Big Labor’s Shakedown

-By Warner Todd Huston

The WaTimes has an interesting story today about the newest scare and strong-arm tactics that unions are using to force their will on employers and employees who do not want them around.

Everything from hiring faux protesters at less than union scale to picket a business to using the internet to attack companies that refuse their representation is being used by this newest crop of union thugs. And they are getting a nice rap sheet from the government because of it!

Welcome to the modern world of labor warfare. Call it RICO 2.0. For the second time in as many weeks, an employer has filed a civil-racketeering case against a major union, opening a new battleground in the fight over how unions get (and keep) members.

For decades, employers, government officials and honest union members used RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) lawsuits to fight mob influence in the labor movement. It was “On the Waterfront” in real life. Some people got killed, some things fell off the back of trucks, and some businessmen were muscled into toeing the union line.

But as times have changed, so has the style of union extortion.

These days, it’s less about how a company unloads goods at a port than it is about how the company is perceived in the world of the Internet. With competitors and customers just a click away, billion-dollar brands can be shattered overnight. As older and slower union officials stalked their prey in mature heavy industries, their younger counterparts began devising ways to use leverage in the new world of business by exposing companies to new electronic-harassment campaigns.

Union officials have set up Web sites mocking company names, and blogs regurgitate any blip of bad news. They use social-networking sites and text messages to coordinate demonstrations. They plaster YouTube with one-sided, and often misleading, videos of their protests and complaints.

The latest RICO cases, filed recently by the Wackenhut Corporation and Smithfield Foods, allege that union bosses have used new media tools to carry out a new style of attack: multiyear, multimillion-dollar campaigns targeting company brands and causing a steady stream of trouble for employees and shareholders alike.

Ironically, the United Food and Commercial Workers, the target of Smithfield’s suit, has a record of attacking companies in cases where the union itself is on weak moral ground. The union has rejected a petition of 3,000 Smithfield employees in North Carolina who simply want the right to vote on whether they become members. The union hired non-union picketers to stand outside a Nevada Wal-Mart for only $6 an hour in the blazing sun. To pressure a local retailer, it has made highly dubious claims about outdated baby food sold at grocery stores in Arizona.

Its ally, UNITE HERE, has been ordered to pay $17 million after being found guilty of “fraud, malice and oppression” during a smear campaign against medical professionals in California. It has also been found guilty of invading employees’ privacy in Pennsylvania by illegally accessing motor-vehicle records to get home addresses for unannounced visits.

The union targeted in the Wackenhut suit, the Service Employees International Union, has worked with its allies to intentionally overload emergency rooms with the poor and uninsured to pressure hospitals in the labor group’s crosshairs. That puts everyone in danger, and it makes everyone a potential victim of the union’s tactics.

All these campaigns rely on attacking a company’s reputation. Labor officials know business leaders are used to facing financial pressures, not PR pressures. So they keep up the daily dribble of negative news, a form of political Chinese water torture. As UNITE HERE president Bruce Raynor said, “We’re not businessmen, and at the end of the day they are. If we’re willing to cost them enough, they’ll give in.”

Until now, business leaders have either hoped their problems would disappear or resigned themselves to permanently “managing” the problem. But rope-a-dope isn’t a winning strategy with an adversary that has more money than moral fiber. The only option left is to hit back hard.

The Wackenhut and Smithfield RICO litigation will land serious blows against tactics no honest observer can support. These cases mark a turning point for business; they show the way to fight back.

To be clear, employers aren’t alleging kneecapping or horse heads in beds. But when organized labor starts to look more like organized crime, additional suits can be expected.

But, remember. It isn’t WHAT they do to break the law… it’s all good so they can “be there” to “help” the workers.
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Warner Todd Huston’s thoughtful commentary, sometimes irreverent often historically based, is featured on many websites such as newsbusters.org, townhall.com, men’snewsdaily.com and americandaily.com among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a guest on several radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events. He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of publiusforum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston


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