-By Warner Todd Huston
The New York Times gave a glowing review of Ana Burger’s career as a most divisive member of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). But how could one be less arrogant and pushy than would seem natural for a union that set out to fashion itself an “international” union?
Burger, 59, was supposed to be the heir apparent to former President Andy Stern, himself a petulant and arrogant figure. But it was not to be. When Stern stepped down from heading the SEIU, Burger was passed over for another by the membership.
And now she is retiring from her 14-year-long position as secretary-treasurer of the SEIU after 38 years in Big Labor.
Apparently, though, Burger retires “frustrated,” as the Times has it. She leaves as the power of Big Labor seems to be on the wane. Fewer unions, fewer members, and fewer political supporters seem to be the immediate future of Big Labor.
Right now Big Labor has an entirely outsized influence on Washington because it has a president that has bought and paid for by Big Labor. But this won’t last forever and there are fewer and fewer politicians of lesser status these days willing to be as loudly vocal in support of Big Labor as past pols once were.
This is all good for the country, of course. But we aren’t safe from the destructive activities of unions quite yet. A great fight between grasping, anti-democratic, and fiscally disastrous public employees unions still looms ahead. We need to destroy these unions, utterly eliminate them and at the heart of the dark side stands Burger’s still powerful SEIU.
If we do our jobs well, Burger will get more “frustrated” still and in the near future, too!
So, off you go into retirement, Anna Burger. Let us hope that the sort of power you wielded is also as “frustrated” in the future and you are feeling now.
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, AmericanDaily.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.
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