Barack Obama: Unions' Butt Boy
In the WashTimes, Mark Mix writes:
In his book "The Audacity of Hope," then-candidate Barack Obama, when talking about his relationship with Big Labor union officials, wrote: "I owe those unions. When their leaders call, I do my best to call them back right away. I don't consider this corrupting in any way."Fours year later, it's become clear he did a lot more than just call them. Countless giveaways to organized labor have ensured that Washington union bosses owe the president and will spend more than a billion dollars to ensure President Obama's return to the White House.
You see, the largest special interest in the upcoming elections is Big Labor. Every year, union officials collect more than $14 billion from hardworking Americans, many of whom want nothing to do with unions. Union officials routinely funnel union dues and mandatory fees from nonunion workers into political campaigns aimed at defending or expanding their already extensive special privileges.
One of the worst unions is the New York City teachers' union. Tracy Oppenheimer writes for reason:
"The teachers union in New York City got together with the NAACP and sued to essentially kick charter schools out of buildings," says Bob Bowdon, founder of education reform homepage Choice Media TV.
More from the NY Post:
Abusive, criminal or just plain incompetent teachers can all rest easy: In this city, their jobs are perfectly safe.And too bad for the kids in the schools.
That's the bitter lesson from The Post's reports this week about teachers who slap kids, booze it up in class, steal from the government or just can't teach -- but still manage to hang on to their jobs.
For that, thank the city's stacked teachers-union rules, which make it incredibly hard to fire teachers, no matter how lousy.
And from a previous blog item I posted, referring to former LA Mayor Richard Riordan who spoke at a Reason Foundation school choice night:
I think it was Riordan who said that schools are now designed to serve adults -- teachers! -- not students. And really, the whole deal is about power and money for the union, not even about teachers.
Obi wrote a book???
Stinky the Clown at September 2, 2012 7:25 AM
Unions have forgotten why they were created in the first place, and now they're just another type of management.
When I was a library clerk in the eighties, I belonged to a union, which was actually for store clerks. They apparently didn't know what to do with us, so they put us in a union that had nothing to do with us. And while they happily took our dues, they were of no use whatsoever that I could see.
What really pissed me off was that they wanted us to picket a grocery store that was non-union. This store didn't need a union! The clerks were treated great by the owner. They were totally content with the benefits and wages and the whole attitude of the place, which was considered a good place to work. One of those places where you had to wait for someone to die before there would be a vacancy.
This owner was already giving it's employees the rights that the unions were formed to force management to assure, but the union could not possibly acknowledge that a business existed that did not need them.
Pricklypear at September 2, 2012 11:29 AM
The teachers union in New York City got together with the NAACP and sued to essentially kick charter schools out of buildings,"
Since Charter schools have been one of the only success points for minority inner city children, it really shows where the NAACPs values lie, with Union politics or with the betterment of minority children.
Charter schools work, so much better than the union run schools, it's ridiculous.
Joe J at September 2, 2012 12:31 PM
Most unions outlived there usefulness a generation ago.
The days of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire are long past.
Jim P. at September 3, 2012 8:49 AM
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