If you will recall, I wrote a column last week entitled “Union Thuggery” about a union move to unionize the local police force in my community.

Well, I’m here live at City Council tonight and the union members have showed up complete with protest signs saying they are not thugs.

I think the local paper will be excited to know so many read the paper. The SEIU is also passing out fliers targeting me and several other members of Council for a vote to allow the city’s Mayor to furlough employees without Council approval.

I guess I am doing something right.

Consider this an open thread.

The lefties are rather mad at me this morning.

The other day some of the police officers here in Macon, GA where I’m on city council suggested they were going to form a union. I, in turn, suggested I was going to push to shut down the police department and contract with our local sheriff for police protection.

Makes sense to me. A public sector union pits public servants against tax payers and a police union pits those who protect against those they protect.

I have a column on this today in our local paper.

Here’s an excerpt:

Admittedly, we need to do something to improve our police department. Pay is crummy and morale is bad. I have long advocated changes in the department’s leadership, and I think we should still consider it. Likewise, we have the ability to implement a pay scale if Macon’s City Council were willing to make tough choices about benefits.

Nonetheless, a unionized police force would be cutting off the officers’ noses to spite their faces. We should probably consider firing them just on principle.

According to several lawyers I have talked to, unionized police in Georgia do not get the benefits of collective bargaining with the city relating to the terms and benefits of employment. Likewise, they do not get to strike. But they do get to join and pay dues. If they want to throw their money away, sure, let them unionize. Knowing, however, that we have officers on payroll who have no problem throwing money down the drain suggests a purge might be worth considering.

Unions served a useful purpose in this country once, but that time has long since passed. We know that unions drive up costs. American car manufacturers are a testament to union costs and inefficiencies. Non-union automakers routinely out perform union automakers. Union work costs more than non-union work. Union rules regarding employee discipline incentivize lazy, undisciplined and selfish workforces.

We know that unions take thuggery to a new level. All one needs to see are videotapes of health care town halls throughout August. The assemblies might have been vocal, but were without violence until the SEIU and AFL-CIO showed up. A unionized police force would be just one more gang our police would have to deal with.

You can read the whole thing here.

When we allow government to grow large, and especially large and unionized, the effects on our society are greater than just the weight of the government yoke on the backs of the American people. There are other, hidden effects to consider when such concentrations of left-wing power are brought together.

That is a lesson all Americans can take from the latest from the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, CalPERS. Consider what will be ahead for CalPERS if Muriel Strand, a candidate for the CalPERS Board of Administration, gets her way:

I believe retirees’ real economic needs - clean air and water, healthy food, and warmth - are more important that strictly financial benefits, which could conceivably fall short of what’s needed even with the COLA.

That’s right; she’s ready, willing, and able to sacrifice the people she’s charged with looking out for, by sacrificing their retirements in order to push her radical left-wing political agenda. There’s no guarantee she’ll win, but her words are already in line with long-standing CalPERS trends.

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We should pay attention to this story, though it is flying under the radar.

It seems the feds are investigating whether a union boss who is also a government employee campaigned for Barack Obama while on the clock at a government facility.

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel is probing whether Ronald Demicheli improperly taped a video criticizing 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain in an office at the National Energy Technology Laboratory near Pittsburgh, said Ward Morrow, a lawyer for the American Federation of Government Employees.

Brian’s got the details at the Conservatives.

The U.S. Department of Labor web site acknowledges that Labor Day originated as

a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

Now there’s no harm in honoring those who labor - hard-working Americans are the backbone of the greatest free-market economy in the world…and we hope it stays that way, Obama’s socialism fetish notwithstanding.

But on this Labor Day weekend, isn’t it interesting that Gallup has just published the results of a poll showing that for the first time since the mid-1930s, less than 50% of Americans approve of labor unions?

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There has not been a lot of coverage of this. It happened back in July and is only now winding its way through the federal system.

Barack Obama and his administration are about to significantly drive up the costs of federal building construction. This is an astonishing reach. The Office of Management and Budget has directed that any federal construction over $25 million benefit unions.

The order would make all federal construction projects 10-20% more expensive by requiring all contractors to either use union workers or apply inefficient union apprenticeship and work rules to their employees. Contractors would also be required to make contributions to union pension funds and other union programs that non-union workers will never benefit from.

This will hugely drive up the cost of construction of federal buildings and line the pockets of unions without even having union workers involved in the projects. The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that only 15.6% of private construction workers in America belong to unions. In other words, 8 out of 10 construction workers in America will be legally denied the right to work on federal building projects.

This is appalling.

Great news in the midst of a recession, right?

Tomorrow, Pittsburgh is going to be home to thousands of political activists from both sides of the aisle. (Although if you watch cable news you would think it was only the left.) Netroots Nation and RightOnline are both in town for their annual events. And although there will probably be little if any crossover traffic, there is certain to be crossover content.

Take, for example, card check, otherwise known as the inaptly named Employee Free Choice Act. Tomorrow at RightOnline the first afternoon session is titled: “Forced Unionization: Card Check, Mandatory Arbitration, & Right to Work,” on why and how card check will cement progressive power.

