Update on NY School Bus Union Mob Ties
July 3, 2008 | Filed Under Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Media Bias, News, Publius Contributor, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments
-By Warner Todd Huston
We’ve reported on this story several times in the past and we have a conclusion for at least one of the mobbed-up participants in this case. The former president of the union representing 15,000 New York school bus drivers, Salvatore Battaglia, has been sentenced to four years and nine months in Federal prison after he leaded guilty to extortion and receiving bribes from mobsters under the control of Matthew Ianniello, the former acting boss of the Genovese crime family.
Mr. Battaglia was the president of Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union from 2002 to 2006, when he lost the job because of his indictment in the case. In that indictment, he was accused of being a member of the Genovese family.
Two other union officials have pleaded guilty to charges in the case. Julius Bernstein, an employee and officer of Local 1181 for more than 30 years, pleaded guilty in August 2006 to working with the Genovese family since the 1950s and admitted crimes including labor racketeering, extortion, bribery, gambling and obstruction of justice. Ann Chiarovano, an employee of the union for more than 40 years, also pleaded guilty in August 2006 to charges of obstruction of justice.
Despite constant claims to the contrary by union supporters, the Mob has never been very far away from any union. At least these mob controlled union thugs were apprehended and kudos to the investigators for doing so.
Unions Says Public Has No Right to Know About State Payments to Unions
July 1, 2008 | Filed Under Business, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Elections, Media Bias, News, Publius Contributor, Society/Culture, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments
-By Warner Todd Huston
What happened when the Evergreen Freedom Foundation decided to request the public government records of the negotiations between unions and government in Washington State? All hell broke loose, that’s what.
The bloated public employee unions banded together to stop the public from finding out what went on between the government and the unions during the negotiations of state contracts — that is contracts FUNDED by tax money, by the way — for employee benefits and rules. They filed suit saying that the public had no right to know how their own tax money was to be spent.
One union official even said that if he thought his words would become public record he would “not be comfortable speaking” until he had “fully thought through” what he had to say. Of course, this forces one to wonder why he would open his yap without thinking about what he is saying whether his yammering would be public knowledge or not?
Yes, the Unions fought the EFF tooth and nail to keep their negotiations secret from the very public that is paying their bills.
Check out the whole outrageous story at Capital Research Center’s “When unions negotiate with governments” and download the PDF report. Its a great read and a cautionary tale that supports our contention here on the Union Label Blog that unions are antithetical to good government.
Washington State’s Union Bought Governor
June 28, 2008 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Government, Corruption, Media Bias, News, Publius Contributor, Society/Culture, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments
-By Warner Todd Huston
Democrat Governor Christine Gregoire won the governorship of Washington State in 2004 under a cloud of suspicion and possible voter fraud. The election was very close and after a recount Gregoire’s Republican rival still had the win. But, the Democrats weren’t happy with the recount. They wanted a second and calls went out for giant donations to get it done.
To steal the governorship Gregoire’s biggest donors were unions. Teachers unions and labor unions donated big money. Once the miraculous second recount suddenly showed that the Democrats had won (by 129 votes), Gregoire settled into office.
And then the payback began with unions making out like fat cats.
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Union Basically Proposes Gov’t Run Grocery/Drug Stores?
June 27, 2008 | Filed Under Business, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Media Bias, News, Publius Contributor, Society/Culture, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments
-By Warner Todd Huston
It sure seems as if a union head has basically proposed that the government take over grocery and drug stores in New York. John R. Durso, president of Local 338 of the Retail Worker Department Store/United Food and Commercial Workers union, wrote in a recent public statement that the people cannot expect stores to serve the public and that government should step in with more legislation.
A recent report by the New York state’s attorney threatened a lawsuit against the drug store chains Rite Aid and CVS after an investigation found that expired goods were being sold at stores in New York. This prompted the union chief to say that the investigation “proves that we shouldn’t rely on drug stores to provide necessary food items to the community.”
Durso’s union supports a program of incentives and tax breaks to encourage development of supermarkets, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing in and of itself. But, what his statement said could easily be taken to further ends than mere tax breaks. If we cannot expect businesses to serve the public, what is left if not a take over of supermarkets and drug stores by government?
Imagine the big government aspect of this sort of idea? Big brother responsible for feeding us? What would follow, of course, would be price fixing and rationing once price fixing began to negatively affect the market. Ah, but the union thugs would have life easy if this all happened. After all, one apparently cannot be fired from a government job!
Once again the lesson is that unions are antithetical to the public weal, wholly detrimental to good government.
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Anti-Union Ads in Colorado Raising Ruckus
June 24, 2008 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, Media Bias, News, Publius Contributor, Society/Culture, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments
-By Warner Todd Huston
Looks like the union thugs in Colorado are getting a bit worried that the Center for Union Facts TV ads are making people aware of the sham the unions are trying to perpetrate on Coloradans with their opposition to Amendment 47.
Even though TV 9 News’ report leans in favor of the unions, the story does give TCUF a little space to layout some of their issues.
The ads running on stations around Denver, including 9NEWS, are paid for by the Center for Union Facts. It’s an organization founded more than two years ago because “labor bosses were going unchallenged,” said spokesman Tim Miller. “The commercials are our way to educate the public about the mismanagement of union dues.”
Amendment 47 is a hot button issue for Colorado and if passed would prevent unions from collecting mandatory dues from people that don’t want to join the union.
Teachers Unions Succeed in Ending Scholarships
June 22, 2008 | Filed Under Business, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Education, News, Publius Contributor, Society/Culture, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments
-By Warner Todd Huston
One would assume that everyone wants to see that our kids get the best education possible. I mean, who could possibly be against kids getting the best opportunities? Well, apparently the one entity that you’d expect to really care about kids is the one standing in the way of their education: teachers. Sadly, it is obvious that teachers as a group don’t care a whit about kids, at least as far as their union is concerned.
Take the Republican led policy called the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program. It is a program that provides worthy minority student in the Washington D.C. school system with $7,500 a year for tuition and fees at private schools. We all know that government schools are nearly universally substandard and this program helps minority kids find their way to better schools so that they might get a better education.
Naturally, the Teachers union opposes it.