32 Replies to “$30M In Union Dues Well Wasted”

  4. Truely good news. After all the flee bagger stuff, the court election and now the recalls, the Dems have gained exactly nothing to change the equation. I’ve a friend formerly from Wisconsin who said that Wisconsonites were sleeping a bit when Walker first got elected. I’m going to ask him tomorrow whether he thinks they’ve woken up yet.

  5. Using tax deductible out of state union and commie foundation slush funds to fight elections should
    be banned. Public employees who run for public office should resign their positions and be ineligible
    for rehiring as a public employee for a period of ten years after they leave politics. Otherwise,
    they are in a massive conflict of interest every day they serve as an elected official.
    .

  7. Good news!
    Allapundit at HotAir will be so disappointed he may have to run yet another Palin blog entry to sooth his tattered feelings.

  9. This doesn’t mean that the people of Wisconsin wanted a Republican government, it just shows how big business smeared the Dems and tricked voters into voting for something they didn’t want.
    /sarc

  10. I like his stance on changing the rules about union dues deducted at source. He’s changing that so now the union actually has to go around to its members and collect. Except for the die-hard union agitators…I wonder how willingly people will give up $200 or $300 per month in these hard economic times.
    We should do the same thing here in Canada.

  11. Good thing you put /sarc at the end there Luke. Had me going for a second. đŸ™‚
    Take that union beeotches.

  12. And favill, the worst part of the arrangement was that it was essentially a big money laundering scheme for the Democratic Party. Union-friendly Democrat politicians use the authority of their offices to enter into lucrative deals for public employees, putting up the public’s tax money as the offer, and the public entity then deducts the union dues automatically, hands them over to the union, who in turn function as the biggest donors to Democratic campaigns election after election after election.
    This practice continues elsewhere, and it’s corrupt as hell.

  13. “We should do the same thing here in Canada.”
    I have a friend who is very involved in the B.C. NDP and he says the unions here are VERY worried about Wisconsin.

  16. Just rambling a bit here, but I wonder if the ordinary unionized worker would not be happier paying an appropriate fee for unions to do the actual work they’re supposed to do–represent the workers, do the bargaining and keep track of pension funds etc. Instead, the unions extort huge fees and use them to fund a lavish lifestyle for their leaders (those conferences everywhere in the globe don’t come cheap) and to interfere inappropriately in the political arena. For many of the leaders, it’s a huge power trip–and has nothing to do with any concern for the people who are paying the shot. The amalgamation of many unions into larger and larger blocks–many of which have no interests in common except for commanding more power–is another abuse of the average worker. If all the workers were paying a reasonable sum for their union dues, they could easily afford to pay for their own health care insurance, or pay more into their retirement funds. The union leaders have huge mobs of hostages that they control to push their personal agendas and maintain power. (There are similarities with the system of aboriginal governments in this country. The members have no importance except for the money, and the votes they represent.) None of these people have a choice about belonging. You sign up for the union or you don’t work. There can be some griping and some attempts to influence the outcome of resolutions that come up at public meetings, but these are always well-orchestrated to produce a certain outcome. People need to revolt against these tyrannies. Groups that were once set up to defend the workers against abuse have now become the abusers. Wisconsin has become a test case which will have major ramifications down the line. I believe they have to win this because the pendulum has swung too far.

  17. Where’s Buzz Hargrove when you need somebody to stick up for Canada’s overpaid union members?
    They’re just fighting the man for their fair share, says Buzz, as his member’s compensation packages rise higher and higher than the average private sector worker.

  18. @set you free: Speaking of Buzz Hargrove. I remember a decade or so ago the CAW representing both Air Canada and Canadian Airlines, with the latter going on strike. The result was the demise of Canadian Airlines and what the CAW saw as a monopoly for Air Canada. Shortly thereafter, Westjet came to life–no union.

  19. Here’s how gubmint union negotiations go.
    Union negotiator: “Give us more money and we’ll kick back 10%.”
    Gubmint negotiator, negotiating on the part of taxpaying schmucks: “Done.”

