Topic: Unions

[Punch]

I cant believe that the NLRB would force a union into such an agreement contrary to their interests.  If this is an independent union then the leadership there is clueless.

What you believe has nothing to do with the law.  The laws of this State require that the Union must negotiate for all persons in jobs under its jurisdiction, whether those persons are members or not.  In addition, we must defend them through the third step of the grievance process, whether they are members or not.  It is only when we go to arbitration that the non-member must pay his own way.  The only "fair" thing about it is that most non-members cannot afford the $20,000 price tag of an arbitration, so they end up getting fired.  I have seen two people within the last year that had cases that I am better than 80% sure that we would have won if they could have afforded the arbitration.  Also, the NLRB has no jurisdiction in the public sector.  That is handled by individual State law.

[Maximum Bob]

Interestingly, when we lost the ability to bargin for anything but wages, while the union deals on those would cover non-dues paying employees, we were told that though dues would be voluntary but if you weren't paying dues you would not be represented at all in the event of a problem.

[ialmisry]

The Illinois Policy Institute just came out with a report that only about half the union dues are spent on things that can be said to be directly related to the best interests of its members.  The rest is spent on junkets at Las Vegas and other spots (Chicago?) for union bosses, owning properties such as luxury hotels etc.

[GabrieltheCelt]

The Illinois Policy Institute just came out with a report that only about half the union dues are spent on things that can be said to be directly related to the best interests of its members.  The rest is spent on junkets at Las Vegas and other spots (Chicago?) for union bosses, owning properties such as luxury hotels etc.

Just as suspected.  The union bosses just care about themselves, the employees are seen as money trees.  Shame on them.

[primuspilus]

The Illinois Policy Institute just came out with a report that only about half the union dues are spent on things that can be said to be directly related to the best interests of its members.  The rest is spent on junkets at Las Vegas and other spots (Chicago?) for union bosses, owning properties such as luxury hotels etc.

Just as suspected.  The union bosses just care about themselves, the employees are seen as money trees.  Shame on them.

Luckily for the bosses, the employees are easily whipped into frenzy. Just take a look at public sector unions.

PP

[Jetavan]

Portents of a major social justice conflict among the U.S. bishops rose on the first day of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' annual fall meeting Monday when retired Archbishop Joseph Fiorenza of Galveston-Houston, Texas, denounced a proposed pastoral statement on workers, poverty and the economy as a betrayal of Catholic social teaching.

If approved in its draft form, the statement would be "lampooned" in the Catholic academic world, he said.

Fiorenza, a former USCCB president, said the proposed statement devotes only one short sentence to the long history of Catholic social teaching on workers' rights to organize in unions, to bargain collectively with their employers and to go on strike if their demands for just wages and working conditions are not met.
....
"Every pope from Leo XIII to Benedict XVI has insisted upon the right to unionize," he said, but the proposed pastoral statement facing the bishops "gives short shrift" to that teaching.

[Update: Fiorenza was successful; the statement was not approved by the bishops.]

[podkarpatska]

Portents of a major social justice conflict among the U.S. bishops rose on the first day of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' annual fall meeting Monday when retired Archbishop Joseph Fiorenza of Galveston-Houston, Texas, denounced a proposed pastoral statement on workers, poverty and the economy as a betrayal of Catholic social teaching.

If approved in its draft form, the statement would be "lampooned" in the Catholic academic world, he said.

Fiorenza, a former USCCB president, said the proposed statement devotes only one short sentence to the long history of Catholic social teaching on workers' rights to organize in unions, to bargain collectively with their employers and to go on strike if their demands for just wages and working conditions are not met.
....
"Every pope from Leo XIII to Benedict XVI has insisted upon the right to unionize," he said, but the proposed pastoral statement facing the bishops "gives short shrift" to that teaching.

[Update: Fiorenza was successful; the statement was not approved by the bishops.]

Good for him, the Vatican has packed the USCCB with men thought to able to speak the talk of the Religious Right - led by Arch. Chaput of Philadelphia. A lot of good that approach has gotten the church regarding the chaning social mores in America and in reducing abortion on demand and gay marriage. This whole thing is ironic since the same meetings are to consider advancing the Sainthood cause of Dorothy Day. And the social teachings of the Pope's referenced by the retired Bishop are not very different than those of the Patriarchs of Moscow and Constantinople in recent years regarding economic issues and challenges facing the west.