The Evil Empire Attempts to Strike Back*: Unions to Spend Millions on PR Battle


Union bosses have been rather glum for a while now. They’ve blown hundreds of millions of their members’ money on Democrats in order to socialize medicine, kill secret-ballot elections, strangle industry and unionize America at all costs. And, what has it gotten them?

They’ve exposed themselves as left-wing radicals with a global agenda, they’ve taken over a couple of car companies, and they’re trying to take over banks, health care, as well as fast food. Sure, they’ve embedded their minions into the agencies and at the highest levels in the land but, in the meantime, their contract costs have come to light and are wreaking havoc on towns, cities and states. Their leaders’ vitriolic rhetoric (which knows no bounds) has been exposed, and they’ve shown that union hypocrisy runs hysterically high. Those are some accomplishments. Still, though, they want more.

After all of this, is it any wonder, then, that they are disliked—even despised—by so many? That millions are tired of the gaming of the system, the buying of politicians? It is any wonder why they received a ‘shellacking’ on November 2.

Well, the Sith Lords union bosses are not going to take it lying down. They are preparing to go back on the offensive, to spend more of their members’ money to regain their footing and resume control. 

In Detroit, the United Auto Workers’ King is preparing to spend $60 million or more to label companies “human rights violators” if they do not give him carte blanche to unionize their workers. Then, in nearly the same hot-air filled breath, he suggests that, no, the UAW isn’t really an “evil empire.”

“We just have to convince them that we’re not the Evil Empire that they think that we were at one point,” King said. “The UAW has learned from the past.”

Really Darth Bob?

Elsewhere in the union universe, other leaders of the Evil Empire* announced they are going to spend millions more to fight the taxpayers’ rebellion:

Union leaders plan to launch a multimillion dollar campaign to boost the image of government workers and fend off pay cuts, benefit rollbacks and other anti-union measures in states under fiscal siege.

The scope of the effort is unusual in a non-election year, and it signals a growing concern that unions could lose significant clout in states where the political climate has changed with Republicans in control in many legislatures.

Other states where unions plan to focus include those where organized labor traditionally has wielded power, such as Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

[snip]

[The AFL-CIO's Naomi] Walker said unions plan to get their message out with phone banks, public rallies, and stepped-up lobbying efforts in at least a dozen state legislatures.

The action was set to kick off in Ohio on Friday night. Hundreds of workers planned to hold a candlelight vigil in Cincinnati to protest Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s plan to prohibit home health care and child care workers paid by the state from joining unions. [Emphasis added.]

According to Marathon Pundit, the Communications Workers of America (whose leader clings to the hate-filled vitriolic rhetoric of stating Tea Partiers promote slavery) has announced [via e-mail] battle plans:

CWA, the labor movement and its allies are preparing for battle as states across the country declare a renewed war on unions, with special attacks on the rights, wages and pensions of public employees.

[snip]

In Ohio and “throughout the battleground Midwest, there is a serious attack on our jobs and communities,” CWA District 4 Vice President Seth Rosen said, explaining that district activists are already working to build coalitions to show lawmakers and the general public that it’s not just unions that care about workers’ rights.

“These attacks affect all of us, public and private sector workers, both at work and in our communities,” Rosen said. “By uniting labor, community, civil rights and environmental groups, we can wage a powerful fight for good jobs and strong communities.”

Ohio’s Kasich appears to be competing with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to be the country’s most anti-union, anti-public worker governor. Christie has become infamous over the last year for his loud, mean-spirited assaults on his state’s employees, despite the fact that 60,000 CWA members and other unionized public workers have made a half-billion dollars in wage and benefit concessions over the last three years. CWA New Jersey continues to aggressively lobby, mobilize and rally to oppose Christie’s extreme agenda.

So, man your X-Wings, charge up the batteries to your light sabers, the Evil Empire is preparing to sharpen its attack.

*CAUTION: It may be insinuated that some of the rhetoric used herein may be considered vitriol by weak-kneed, politically-correct, glass-jawed, hypocritical, leftist whiners. Lest there be a mistake that this is somehow Right-wing, hate-filled rhetoric, please be assured, it is not. We prefer to call it for what it really is: Just plain-old mockery.

Photo credit: Aralani

_________________

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

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29 Comments Leave a comment

another cycle of bureaucratic waste as expected

gillis7 (Diary) Sunday, January 16th at 8:59AM EDT (link)

they will spend millions on this PR campaign , and yet , when the people in the unions who actually paid the dues they are using for this “all important effort” want to retire…..there will be no money for them to live on ….and the (non union) US taxpayer will be forced once again to bail out the unions’ retirees and allow the bosses to spend that bailout money as they see fit (again, not on the retirement of the rank and file worker)
lather, rinse , repeat

 

I'm Frightened

wennejunk (Diary) Sunday, January 16th at 9:06AM EDT (link)

-”the labor movement and its allies are preparing for battle”

-”we can wage a powerful fight”

That violent rhetoric scares me. When do the authorities arrive to take them in for mental evaluation?