  20. Let’s hope the rank and file recall their unions’ ” leadership “. I wonder what the chat around union watercoolers is like this morning. I bet it’s interesting.

  21. You always hear the union hacks say that “corporations and business are greedy”. They always use the word “greed”. But the truth is simply
    Unions demand the highest compensation for the lowest amount of output.
    Competitive business and corporations strive for the highest output for the least amount of cost.
    Now who really is greedy?

  22. This should have OBOZO and the DNC seeing the wrintin’ on the wall.
    Wisconsin WAS a blue state and the the earlier state election involved massive external financing and manpower from the unions and DNC…
    These elements are politically astute and recognized this a make or break situation…..Nationally.
    They were correct….it was a Stalingrad/El Almein event….The Dems can now face a “Napolean’s Retreat” scenario…
    No doubt the publicity of the “Debt Ceiling Crisis” was big factor…

  23. “Groups that were once set up to defend the workers against abuse have now become the abusers”
    That’s the problem “in a nutshell”. Good post,rita.
    I’m a former Union member,many years back. One thing that always bothered me is that at meetings,any vote taken was by show of hands,and there was plenty of verbal intimidation to make a member go along with the Union line.
    When I,(as a shop steward) questioned this practice,and asked for secret ballots,the Union brass said secret ballots were undemocratic,and voters would be prone to intimidation by management!
    Talk about “doublespeak”!
    And speaking of Union bosses’,one of my relatives is a staunch and fully believing member of CUPW, and he said the Union boss gets the same wage as the average worker.
    I was astounded,but in trying to debate the point, it became obvious that it would be easier trying to convince the Ayatollah Khameini that Mohammed was a pedophile.

  24. The union movement is in the sunset of it’s years.
    It might take awhile to disappear especially in Canada -read civil service unions.
    In tough times the futility of a union becomes increasing apparent. Witness the auto workers who lost their jobs in Michigan.
    Speaking of the Buzzard, he didn’t last long working for the NHL players association. Less than a year.

  25. Three cheers for Gov. Walker.
    dmorris, agreed about rita’s comment and about your experience, as I had the same experience in the early 1970s with the UAW. Also, my late father-in-law worked at GM in St. Catharines for 26 years before retiring and would agree with you. The votes were constantly manipulated to get the outcome the union wanted. There are now about 5,000 workers there today, while there were about 15,000 there in the two plants in the 1960s.

  26. Since state ‘services’ are considered something too important for the market to decide and;
    Since that justifies a monopoly delivery by the state that would not be tolerated by anti-trust laws in the US for example;
    Therefore, unless there is some private sector delivery of the same service (post office, for example), the concept of a union in a government monopoly is best abandoned and should be banned.

  27. Recall is changing from an ‘in extremis’ remedy to a way to refresh parts of the legislature each time political moods shift. ‘Every day is election day’ is the logical end point. This causes some havoc but makes a more responsive or democratic legislature. What do you think?

  28. Combined spending between the Dems, unions and ‘interested parties’ closer to $60M.
    State conservatives are re-energised by the outcome yesterday as they had no realistic way of competing with the $$$ spent by the unions and other aligned groups.
    Interesting to see what next Tuesday’s voting brings. The folks in those two districts were REALLY p*ssed that their senators (D®) fled the state instead of doing their job. Recall petitions were already submitted in one of the districts up for vote next week before the Dems got the idea to try for the six other seats. So far, the ‘R’ candidates in those districts have been focusing on the ‘fleebagging’ aspect and that Wisconsin is now in a much better financial shape than it was before the State Finance Bill was passed (you know, the one that strips government unions of SOME of their bargaining rights, like collective bargaining for health care and not just giving the money to a union-owned insurance firm charging 30% more than the industry average).
    Haven’t heard much about what the ‘D’ folks in those districts are running on other than trying to defame their opponents. Don’t think there’s much money left on that side to help them, either.

  30. I don’t think Obama can be recalled. Although, he could certainly be impeached as consitutional violations are routine by all presidents these days.

  31. “I think recalling Obama sounds like a plan.”
    I think his mother, the commie, died, you’d have to dig her up to put him back:-)))

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