4th at 4:53PM EDT (link)repeal of ALL public employee unions! They should never have been allowed to unionize in the first place! Things have certainly been turned upside-down since the early days of working for the city at a lower wage was okay since they would get a retirement package. Public service employees now earn more than similar positions in the private sector!!!!!
I know it won’t happen with this administration – but we MUST demand that all public workers in America contribute to Social Security and be allowed to have 401k’s just like the rest of us. NO MORE LIFETIME BENEFITS! The cash cows are just about milked dry and there can be no other resolution to this problem.