Don''s Tuesday Column

THE WAY I SEE IT   by Don Polson   Red Bluff Daily News   9/19/2023

Never had much use for unions

It’s been wall-to-wall, horse-race coverage, with the kind of thinly-veiled urgency previously rolled out for COVID alarmism (vastly overblown in service to big-government Democrats), fate-of-American “democracy” hanging in the mid-terms (likewise in service to big-government Democrats), “Climate change” alarmism (ditto); imminent civilizational collapse if Donald Trump is not defeated in 2020 (repeat). Apocalyptical reporting accompanied a) if Donald Trump was not removed from office, b) federal budgets grew at a fraction of what Democrats want, c) parents control children’s education, ad infinitum, ad nauseum.

“The economy hangs in the balance if automotive unions shut down factories” they say. “Prove it,” I say. Are we supposed to be intimidated because “for the first time ever,” they strike all manufacturers simultaneously? This is not France where blind union solidarity means every unionized job comes to a grinding halt so workers can do what anarchist, quasi-violent-to-get-their-way marchers and barricade “man-ers” jack themselves up for: “General Strike” massive street protests, enabled by sympathetic or quisling politicians.

If French authorities step in to quell the chaos with confrontational, tear-gas-infused measures—so much the better for the nightly news to ramp up hysteria to give in to demands. Meanwhile, you’d be surprised at how entrenched unions are in the news business. I read about membership in the IBEW among news organizations (“Electrical Workers”—really?). Shouldn’t be surprising after watching the Hollywood writers’ “guild” strike together with sympathetic actors and other indispensable “legends in their own minds.”

Perspective lacking in your “unionized” Associated Press and union-favoring network and broadcast news sources: American union membership is at an all-time low—6 percent for the private sector, around 33 percent for government workers for an average of 9 to 10 percent (BLS). If I could wave a wand, I would banish public employee, especially teachers, unions.

President Ronald Reagan struck a bold blow when he fired the air traffic controllers that went on strike. A villain to some, hero to most, Reagan’s move should have been the first step in removing the malign influence of federal employee unions. President FDR and automotive leader Ralph Meaney were opposed to unionizing public sector workers for the obvious reason that they become the opponents, the enemies, if you will, negotiating against the taxpayers paying their salaries.

You must see the inherent corruption of unions funding candidates whose approval is required in negotiations. Play ball Mr. Candidate and we’ll be there to encourage higher pay—“scratch that spot on my back.” Law enforcement “associations” serve an advocacy role against the anti-cop, “defund” movements but that is being attacked so that police and sheriffs’ deputies can be persecuted for reasonable, necessary uses of force to control increasingly violent, drug-addled criminals who care not a whit when innocent moms and children suffer.

Would it make a difference in your opinion to know that there are massive, non-unionized factories in “right-to-work” states, making competitive wages and benefits to their union co-workers? You mean the news coverage literally ignores that? Without cable or dish access, I can only conjecture what those slanted news organizations are reporting. However, it doesn’t surprise me that the pro-criminal, pro-leftist, pro-Democrat media is also pro-union and reluctant to undermine union demands.

It seems that fleet changeovers to battery-run cars and trucks is a death knell for much of the auto industry, so it’s a “left-on-left” Biden-crats vs. unions brawl. Nothing wrong with liking an EV, just not with my money for subsidies.

“Never had much use for unions” is an understatement. I hate unions. From my grade school years in Canastota, New York, where my dad was hired to cut a bloated unionized workforce rife with cronyism, nepotism, “gold-bricking,” and thinly-veiled interference in attempts by a school bus factory to fulfill military transport orders—I saw the brutish undermining of a company’s reasonable performance demands. The factory shut down and relocated to a Southern State.

Then, as a manager for General Electric in Syracuse, New York, Dad shared nightly stories of property destruction, “keying” and acid flung on cars of those breaking the picket lines. That sums up the leftist, union movement right there: violence and intimidation enlisted to force people, workers and company owners and managers to accede to union demands.

Thus has it ever been—violence, injury, death and destruction—whatever it takes to force others to your position. Spare me the nostalgic bull crap about the many benefits of the union movement: work week and work day limits; benefits and retirement plans. The biggest scandals and corruption of workers’ money have been over “union pensions” squirreled away for union bosses’ lavish lifestyles.

Many states already prohibit public employee unions; where they exist—and they have no place in the public school system—their role should be to merely advocate for fair wages, benefits and application of workplace rules. Never, ever to strike, or to use their weight to force boutique, favored curriculum preferences like Critical Race Theory and the sick sexual perversion of “trans,” or sex-change, cross dressing policies for children. Yay, management!