Public Employee Union Protests

[RightJungle]

Tuesday 02/22/2011 I attended a protest rally at the Des Moines Capital. A number of unions were represented there, but no SEIU members showed up.

This Saturday in all 50 states at noon SEIU is planning to hold a protest at the state capitals. Some of the Iowa Tea Partiers and 912ers will be there, but those of us who went on Tuesday might not. We also have lives. Still, it is aggravating that we had two of these in one week.

Word going out is that these rally/protests are going to get more frequent and more organized. Sheesh.

[caroljane]

Tuesday 02/22/2011 I attended a protest rally at the Des Moines Capital. A number of unions were represented there, but no SEIU members showed up.

This Saturday in all 50 states at noon SEIU is planning to hold a protest at the state capitals. Some of the Iowa Tea Partiers and 912ers will be there, but those of us who went on Tuesday might not. We also have lives. Still, it is aggravating that we had two of these in one week.

Word going out is that these rally/protests are going to get more frequent and more organized. Sheesh.

Don't be downhearted. You can only do what you can do, and you are doing a lot. I don't agree with your principles on unions, but I respect them and like your practical cheerful approach to applying them.

May I add that I am so glad to see another woman (I think you make 5!) posting regularly here. Not just because I have an ulterior motive, which is my obsession with the royal wedding and Kate's dress, and I would like to start a thread but there is some ridicule from the guys on here that even I could not take.

[Selene]

Mary Lee:

Precisely. I got an automated call tonight at 7:20 P.M. announcing a counter demonstration at Trenton tomorrow at noon. Ridiculously late notice. My day is already booked.

However, there is also a nationwide rally by the marxists: Let Saturday, February 26, 2011, mark the beginning of the national movement to renew the American Dream and return us to the moral center — where everybody counts, and everybody matters.

“Moveon.org and others have issued just this kind of call to action; everyone should prioritize responding and turning out in large numbers,” Jones says in an op-ed on the Huffington Post titled, “Introducing the ‘American Dream’ Movement.”

“On Saturday, the powers-that-be (in both parties) should see a rainbow force coming together: organized workers, business leaders, veterans, students and youth, faith leaders, civil rights fighters, women’s rights champions, immigrant rights defenders, LGBTQ stalwarts, environmentalists, academics, artists, celebrities, community activists, elected officials and more — all standing up for what’s right.”

We had better be prepared because they are.

Adam

[RightJungle]

Mary Lee:

Precisely. I got an automated call tonight at 7:20 P.M. announcing a counter demonstration at Trenton tomorrow at noon. Ridiculously late notice. My day is already booked.

However, there is also a nationwide rally by the marxists: Let Saturday, February 26, 2011, mark the beginning of the national movement to renew the American Dream and return us to the moral center — where everybody counts, and everybody matters.

"Moveon.org and others have issued just this kind of call to action; everyone should prioritize responding and turning out in large numbers," Jones says in an op-ed on the Huffington Post titled, "Introducing the 'American Dream' Movement."

"On Saturday, the powers-that-be (in both parties) should see a rainbow force coming together: organized workers, business leaders, veterans, students and youth, faith leaders, civil rights fighters, women's rights champions, immigrant rights defenders, LGBTQ stalwarts, environmentalists, academics, artists, celebrities, community activists, elected officials and more — all standing up for what's right."

We had better be prepared because they are.

Adam

We aren't. That is what has me all down in the mouth right now. So many of the good guys aren't even following the story, let alone making up their minds to join the resistance.

[Selene]

Mary:

I unfortunately agree with you as to the preparedness of our side.

These next few months will be a holding action. The more egregious these public sector unions get; the better for our position.

The following surprised two individuals who were opposed to public sector unions having collective bargaining power surprised me:

F.D.R. Warned Us

Updated February 19, 2011, 09:38 PM

James Sherk is the Bradley fellow in labor policy at the Center for Data Analysis at the Heritage Foundation.

"It is impossible to bargain collectively with the government."

That wasn't Newt Gingrich, or Ron Paul, or Ronald Reagan talking. That was George Meany -- the former president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O -- in 1955. Government unions are unremarkable today, but the labor movement once thought the idea absurd.

Public sector unions insist on laws that serve their interests -- at the expense of the common good.

The founders of the labor movement viewed unions as a vehicle to get workers more of the profits they help create. Government workers, however, don't generate profits. They merely negotiate for more tax money. When government unions strike, they strike against taxpayers. F.D.R. considered this "unthinkable and intolerable."

Government collective bargaining means voters do not have the final say on public policy. Instead their elected representatives must negotiate spending and policy decisions with unions. That is not exactly democratic – a fact that unions once recognized.

FDR and George Meany vehemently opposed collective barganing for public sector unions!

Adam

CNJ’s Cartoon of the Day

Posted on February 25, 2011, 7:00 AM, by Richard Zuendt, under CNJ Cartoon of the Day. Today's cartoon is by Nate Beeler

Edited February 26, 2011 by Selene