There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’ -C. S. Lewis

No need to be scared of democrats they only have your best interest at heart.

earlgrey (Diary) Sunday, January 16th at 9:34AM EDT (link)

Trust them. Millions of others do.

 

We have a saying for that

Gmac Sunday, January 16th at 9:52AM EDT (link)

around here in the South:

“Come get some”

and because they have targeted the South particularly they certainly will.

These people are lower than carpetbaggers and if they think their blustering and money will carry the day, well, they’ve got another thing coming.

Yep. Come on down.......

carolina Sunday, January 16th at 10:31AM EDT (link)

“lower than carpetbaggers” is right!

 

Yep. Come on down.......

carolina Sunday, January 16th at 10:31AM EDT (link)

“lower than carpetbaggers” is right!

 
 
 

Unions are populated by people

Wayne (Diary) Sunday, January 16th at 9:57AM EDT (link)

And, as such, it is quite possible that many of them are intelligent enough to recognize the truth from lies and selfish interest for the few as short sighted with predictable consequences. Even if only 15% of the union members stand firm in the Constitution, it will be enough..

My two cents…

Wayne

“To take from one because it is thought that his own industry and that of his father’s has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association—the guarantee to every one of a free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it.” – Thomas Jefferson -

Ummmm, no.

mbecker908 (Diary) Sunday, January 16th at 10:06AM EDT (link)

The problem is that unions – and especially public sector unions – are run by Marxists who are cut from the same cloth as Obama and his regulators. The leadership understands absolutely that all they have to do is organize and there is virtually no probability that they’ll ever be decertified. The rank and file will go along, they always do.

Change

Senario Bleek

Wayne (Diary) Sunday, January 16th at 10:49AM EDT (link)

Your description is of a senario that would appear to have bleek, narrow and unfortunate consequential solutions…

To be honest, I don’t go to liberal meetings to assess the goings on there. I have attended many tea party meetings wherein there are union members, school teachers and administrators. I believe they are sincere in being very upset about the inner workings of those institutions. It’s a grassroots movement we are involved in. And it’s attacking the problem from all sides.

I don’t have the dark vision of the future that you appear to, though I do share your concern and recognize the dangers of progressive thinking.

Vigilance will be critical in our wrenching power from political and social elitist. Which is the modern day equivalent to aristocracy that let to the creation of our great nation. I believe in the Constitution and it’s power to return us to our foundational principles.

My two cents..

Wayne

“To take from one because it is thought that his own industry and that of his father’s has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association—the guarantee to every one of a free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it.” – Thomas Jefferson -

 

Not all is lost with members of unions...

LaborUnionReport (Diary) Sunday, January 16th at 11:00AM EDT (link)

The weekend of 9/12 in DC, there was a leader of one of the Tea Party groups from one of the major cities (I don’t want to name the city here) who stated about 30% of her TP membership is union members.

She stated they do not support the unions’ position on much, but there is little they can do because, in order to work, they have to pay the union.

I try to keep that in mind when writing about unions and union bosses…in several unions, there is a difference between the apparatchik and the rank-and-file. Not all unions are filled with Marxist robots–just a few.

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

In any compromise between food and poison, it is only death that can win. In any compromise between good and evil, it is only evil that can profit.-Ayn Rand

LaborUnionReport.com
The Most Comprehensive Source for
News & Views on Today’s Labor Unions.


Sooo, then...

mbecker908 (Diary) Sunday, January 16th at 6:27PM EDT (link)

The rank and file will go along, they always do.

For starters they can exercise their Beck rights.

I didn’t mean to imply that all union members were Marxists, but certainly the leadership is and there are enough apparatchik in the rank and file to do the dirty work.

All the sympathy for mass of union members who are “taken advantage of” by their leadership was wrung out of my hard, cold heart a long time ago. And in case of public employee unions it was never there.

Change

 
 
 
 

Having grown up in a UAW town, I can say...

mdyou (Diary) Sunday, January 16th at 10:42AM EDT (link)

…that we’ve toned it down for a week. Enough is enough.

Kill the UAW.

Ironically they are doing some of that themselves at GM

carolina Sunday, January 16th at 10:56AM EDT (link)

Now that they have a vested interest in the profitability of GM they are looking to change some of the ‘rules’. Maybe LUR can get the details for us….. I heard a brief discussion this past week, and look forward to learning more.

