Update: NYC Councilman Confirms Union Strike During Strike, Investigation Lauched

This is a follow-up on a story from yesterday, regarding the supposed sanitation strike in the middle of a blizzard. It seems that a city councilman has confirmed the story but limited it to Queens only. (Video here) Also, it seems that an investigation is being launched by the governor's office to see what really happened:

City Councilman Dan Halloran told the New York Post he was visited by sanitation workers and supervisors from the Department of Transportation (DOT). These workers confessed to intentionally undermining cleanup efforts after they "were told to make the mayor pay for the layoffs, the reductions in rank for the supervisors, shrinking the rolls of the rank and file."

The sources told Halloran they skipped streets on their routes to extend the process and collect overtime, according to the Post.

At a press conference on Dec. 30, both Mayor Bloomberg and Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty said an investigation would be launched.

"It would be an outrage if it took place," said Bloomberg. He neither denied nor confirmed the allegations, but promised an investigation. He also noted that the budget cuts the city is in the process of making haven't been implemented yet.

So, was it government incompetence, or was it more union greed? Hopefully, an investigation is done, and we find out the truth. Because we need to make sure that this level of ineptitude doesn't happen again.

NYC Sanitation Union Bosses Tell Workers to NOT Help Clean-Up Blizzard/Should We Be Skeptical?

New York City and Mayor Michael Bloomberg have enough to deal with just cleaning up the blizzard, in the first place. Now, the unions are intentionally making things much worse by telling sanitation workers not to help out with the blizzard clean-up. Now, that is making the Big Apple a Rotten Apple for New Yorkers, especially first-responders:

These garbage men really stink.

Selfish Sanitation Department bosses from the snow-slammed outer boroughs ordered their drivers to snarl the blizzard cleanup to protest budget cuts -- a disastrous move that turned streets into a minefield for emergency-services vehicles, The Post has learned.

Miles of roads stretching from as north as Whitestone, Queens, to the south shore of Staten Island still remained treacherously unplowed last night because of the shameless job action, several sources and a city lawmaker said, which was over a raft of demotions, attrition and budget cuts.

This is a thug-style tactic, just like we've come to expect from union bosses. They are trying to put all New Yorkers at risk by making it hazardous for police, fire trucks, and ambulances to get to the people that are in need, and they are impeding the city's ability to clean the streets of all of the extra snow because of all of the extra trash on the roads.

Why are they doing this? Because they are upset over the fact that the city has had to trim some of the fat from their overstuffed wallets. New York City is in deep financial debt and needs to get their ship back in order. They don't need unions bullying them and holding New York hostage and endangering everyone's lives just to get a few extra bucks.

Unions need to come to terms with the fact that cuts must be made and deal with it. We all are having to deal with it. They should have to, as well. They can't be allowed to throw these temper tantrums, and we shouldn't give in to them at every turn.

Update: HotAir's Ed Morrissey makes a good point as to why we might want to be skeptical of this report:

I’m a little skeptical, but mainly because the primary source for the conspiracy theory is an elected official who can expect to be held accountable for the poor performance thus far in the Big Apple. Also, the Twin Cities had the same level of snowfall a few weeks ago, and snow removal was a problem for us, too. Minneapolis/St Paul and the first-ring suburbs have a large amount of infrastructure to deal with heavy snowfalls and about a fifth of the population, and we still have huge piles of snow blocking sidewalks downtown. Heck, we can’t even get the Metrodome fixed; now, the estimate for repair and reinflation is the end of March. I’m not sure that NYC could have done better, with its relatively smaller snow-removal infrastructure, lack of places to put the snow, and population density.

Is it possible that this was a coordinated slowdown effort by public-sector unions to make Bloomberg and city officials look incompetent? Sure, but the simpler answers are usually closer to the truth. The simpler answers here are that this was freakishly heavy snowfall in a city not used to such things, and, well, it has a mayor more interested in salt use in restaurants than on the roads.

We should know what is really to blame for this slow response to the blizzard. Is it an indifferent mayor, unusually bad weather, or union bullies? If it is true, could at least one charge of negligent homicide be in order?

Indiana: UAW Harass Plant Workers Using Card Check Rules, Workers Furious...We Warned Ya

Card Check Process Used by Union Organizers Ignites Fury at Indiana Plant
Union organizers are going to great lengths to establish a union in a workplace -- including harassing and intimidating company employees until they sign a card.
FOXNews.com Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Union organizers are going to great lengths to establish a union in a workplace -- including harassing and intimidating company employees until they sign a card.

That the accusations from some workers at the Dana Corporation Auto Parts plant in Albion, Ind.

The Employee Free Choice Act -- known as the "card check" bill pending in Congress -- calls for an easier system to allow employees to form, join, or assist labor organizations. Under the bill, employees can request blank cards from an existing union and request signatures on the card from employees. The legislation allows the company to hold a secret ballot election to decide unionization if 30 percent of employees sign the cards.

Though the bill is still pending, some companies like the Dana Corporation have already begun using the card check process. Union organizers came to the plant two years ago to ask employees to sign a card and join the United Auto Workers -- an effort that was permitted because the company signed a neutrality agreement with the union.

