Unions members pay dues, and those dues add up to millions. With million rolling in, corruption among the union bosses is inevitable.
Times have changed. The economy, country and world have changed. But unions haven’t. Union membership among non-government employees has fallen off a cliff. But although membership is down, their power remains large.
Why? Because a lot of Democrats, including the Little Marxist Dictator himself, couldn’t get elected without the armies of “volunteers” and votes they provide. No group has contributed more in time, sweat and money to left-wing politicians. That generosity, which comes largely from donations generated by involuntary dues collected from workers, too often goes to politicians who work tirelessly to cripple industries flush with union workers.
As Exhibit A, I offer the coal industry. Here union workers are working hard for good wages and benefits in an industry that is moderately, and only moderately, safer than it was 70 years ago, a portion of their wages going to a union leadership that supports the Little Marxist Dictator, who is trying to eliminate the coal industry. Such is the corruption of unions.
That’s not because union bosses are idiots. It’s because they’re ardent leftists, likely Marxists like their idol in the White House, who put their ideology ahead of the actual human beings in their ranks without regard to whether those human beings can pay their bills. AFL-CIO chief goon Richard Trumka isn’t stupid. He’s made millions from workers whose demise he’s overseen. How many rank and file members of the AFL-CIO do you think have pocketed almost $2.4 million over the last 10 years? Sure, he runs the organization, but he also makes his living complaining about pay discrepancy between labor and management. And that’s just his AFL-CIO compensation. Who knows what kind of side gigs, such as consultant jobs and advisory positions, he has that help fill his personal Brinks truck?
What positive things have unions given us in the last, say, 40 years? That’s not a rhetorical question; I truly have no idea. Sure, SEIU goons attack and beat black conservatives such as Kenneth Gladney, which is like porn to leftists, and pay for-hire hit-groups such as Media Matters $50,000 per to "urge" the media to ignore the story. They attacked a Quakers meeting house site because non-union workers were being used, and you can bet those ten sent to use cutting torches and wrecking bars on the site were once hard working union steel workers, and many probably still are. See, that's the real crime of it. Guys like Trumka won't touch the dirty work themselves, but they get a bunch of hard-working palookas they've convinced that "whatever means necessary" is a valid attack plan to do it for them. But other than be destructive, what else have they done?
They killed the Twinkie, so maybe they’re now morphing into an anti-obesity group? But if that’s the case, and you’ve ever seen these bosses in person, you know it’s not a fight they’re willing to lead by example.
They’re trying to kill WalMart. Think what you will of WalMart, but it’s an awesome company. No company in the country employs more people or does more to help the poor and near-poor afford the necessities in life. That’s why it’s so strange to see leftists and unions, both self-declared champions of the poor, seek so desperately to harm the company.
But below the surface, it’s obvious. Unions want to harm WalMart because they employ 1.3 million non-union workers, and unions, specifically the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, see an un-tapped pile of dues. Leftists see an un-tapped pile of union dues too, but only see the union as the colon through which those dues pass on their way to becoming political donations. Neither actually gives two hoots and a holler about the workers themselves or what workers want.
Every attempt to unionize WalMart employees has failed. Simply but, the majority of WalMart employees have no interest in throwing a portion of their pay on to the altar of progressive politics. But progressive politics has no interest in leaving those workers alone. The machine wants money. They'll get it by any means necessary, including arson, criminal mischief, and murder.
Remember Jimmy Hoffa? Anyone seen him lately? He made a basic mistake. He talked to the feds. Now he's helping hold up a bridge or a skyscraper somewhere. That's the union movement. You want any part of it, fine. They did a lot of good 70 years ago. Today, they're totally corrupted and useless.