At Netroots Nation, the AFL-CIO is hosting a session titled “The Secret Plan to Defeat the Right Forever,” on why and how card check will cement progressive power. It’s going on right now, but you won’t find it on the AFL-CIO site. They recently deleted the blog entry discussing it. Curious.

I was able to interview Erik Telford of the Americans for Prosperity Foundation, organizer of RightOnline, about just why it is that both the left and the right would have such a similarly themed session at the respective events. Keep reading for that interview PLUS: the blog post the AFL-CIO doesn’t want you to see.

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You know what a parasite is, don’t you? In common usage you probably do, but I think a quick lesson in biology is in order, because I use the term in a particular and specific way, and I use it to describe unions in America.

But first, today’s example of why unions are the disease-ridden tapeworms that parasitize and infect America, and why Card Check should never be allowed to see the light of day anytime, anywhere. The New York Post reports today that the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades local organizers set up a 12-foot tall inflatable rat outside St. Monica’s Catholic Church to protest the use of non-union painters.

Jack Kittle, the union’s political director, said the action wasn’t targeting the church, but was focused on the company hired to paint the inside of the sanctuary. But then he launched into a blistering attack on the Archdiocese of New York.

“The archdiocese is not interested in doing things the right way. We tried discussing it with them. They’re digging in their heels and they want to do this wrong,” Kittle said.

“They can’t hide behind the robes they wear and exploit workers. That’s why the rat was there,” he fumed.

On that note, let’s talk about parasites.

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A friend sends along the suggestion that we all remember the lyrics to “Look for the Union Label”.

Look for the union label
when you are buying that coat, dress or blouse.

Remember somewhere our union’s sewing,
our wages going to feed the kids, and run the house.

We work hard, but who’s complaining?
Thanks to the I.L.G. we’re paying our way!

So always look for the union label,
it says we’re able to make it in the U.S.A.!

When the union thugs start harassing you and trying to make it look like you are disrupting the townhall, just start singing “look for the union label” and remind everyone who the real thugs are.

From the diaries by Erick

Liberals have been rattled by the effectiveness of anti-Obamacare protests. We must not relent because we have some momentum. There is plenty of time left in this battle and the Left wing activists are about to launch an organized counterattack.

‘Health Care For America Now’ released a memo on August 4th entitled - Responding To Right Wing Attacks. Must Read. The AFL-CIO announced that is joining their effort and is urging other unions to join as well. They are planning a thirty day counterattack at townhall meetings to disrupt “tea-bagger” efforts. There is little doubt the unions are being mobilized to intimidate and harass. Must Read.

Their macro-national strategy is to ridicule the anti-Obamacare protesters and turn them into a mockery. True to form, the mainstream media is carrying water for Obama and his acolytes and perpetuating this line of attack.

Now, there will be real thugs, real mobs, and real organized paid operatives on the scene. The mainstream media will no doubt turn a blind eye towards the origins, motives and transgressions of these Left wing activists. But we must persevere through this hot, simmering, August recess and fight on.

In honor of the arrival of football season; time to lace ‘em up and strap ‘em on.

If you want to see the logical disconnect of unions and their lap dog lawmakers where it concerns costs to government, one need look no further than the over indulgent healthcare plan that New Hampshire’s state workers have been lavished with.

On July 4, the Boston Globe published a story that details the incredibly rich healthcare plan that state workers have succeeded in getting due to union negotiations with pliant Democrat lawmakers. It seems that they get just about any kind of care they want and all for “free.” It’s called a “Cadillac” healthcare plan and it is amazing for its coverage.

According to the Globe, surgery is free for New Hampshire state workers. So are MRIs, CT scans and X-Rays. It gets even more indulgent.

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Last Friday the Wall Street Journal once again excoriated the president and his henchmen in that mis-educational system so larded with self-interested union thugs (and other Democrats) by pointing out how these ne’er-do-wells are attempting to kill the D.C. school voucher program that has done so much good for so many minority, inner city kids in the Nation’s capitol.

But the end of the editorial also pointed to the fact that Obama wants to perpetrate the same misdeeds against the educational opportunities of our soldier’s kids. It turns out that because the D.C. voucher program is such a success, military families are asking for a similar program. Democrats and Obama are desperate to head this idea off and kill it before it is fairly born — and Democrats have a lot of experience killing things before they are born, we all know.

As far as parents and kids that have had the benefit of the soon to end voucher program, the whole thing is one they don’t want to lose.

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The Hill has news of a new report that will show that Democratic Politicians will make out like fatcats if they are successful in passing the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) this Congressional session.

It is being estimated that unions would gain an additional $320 million to spend on political campaigns and much of this money would go right in the campaign accounts of Democratic politicians in D.C. and elsewhere.

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According to Senator Tom Harkin (D-Labor), the Senate may vote next month on a Card Check compromise:

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) indicated Wednesday that he will be ready to bring up the long-stalled Employee Free Choice Act next month, following weeks of negotiations with key stakeholders.

“We’re in meetings right now. I’m still hopeful that we can get something done,” Harkin said.