But accusations about the UAW's aggressive campaign to get signatures has ignited fury among plant workers, some of whom claim they were hassled, intimidated and harassed by union organizers until they signed the card.

Some workers allege union organizers followed them to their cars -- and even showed up at their homes demanding a signature.

"We're here in a little town and we're a a plant of 50 some people -- you know the last thing you need is to have the union coming to your door saying I want your name," Dana employee Jamie Oliver told FOX News.

Some plant employees claimed the card check process created divisiveness at work, causing some employees to be threatened by coworkers who had wanted the union.

The UAW declined to give comment to FOX News on the employees' complaints.

The latest version of the Employee Free Choice Act was introduced to both chambers of Congress on March 10, 2009.

FOX News' Brian Wilson contributed to this report.


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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/03/25/card-check-process-used-union-organizers-ignites-fury-indiana-plant/

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My Thoughts

Isn't this exactly what we've been telling everyone will happen, if card check passes? This "Soprano" style of vote getting will be commonplace at many workplaces across the country, if the unions and Democrats get their way.

Unions have ruined the auto and airline industries and education. Unchecked they will wreck the whole economy like they did during the Great Depression.

Democrats: What Is Good For Mexicans Isn't Necessarily Good For Americans

Friday, February 20, 2009 |

Examiner Editorial Special Report:Card Check co-sponsors favor secret ballot for Mexico, but not for U.S. workers
By Kevin Mooney Editorial Staff Writer |
2/20/09 5:44 AM

Democrats leading the charge in 2009 for legislation that critics say will abolish secret ballots for employees voting in U.S. workplace unionization contests signed a 2001 letter urging Mexican officials to protect their workers’ electoral privacy as a defense against union thugs.

The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA or “Card Check”) would allow labor activists to gather signatures from 51 percent of employees to force a company to accept a unionized workplace. Current law requires a representation election in which workers are guaranteed a secret ballot.

Critics, including officials with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Right to Work Committee and Members of Congress from both parties who oppose EFCA, say the card system invites abuse because workers could be intimidated into signing.

Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), the main “card check bill” sponsor on the House side, and nine other Democratic co-sponsors,” all signed the letter to Mexico demanding that the secret ballot be maintained. Rep. Joe Baca (D-Calif.),  Rep. Bob Filner (D-Calif.), Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.),  Rep. James McGovern (D-Mass.), Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.). all joined Miller in both co-sponsoring EFCA and signing the 2001 letter.

“We understand the secret ballot is allowed for, but not required by Mexican labor law. However, we feel that the secret ballot is absolutely necessary in order to ensure that workers are not intimidated into voting for a union they might not otherwise choose,” Miller and the other card check co-sponsors said in the letter.

“We respect Mexico as an important neighbor and a trading partner, and we feel that the increased use of the secret ballot in union recognition elections will help bring real democracy to the Mexican workplace,” they said.

Aaron Albright, a spokesperson for Democrats on the Education and Labor Committee, told The Washington Examiner that EFCA has been on the receiving end of “corporate misinformation” and that it will not jeopardize the secret ballot for workers.

“These are two separate situations,” Albright said. “These workers in Mexico were represented by a sham union and they were trying to replace this company dominated union with an independent one. In that circumstance a secret ballot is absolutely warranted and is the same as the law in this country, and it’s going to remain the same as this country. It’s a particular situation that was occurring in Mexico that the letter was addressing; the law will be exactly the same here.”

“My fellow Members of Congress and I wrote to Mexican authorities in 2001 arguing in favor of a secret ballot election in a specific case, where workers were trying to replace a phony, company-dominated union with an independent union,” Baca told The Washington Examiner.  “The Employee Free Choice Act is responsible legislation that is consistent with this principle.”

The 2001 letter makes a strong case for the secret ballot in union representation elections everywhere, said Alexa Marrero, a spokesman for Republican labor committee members.

“I could not have defended secret ballots better myself,” she said. “I think they spell out exactly why voters could be pressured into voting for a union that they don’t support in their own words and I think this is incredibly relevant to the discussion today.”

The public is becoming more aware of the “card check bill’s” true intentions and they understand that it would put secret ballots in jeopardy contrary to what the co-sponsors have argued, Marrero said.

Union officials predicted after the 2008 congressional elections that EFCA would be approved by Congress within its first 100 days of 2009, thanks to expanded Democratic majorities, Marrero said.

“The dynamics have changed and the Democrats seem to be slowly backing away from the bill,” she said. “The more the public knows about this legislation, the less they like it. “Our strategy right from the beginning has been to push as much information out there as we can to let people know what exactly is at stake and what this legislation would do.”


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http://www.dcexaminer.com/opinion/columns/special-editorial-reports/Examiner-Editorial-Special-ReportCard-Check-co-sponsors-favor-secret-ballot-for-Mexico-but-not-for-US-workers-39875112.html

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My Thoughts

Typical liberal double standard and hypocrisy. The Big Labor movement is too strong within the party. This letter shows that they know better than to actually put card check into law. We'll see if they really will do things that are better for the American people as a whole or do what is best for them by catering to their very liberal base.