-By Warner Todd Huston
Working stiffs. That is what most people think about when they think of the word “unions.” But a peak inside the salaries of the union bosses at the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) tells a different tale. In fact, it shows that “fatcats” aren’t just in businesses anymore. It looks like all one need do to become a member of the wealthy upper class is to become a union boss.
I wonder if the rank and file, the real working stiffs — you know, the ones out of work these days? — I wonder if they know how much their own union bosses are making?
Check out these extremely high salaries of the union’s highest officers (and this is just salary, too, not all benefits, double dipped offices, and other compensation):
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Fatcats: Becoming Rich Means Becoming a Union Boss”
In a small step in the right direction, the House of Representatives passed a provision to defund the 2012 Energy and Water Appropriations Act, denying the government the funds to enforce the new lightbulb standards that would have levied a defacto ban on incandescent bulbs.
News has emerged that a Michigan public school illegally used its automatic phone calling system to call the homes of every student to urge parents to join the recall effort against Republican Governor Rick Snyder last month. To imagine that they can illegally use public school facilities for a partisan, left-wing political effort, this is the arrogance of left-wingers in our mis-educational system writ large.
On Sept. 18th and 19th in Washington DC, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is having open meetings for public comment on its proposal to slash the amount of time that it takes for prospective unionization of employees to occur. If you are at all interested in preventing this wild powergrab by Obama’s union-sold NLRB, you should try to attend these meetings.
It was hailed as a technological first. President Obama was to hold the first “Twitter Townhall.” The truth is more like it was a desperate attempt by the Obama administration to appeal to the youth vote in which nearly every poll shows him losing ground.
If you needed yet another example of why government employees should never be allowed to join unions, this is it. In Racine, Wisconsin the local fireman’s union got into an imbroglio over a July 4th parade float honoring the fallen first responders of the Sept. 11 attacks, a parade entry that the union supported previously. This time, though, union bosses decided not to support the 9/11 memorial float because one of the firemen on the float opted out of the fireman’s union this year.
Cities, counties and states (not to mention the federal gov’t) all across the country are overspent, out of cash, and deeply in the red. One reality that has been hitting all these government entities has been a series of tough negotiations with government employee unions. Unions are loathe to take cuts, certainly, but the reality is that in many cases it’s either cuts or layoffs. More and more unions are realizing this and taking the cuts to avoid losing jobs. The foolish government employees in Connecticut seem to be insensible to reality, though.
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When Barack Obama threw millions of our tax dollars at General Motors to “save it,” the administration claimed that it would not involve itself in the “day-to-day management” of the venerable car company. New emails obtained by 
Barack Obama’s interference in the business operations of Boeing new Dreamliner manufacturing project will likely cause thousands of workers in South Carolina to lose their jobs. Because of this, one Palmetto State worker is suing the federal government for its part in his probable future job loss.
As the Daley years wound down, Chicago’s public schools teachers were handed an automatic 4 percent raise across the board that was supposed to take effect next year. However, that largess from the taxpayers has just been rescinded by a unanimous vote of the Chicago Public Schools board.
On Monday I alerted you all to a jobs-killing, union-favoring amendment being considered in the House of Representatives in Washington, one that needed to be defeated. Unfortunately, the amendment was successful and now, in this dour economy, unions will be able to make matters worse just when we need a shot in the arm. (See 
President Obama claims that he wants to “create jobs,” and is happily touting several policies that he claims will create jobs in this jobless, non-recovery. Unfortunately, all his polices really do is shore up the high cost unions that kill job growth. As GOP Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConell says, Obama has “relentlessly pursued an agenda that is radically opposed” to job growth.
A four-year Apple store employee in San Francisco wants to