Curmudgeon's Corner
cur-mud-geon: anyone who hates hypocrisy and pretense and has the temerity to say so; anyone with the habit of pointing out unpleasant facts in an engaging and humorous manner
Boycott Threats
Some statistics from Indiana show the apparent result in that state of the changes made in collective bargaining rules by Governor Daniels. Those results, I suspect, are most likely common knowledge among labor leaders nationally, and the results of that knowledge are driving the all-out battle being waged in Wisconsin.
The Wall Street Journal included the following stats in an editorial yesterday that was titled “Wisconsin Unions Get Ugly” that discussed the efforts by a Field Representative, Jim Parrett, from AFSCME Council 24 to get ‘union supporter’ posters displayed in store front windows using a boycott threat if the displaying of posters is not agreed to by the business.
I quote from that piece:
“Union chiefs like Mr. Parrett know what that means for their political clout. After taking office in 2005, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels used an executive order to end collective bargaining for public workers – a power granted by former Governor Evan Bayh.
The number of state public employees has since fallen to 28,700 from 35,000. But more important, the vast majority of those employees stopped paying union dues. Today, 1,490 state employees pay union dues in Indiana, down from 16,408 in 2005. Similar declines have played out in Washington State and Utah, when those states gave members the freedom to choose.
This is the prospect that has Wisconsin labor leaders so furious these days – furious enough that they’ll even threaten the livelihoods of local business owners who won’t join them at the barricades. This is the nasty modern reality of government union power.”
If union members are members because they desire to be members, that is fine and ought to be encouraged. The results from Indiana, Washington and Utah, if the conclusions as to cause are valid, seem to point to union members voting with their denial of monthly contributions.
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