 

Ironically they are doing some of that themselves at GM

carolina Sunday, January 16th at 10:56AM EDT (link)

Now that they have a vested interest in the profitability of GM they are looking to change some of the ‘rules’. Maybe LUR can get the details for us….. I heard a brief discussion this past week, and look forward to learning more.

'Merit Pay Pressure is Rising on UAW'

LaborUnionReport (Diary) Sunday, January 16th at 11:06AM EDT (link)

Is this what you’re talking about?

A push for a merit-pay system for hourly workers is emerging as a key issue in contract talks that will get under way this year between the three Detroit car makers and the United Auto Workers union.

“We need to somehow link the performance of the business to the workers. I am quite willing to start working with the UAW to try and get this done,” Chrysler Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne said Wednesday. “I think it is important for all of us, not just the UAW.”

[snip]

UAW President Bob King said in an interview Wednesday that he wants to make sure his members “are getting their fair share of the upside and have a fair system to do it in the long term.” He declined specifically to say whether the union would be open to a restructuring of the pay system. “I really believe in the sacredness in keeping that confidential. You can make a lot more progress if people aren’t in a public forum,” he said.

The UAW is caught in a tough place now that a union-controlled trust owns significant stakes in GM and Chrysler after their government-backed reorganizations last year. The welfare of tens of thousands of union retirees is now directly tied the fortunes of the auto makers.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704803604576078224262665108.html

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

In any compromise between food and poison, it is only death that can win. In any compromise between good and evil, it is only evil that can profit.-Ayn Rand

LaborUnionReport.com
The Most Comprehensive Source for
News & Views on Today’s Labor Unions.


We wouldn't even be talking about this

izoneguy (Diary) Sunday, January 16th at 11:21AM EDT (link)

except people keep buying GM cars.

What’s up with that?

Are democrats only buying GM to keep the Marxist flame burning?

I think too many people are just oblivious to the cause & effect here.

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

Don't know about 2010

Scope (Diary) Sunday, January 16th at 12:12PM EDT (link)

but in 2009 Obama ordered the government to buy GM cars. I would bet the number has increased this year of GM government purchases-

http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2009/04/09/obama-orders-government-to-buy-more-gm-cars/

Like this author said- Just what exactly was it that Bernie Madoff did that was so bad?

Yes, this is Obama doing his best impression of

izoneguy (Diary) Sunday, January 16th at 12:20PM EDT (link)

Hugo Chavez.

From your link:

It’s actually unbelievable: The United States government lends an enormous sum of money to General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM) and Chrysler but insists that they meet certain targets to demonstrate viability. Then the government buys a bunch of cars to help them meet those targets: Can someone please tell me what exactly Bernie Madoff did that was so bad?

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

Madoff was a piker

JoeG Sunday, January 16th at 4:35PM EDT (link)

He never figured out a way to force people to contribute to his pyramid scheme at payday like FDR did.

 
 
 

Sales boost in China plays a part of it

lineholder (Diary) Sunday, January 16th at 12:33PM EDT (link)

http://247wallst.com/2011/01/04/robust-auto-sales-in-china-for-2011-but-no-new-records-gm-f-tm-hmc/

http://media.gm.com/content/media/us/en/news/news_detail.globalnews.brand_gm.html/content/Pages/news/cn/en/2011/Jan/0104

But I just found out something that I didn’t know. According to this article:
Read more: http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110116/OEM/301149999/1115#ixzz1BDjsEpFi

“Complicating this year’s negotiations is the fact that the UAW is now a major investor in GM and Chrysler. In exchange for a claim on funding for retiree healthcare, the union was given an ownership stake in both companies in the 2009 bailout”

Isn’t this what would commonly be referred to as a conflict of interest?

 
 

The UAW is caught in a tough place = be careful what you wish for

carolina Sunday, January 16th at 11:41AM EDT (link)

Yes, thanks LUR.
When the union leadership starts ‘selling’ this to their members…… we are going to get all kinds of useful quotes. Gotta love it. Some chickens are about to come home to roost, imo.

 
 
 

No need for that...

rbdwiggins (Diary) Sunday, January 16th at 11:34AM EDT (link)

The Left owns the copyright to hate speech, and there is no room within the Conservative movement for infringement.

Besides, the UAW will collapse under its own greed soon enough.

It’s time to mount a concerted and prolonged effort across the whole of the American electorate to decertify all of the unconstitutionally organized public sector unions. Their plan is to collapse our government from within, and to redistribute our national treasure until our Republic burns to the ground. Leaving them in control of the Socialist Democratic State they hope will rise from the ashes.

I’m confident that once the plan is fully exposed, an overwhelming majority of the American electorate will freely participate in the wholesale rejection of the Democrats and their plans for world governance.