The Iowa Democrat has regularly huddled with Democratic Sens. Mark Pryor (Ark.), Charles Schumer (N.Y.) and Arlen Specter (Pa.) to try to hatch a compromise on the measure, known as “card check.” On Tuesday, Harkin included AFL-CIO legislative director Bill Samuel in the talks—an indication that progress is being made.

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As a Virginian and a member of the Republican Governor’s Association, I’m glad that the Democratic primary is settled and now the campaign for Virginia governor can begin. State Senator Creigh Deeds won the primary last night, after trailing by double digits less than three weeks ago.

The stakes in this year’s Virginia gubernatorial race are the highest ever. Even more than New Jersey, the other major off-year contest, the gubernatorial elections in my backyard are predictive of trends that will play out further into the cycle. I know that many felt our best chance would be against Clinton’s money man, Terry McAuliffe, but this Virginia Republican is not concerned. This race is not going to be about who our opponent is. We will win because of what the Republican Party is, and who and what we represent.

I believe our nominee, Bob McDonnell, is a major rising star in this party, and this race will prove it. For one thing, Bob brings a number of qualities to the race that previous GOP candidates in Virginia did not have. Better still, he carries none of their flaws.

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In Pennsylvania, the unions are rallying to support card check, or what they like to refer to as the “Employee Free Choice Act.”

Some local business leaders are going to be rallying with them. The news media there notes

Business leaders will gather in Hanover Township, Lehigh County, this afternoon in support of the Employee Free Choice Act.

The roundtable will be held at 5 o’clock this afternoon at Airport Pizza, 3360 Airport Road, and attendees will express support for federal legislation pending before Congress that will give workers the freedom to form unions and hold corporations accountable. U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., has indicated he wants to hear feedback on the act, and the business owners intend to let him know they support it and he should too, according to a news release.

One of the most vocal local business leaders is a guy with the delightfully adult film-ish name of Erv Fetherman. Mr. Fetherman is cited in the Express-Times as the owner of some business called the “Mail Room,” which is a unionized company already.

They probably could not, in a mainstream news outlet, write about Mr. Fetherman’s other business.

Well, at least I assume Erv Fetherman who owns the Mail Room is the same Erv Fetherman that owns “Erv’s Girls” some 39 feet away from the Mail Room (and yes, it is the Mail Room, not the Male Room).

Erv’s Girls — no word on if it is unionized — claims to be a BYOB strip club where you can’t touch the ladies, but couples are always welcome. If it is the same Erv Fetherman, he’s also been arrested for selling drugs to his strippers.

Perhaps the union representatives should find more upstanding businessmen to support their efforts to destroy private enterprise.

Not long ago the San Diego Union-Tribune got bought up by a private Beverly Hills firm named Platinum Equity. Platinum was heavily invested in by the Los Angeles police pension fund. And so, because the police are large stake owners of the news paper, the police union has called for the firing of certain employees it considers anti-union.

So much for freedom of the press as far as this union is concerned!

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A group called the Economic Policy Institute is touting a paper by Cornell professor Kate Bronfenbrenner who claims to be investigating anti-union forces that she says are growing in intensity, boldness, and power. Bronfenbrenner writes that between 1999 and 2003 employer resistance to union organizing has increased causing unionizing efforts to fail despite what she claims is an increase in the public’s desire to see more union success. But it seems that there are some problems with her methodology: she never talked to anyone but disgruntled union organizers to gather her material.

Bronfenbrenner is concerned that there is mounting efforts in the business community to oppose union organizing and sets out to prove her theory. She investigates several unionizing efforts that failed and compiles some stats on such efforts. But, her facts are self-fulfilling her premise in that the percentage of failed union attempts seem to be higher than the average for National Labor Relations Board elections during the targeted years of study. (This according to Union Free America)

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What, there aren’t any websites run by American workers and hosted in the USA that the AFL-CIO’s Building and Construction Trades Department could find to host its press releases? Apparently not as far as the union is concerned, anyway, because a press release to push a Washington conference in support of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is hosted on PR-USA.net, a misleadingly named site hosted and run in Varna, Bulgaria and registered by one Mr. Dobri Bojilov .

Another amusing aspect of this choice for a site host is the fact that the conference is discussing the issue of H2(b) visa reform. Of course, the H2(b) visa is the the work visa offered to foreign workers by the U.S. government. So, this union is using a foreign website to advocate against the importation of foreign workers. This union is using a foreign run site to advocate for American workers.

Why is the AFL-CIO using a foreign web service to host its press releases? Don’t they care about American workers?

I wonder if the AFL-CIO can spell hypocrisy?

Our stern and earnest president told us that it is time for Americans to sacrifice. Gone are the good times, he’s told us. We are in for austere days, he says. Sacrifice, people, sacrifice. That is the word of the day.

Well, it’s the word for we commoners, anyway. For if you happen to be looking at government don’t expect to find any “sacrifice” going on at any level. In fact, government seems to be a boom business under the president of change and “sacrifice.”

Even CBS News scoffed at the president’s claim that we all must sacrifice when it looked into the flush times that government workers are discovering. CBS found that the average federal worker will see his benefits and pay “leap from $72,800 in 2008 to $75,419 next year.”

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