Some quotes:
Consider the California Teachers Association. Much of the CTA’s clout derives from the fact that, like all government unions, it can help elect the very politicians who negotiate and approve its members’ salaries and benefits. Soon after Proposition 13 became law, the union launched a coordinated statewide effort to support friendly candidates in school-board races, in which turnout is frequently low and special interests can have a disproportionate influence. In often bitter campaigns, union-backed candidates began sweeping out independent board members. By 1987, even conservative-leaning Orange County saw 83 percent of board seats up for grabs going to union-backed candidates. The resulting change in school-board composition made the boards close allies of the CTA.and
In the aftermath of World War II, at the height of its influence, organized labor was dominated by private workers; as a result, union members were often culturally conservative and economically pro-growth. But as government workers have come to dominate the movement, it has moved left. By the mid-nineties, the CTA was supporting causes well beyond its purview as a collective bargaining agent for teachers. In 1994, for instance, it opposed an initiative that prohibited illegal immigrants from using state government programs and another that banned the state from recognizing gay marriages performed elsewhere. Some union members began to complain that their dues were helping to advance a political agenda that they disagreed with. “They take our money and spend it as they see fit,” says Larry Sand, founder of the California Teachers Empowerment Network, an organization of teachers and former teachers opposed to the CTA’s noneducational politicking.
This is a great article. Unions are a perfect example of how human nature can be used by the government to get the support of people to expand its size. I like Boortz's description of government unions: "Government employee unions are a pestilence, a plague. They're worst than the baddest LOCUST SWARM[emp mine] you've ever imagined ...though not nearly as smart and hard working. Oh ... and government employee unions eat taxpayer money instead of crops." Nothing like a good old army of locust to consume everything which is exactly what they are doing. http://boortz.com/nealz_nuze/index.html
ReplyDeleteCali's public pensions alone has a HALF A TRILLION dollar shortfall, "California's governor Schwarzenegger commissioned a study by Stanford University, which has found that California's three public employee pension funds (The California Public Employees' Retirement System [CalPERS], California State Teachers' Retirement System [CalSTRS], and University of California Retirement System [UCRS]) lost $109.7 billion in portfolio value in one year (June '08 to June '09) and are currently in shortfall of "more than half a trillion dollars." http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/04/californias_half_trilliondolla.html
Half a trillion is a lot of money. This does not include other state's pensions funds either. http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/109211/state-debt-woes-grow-too-big-to-camouflage
America is in major financial trouble. Something has to give.
Andy Stern, in the picture above, the communist who has visited the White House a lot stated that he is working towards building a global organization, "Workers of the world unite. It is not just a slogan anymore. It is the way we will have to do our work." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSllsTLkBsw
I would love for one of these union thugs to yell in my face. I dont see how this shit is legal.
ReplyDeleteI hope arnold unloads on these guys. I know I've heard him say how government employees are a heavy burden on their budget. He probably has his hands tied though. We need the terminator!!!