“Well, the trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant, but that they know so much that isn’t so.” – Ronald Reagan

 
 

It's not PR, it's Propaganda

Scope (Diary) Sunday, January 16th at 11:11AM EDT (link)

Glenn Beck this week had a great segment on Edward Bernays’, who at his death in 1995, was called the father of public relations. It should have read the father of propaganda.

Bernays’, according to his daughter believed that the masses had to be led and controlled, because left to their own devices and thoughts might elect the wrong man for president, or make the wrong choices. She said he called it “enlightened despotism.” Calling that Public Relations was nothing more than rebranding of the original term “propaganda.” That is similar to the current crop of Liberals preferring to be called Progressives. Nothing about their Marxist/Communist ideology has changed, just what they call themselves.

Bernays’ preferred method of manipulation of public opinion was to use third parties. The Center for American Progress, ACORN, and yes the Unions are all third party means to accomplish their madness. That way the office of the President, and the president’s administration can appear to have their hands clean. The problem for the current president and his cronies is that they cannot hide behind those with their marching orders any longer. They have been very successfully exposed to the masses, and many of those they hoped to control, are making them reap what they have sown.

Edward Bernays should be added to the list of required reading, where Alinsky, Ayers, Dorn, Cloward and Piven now reside. It is necessary to know the enemies plans in order to beat them down to the ground and stomp on them.

 

Union Members Money

pamela1631 (Diary) Sunday, January 16th at 11:13AM EDT (link)

Which was deducted from their paychecks specifically for retirement and retired medical benefits (I’m making an assumption SS and Medicare were not) have been stolen and fraudulently used for other purposes.

Someone please tell me is there a clause in any of the union contracts that allows for this to happen? If not, why have there not been arrests made for those that ordered the withdrawals of specified funds and the accounting department for doing so?

Can you say AUDIT?

This republic was not established by cowards; and cowards will not preserve it. ~~Elmer Davis

I am stone forged from the fires of creation into flesh ~~Pamela1631

The greatest civilization is one where all citizens are equally armed and can only be persuaded, never forced.~~Maj. L. Caudill, USMC (Ret.)

Unions members (and the public) can view union financials...

LaborUnionReport (Diary) Sunday, January 16th at 11:49AM EDT (link)

You can access union financial information at http://www.unionreports.gov

Start at the top (the International), then work your way down (i.e., districts, then locals)…each has a separate reporting obligation.

Then there are the federations, the councils, the trusts, etc…

Here are a couple of other place that are available that you might find interesting:

Underfunded pensions: http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/criticalstatusnotices.html

Corrupt Union Bosses:

http://www.dol.gov/olms/regs/compliance/enforce_2010.htm

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

In any compromise between food and poison, it is only death that can win. In any compromise between good and evil, it is only evil that can profit.-Ayn Rand

LaborUnionReport.com
The Most Comprehensive Source for
News & Views on Today’s Labor Unions.


Thank you LUR

pamela1631 (Diary) Monday, January 17th at 9:20PM EDT (link)

Links have been bookmarked and I will be reading and learning.

This republic was not established by cowards; and cowards will not preserve it. ~~Elmer Davis

I am stone forged from the fires of creation into flesh ~~Pamela1631

The greatest civilization is one where all citizens are equally armed and can only be persuaded, never forced.~~Maj. L. Caudill, USMC (Ret.)

 
 
 

I think they've crossed the Rubicon, LUR

Vassar Bushmills (Diary) Sunday, January 16th at 11:30AM EDT (link)

Your recent post about the “private” unions, AFL-CIO, finally going over to Marx should have sounded the Horn of Rohan to all who will hear. Their purpose is clear, and so are their capabilities. We can rely on Congress these next two years only to forestall them, but not take back lost territory. They are close, but quite, able to do what EU’s unions can do, and that is shut down the country. The good news is: they have a few weak spots. The bad news, they now feel they can ignore both public opinion and the increasingly dim sounds of dissent within their own ranks.

You mission then, Jim, is to bring them down anyway. Of course, if you are captured, the agency and director will disavow any knowledge of you. Rots of ruck.

 

Unions doing what they're good at....

rightturn Sunday, January 16th at 6:25PM EDT (link)

Spending other peoples money with no return and little results..

Democrats can come along for the ride, they just have to sit in the back and suck lemons.

 

Let's roll

E Pluribus Unum (Diary) Sunday, January 16th at 7:58PM EDT (link)

W-wings locked in attack position. This union thuggery will not ultimately prevail. The nation will return back to the people.

Kill the Terrorists
Protect the Borders
Punch the Hippies h/t IMAO